Nicholas Daley Rebel Jacket

Wool and denim are the two poles of how men have dressed for a century and a half. Wool is the fibre of tailoring, of the suit, of the office and the occasion, and it carries every association that goes with those. Denim is the fibre of labour, of the mine and the field and then of everything that positioned itself against the office. The two have been kept apart by convention rather than by anything material, and the convention has held so long that combining them still registers as a decision.

This jacket combines them by piecing. The body is assembled from sections of wool and sections of cotton denim joined edge to edge, so every seam on it is a border between two materials rather than a join between two panels of one. That is a harder garment to build than it sounds. Two cloths of different weight and different give have to be eased together along a shared line without either pulling the other out of shape, and there is no facing, no lining, and no trim to hide the decision behind. In black the difference between them is textural rather than tonal, so you have to be close to see where one cloth ends and the other starts.

It is the kind of move Daley makes repeatedly. Take two things that belong to separate traditions, refuse to rank them, and sew them together, which is a description of his tailoring and also, fairly obviously, of the family he comes from.

Why we selected it

We took this because it is the most argumentative thing Daley has made and it is still a jacket you can put on without thinking about any of that. The piecing is the reason. The argument is in the construction rather than in a print or a patch, so it is there when you look for it and gone when you do not. Autumn 2024 was the strongest run he has shown, and this was the one we wanted most.

Nicholas Daley’s jackets routinely put a workwear material and a tailoring material on the same body, and the Rebel is the most direct version of that habit.

Materials and construction

The body is pieced from wool and cotton denim, two cloths set against each other rather than blended into one yarn. Made in England. Colour: Black.

Piecing means the panels are cut from different cloths and joined at the seam, so the construction and the pattern are one decision rather than two.

Fit notes

We do not hold a cut for this jacket and would rather say so than invent one. What we can say follows from the piecing. A body made of two cloths of different weight moves differently across its panels, with the wool sections drapier and the denim sections holding their shape, and the denim will soften and mould with wear while the wool changes very little. Over the years that makes the border between them more visible rather than less. Come in and try it, or call us and we will measure the one in the store.

Styling

Over a plain tee with the Five Pocket Jean, which takes Daley’s autumn 2024 denim in the opposite direction: the pattern worked into a single cloth rather than two cloths pieced against each other. Over the Waffle Crew Neck in black. Black on black means it will go with anything, including the checks.

Care

Treat the whole jacket as wool, because wool is the half that damages first and a pieced garment cannot be cleaned in halves: brush it, hang it on a shaped hanger, and air it between wearings rather than cleaning it on a schedule. When it does need cleaning, tell the cleaner it is pieced from two cloths, because wool and denim take heat and pressure very differently and a single setting will mark one of them. Expect the denim sections to give up a little colour over the years while the wool does not, which is the garment ageing rather than failing. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Five Pocket Jean is the denim from the same season. The Fonte Jacket is the wool tailoring, the Stone Jacket the tartan work jacket, and the Lee Shirt the indigo overshirt. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.