Lemaire Dispatch Peacoat

The peacoat is one of the small number of garments that arrived at its final form by being used rather than by being designed. Everything on it was a solution: double-breasted so the front closes twice over against wind and can be buttoned to either side depending on which way the weather is coming, a broad lapel that turns up to cover the neck, and deep pockets set high enough to be reached with the arms down. Two centuries of sailors kept the parts that worked. What Lemaire has changed is the fit and the colour, and both changes matter. A naval peacoat is cut short and close so it does not catch on rigging; this one is relaxed, so it reads as a coat rather than as a uniform reference, and the pockets are oversized, which exaggerates the original proportion instead of reproducing it. The cloth is a brown chiné. Chiné is a yarn-dyeing method where the yarn is dyed before it is woven and the colour is varied along its length, so the finished cloth has a fine mottled depth to it that a piece-dyed wool cannot have. It is the reason this coat is brown without being flat brown, and it is what stops a heavy wool outer looking like a slab of colour.

Why we selected it

Navy peacoats are everywhere and a brown one is not, and the chiné yarn is why this one has depth instead of just being a different colour. The relaxed cut is what makes it wearable over a jacket.

Lemaire returns to naval and workwear archetypes regularly and generally changes the proportion rather than the details, which is exactly what has happened here.

Materials and construction

100% wool in a brown chiné, lined in 100% cotton. Double-breasted with sharp lapels and oversized patch pockets. Made in Lithuania.

Fit notes

Cut relaxed rather than to the close naval original, so it takes a jacket or a heavy knit underneath. Double-breasted coats sit differently open and closed, and this one is drawn to work both ways. We do not hold measurements, and there is no Lemaire size chart on this site.

Styling

Brown outerwear is more flexible than people expect and is the better choice over black, navy, grey, cream, and denim alike, precisely because it does not try to match any of them. Worn open the lapels carry the line; worn closed the double breast makes it a much more formal coat.

Care

Brush it after wear and air it rather than cleaning it. Wool outerwear is damaged far more often by over-cleaning than by use, and a chiné yarn dye is stable, so the colour is not the fragile part. Hang it on a broad hanger that supports the shoulder. Our fabric care guide covers wool, and the multi-material section applies to a wool shell with a cotton lining.

Related pieces

The Utility Jacket is the loose wool outer, the Boxy Tailored Jacket is the tweed, and the Raglan Jacket Liner is built to sit under either of them. Everything we carry from Lemaire is listed together.