Nicholas Daley Three-Pocket Cardigan

A cardigan cut in woven linen rather than knitted is not really a cardigan at all. It is a shirt jacket that has adopted the cardigan's manners: buttoned the whole way down, soft in the shoulder, unstructured through the body, and pocketed for use rather than for line. Three patch pockets sit on the front, which is one more than a shirt carries and one fewer than a chore coat, and that is roughly where the garment sits between the two.

Linen is what makes it work. It is a stiff fibre that softens with wear instead of wearing out, it moves air better than anything else you can put on a body in July, and it creases in a way you either accept at the outset or you should not be buying linen. Made in England and worn open, this is a summer layer for people who do not want to give up having a jacket on.

The colour

Plain is the harder sell and the better buy. Where the summer tartan version is an object you build an outfit around, this one disappears into a wardrobe and does the work every day. Blue linen is one of the few genuinely useful summer colours: it sits against white, ecru, navy, and khaki without a thought, it takes sunlight without going chalky the way a pale grey does, and it ages into a softer version of itself rather than fading out. It is also one of the few summer layers he makes that will go over a tartan without a fight.

We took this in two cloths because it solves a real problem, which is what to put over a shirt in a Santa Fe summer when a jacket is too much and nothing at all is not enough. The tartan version and the plain blue one are the same garment making two quite different arguments.

One hundred percent linen, made in England. Button-through front, three patch pockets, soft collar. Colour: Blue.

Cut to be worn open over a shirt or a tee rather than buttoned close, so it carries ease through the chest and shoulder. Linen has almost no recovery and will relax across a day, returning when it is washed and pressed. Take your usual size for wearing open, and size up only if a knit is going underneath.

Over the Abstract Truth T-Shirt with the 70's Trouser in navy linen, which is linen on linen and correct. Over a white shirt with the Wide Beach Short. It is the summer layer we reach for most.

Wash linen cool and gently or have it cleaned, and dry it flat or on a line away from heat. Linen creases and is meant to. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

The 3 Pocket Collared Cardigan is this cardigan in summer tartan. The Zip Cardigan is the striped one, the Work Cardigan the waxed cotton one, and the Wide Beach Short the linen short beneath. There is more on the house on the Nicholas Daley designer page. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.