Welcome back! In today's video I'm going totalk about 8 secrets of a great summer sport coat.
Many many believe that as long as they feltlightweight suit jackets, they;re ready for summer but that's not true.
Basically we have8 core principles that are important for a summer sport coat.
One, start with the right weight.
Ofcourse,it's important to have a lightweight jacket because lighter fabrics insulate less andfeel cooler.
However, if your fabric is too light, you will have lots of wrinkles, itwill look bad and you have to find the right balance.
Overall, about 8 to 9 ounces or 240- 270 grams is a good start a weight because it will give you a drape.
If you go lighterthan that, you may have issues with wrinkles.
Two, remember weight is not everything, Theweave is even more important.
The weave of a jacket is extremely important because ifit's tightly woven, it will breathe less and in order to feel cool you want to have asmuch air flow as possible.
A great open weave fabric is a so called fresco fabric becausehwen you stand you can really feel every wind and it makes you feel cool.
In order to determineif your fabric is open weave or closed, one good way to do it is actually hold it againstthe light source, like a light bulb and look through it and an open weave fabric is soopen you could almost read a book through it or some text in a magazine versus a tightlywoven fabric is so that you cannot really read anything through it.
Three, Opt for texture.
Unlike suits, sportcoats are meant to be worn in a more casual environment.
In some offices, it's okay towear them but overall you want the garment to be relaxed, distinctly different from thesuit jacket.
Basically, you will be well dressed without being overdressed and texture is areally great way to help you achieve that.
In order to get texture, you want coarse weavesand yarns that are slightly irregular you get some knobs.
For example here, I'm wearinga panama weave jacket which is a wide weave that creates this waffle structure and alternatively,you can have linen where one yarn is thicker than the other so you get something irregularand more three dimensional than a regualr business suit.
Four, go with unlined jackets.
The open weaveof your fabric is not enough because you have a second layer of fabric inside your jacketwhich is the lining.
Linings are typically made from viscose, bemberg cupro or sometimesilk which are all natural fibers or based on cellulose which is a natural fiber andthey're very lightweight however, the weave is so tight that it restricts airflow.
Soeven if you have an open weave fabric but if you combine them with the lining, you willnot get the best benefits of the open fabric because the lining acts as a blocker.
Themain benefit of linings is A- to protect the outer fabric and to make everything slideand fit well.
So generally, lining are great but summer, it's more important that you feelcool.
So basically you want an unlined jacket but there are two versions of unlined jackets: One is completely unlined jackets.
It meansyour jacket literally has no lining whatsoever, not in the sleeves, not in the back, and thisis a rare version of the unlined jacket usually you only find them with bespoke garments.
Italians sometimes like it or spaniards or portuguese because they live in very warmclimates and they really want to maximiz the airflow.
Disadvantage of the completely unlinedjacket is especially in your sleeves, it sometimes catches your shirt material and so it doesn'thang well or drape well.
The second unlined option is called half lined or sometimes calledquarter lined.
What that means is that your sleeves are lined and your shoulders are linedbut your back and oftentimes the inside front are not lined and it really helps to makeyou feel cool but it also lets your sleeves drape easily so it feels comfortable.
Basically,it's the best of both worlds.
Five, select the sewn interlining also knownas canvas.
One of the most important aspects of jackets or sport coats is the interliningwhich is also known as canvas.
Basically, when you have a piece of fabric, it's twodimensional flat, in order to keep it in a certain shape, three dimensional around yourchest, you have to fixate the interlining to the outer fabric and connect them.
Youcan connect them by sewing them together or by gluing them together.
Economically, it'smuch less expensive to glue these layers together but in terms of comfort it's really bad becauseit's a fine fabric, it makes you sweat and the fabric doesn't breathe as well.
On theother hand, a sewn canvas really feels more comfortable, generally softer and it allowsyou to feel more the air and it's also known as the breathing garment.
Basically, you'llhave three levels of interlinings.
You have full canvas, half canvas and you have fuse.
Generally, only top quality garments have full canvas because it's the most expensiveway to do it and if you go to a tailor or to a high end made to measure company or rentto wear company, that;s what you really get, a full canvas jacket or sport coat.
The nextstep down would be the half canvas jacket, that means that the top oart of your sportcoat is sewn with a canvas versus the bottom part is glued.
The only reason to do thatis to save a cost without sacrificing some of the look on top of the garment where it'smore important than the bottom.
Very inexpensive sport coats and usually the ones that aremost comfortable are the ones woth fused interlining.
For summer, you definitely want to avoid itat all cost cos it's a guarantee that you overheat and sweat a lot.
That being said,not all canvasses are alike, you can have a full sewn interlining canvass that is muchstiffer or softer and ideally for summer jacket, you want as little interlining as possibleand you want it to be as soft as possible so it's really comfortable and you don't reallyfeel much.
Traditionally, horse hair blended with wool was used but for summer sport coats,it's better to go with like cotton wool because horse hair is rather stiff and it's not idealinterlining of canvas that you want for a summer sport coat.
Six, go with a bold pattern.
When you havean open weave fabric, what happens is you can see through one way but also the otherway and you don't want people to see what you're wearing on the inside or if you havea pen in your pocket.
So ideally, a bold pattern a- makes sure you look very differnt frombusiness men but also it helps to make your garment not see through.
For example, thispattern is really great but you can also try others, windowpanes, checks, seersucker stripes,madras pattern, all of these things are great for summer sport coats.
What you definitelywant to avoid is things like pinstripes or chalkstripes, they're typically associatedwith business suits because sport coats are not just a suit jacket on its own, they'reindistinctly different jacket.
seven, embrace strong colors.
Now, when youdon't want to wear a pattern or you don't have one or it doesn't suit you well, that'sokay.
You can also go with stronger typical summer colors.
What I mean by that i avoidthe typical black, grey, charcoal, blues and navys and instead go for something like lightblue or nice green and that way you really create a different, distinct, unique look.
What's also important is you never want solids, you also want slightly mottled colors.
Basically,you can be as creative as you want, maybe red or orange or something turquoise.
ALlthese colors can work and it depends on how comfortable you are and how strong they are.
When in doubt, I recommend go for something that is always a little lighter and interwovenwith white yarns like this one here because that way it softens the look even if you havea stonger, bolder color.
Eight, choose a single breasted jacket andpay attention to details.
Personally, I love double breasted jackets, I think they're reallygreat on me, they look really masculine and they're flattering.
However, when it comesto summer sport coats, single breasted is preferrable because it's simply less fabricthat is layered up in front of you so I'm more comfortable when it's hot outside.
Also,when it comes to details you want to make sure that you either have patch pockets onyour chest, on your side and you can also have details like a center pleat in the backor like shooting pleats, you can have angled pockets, maybe contrasting color or a littlecolored tab.
You definitely want to make sure that you have certain details that look distinctlydifferent from a business suit.
If you just have a regular flat pocket, two button jacketwith a notched lapel that you also wear to your office, you should always try to mixit up when you have a sport coat.
As far as accessories go, in summer sport coats, I preferto wear bow ties when it's hot cos it's just a single layer around my neck and it doesn'tdrape all the way along my body which can oftentime insulate and make you feel warmerthan you have to be.
If you want to wear a tie, I suggest you go with knit ties becausetheyhave a very open weave and they let the air go through.
For a selection of summer knit ties, checkout our selection of Fort Belvedere here.
If you enjoyed this video, please subscribeto our channel and I look forward to seeing you next time.
Thank you.
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