Mens Gray Cotton Utility Jacket

A utility jacket, sometimes called a chore jacket, is a lightweight cotton jacket with a button front and patch pockets, originally worn as workwear. This one is gray, unlined or lightly lined, with chest pockets, in sizes XXS to 3XL.

The most useful jacket most men do not own

A chore jacket is a French workwear pattern that has quietly become one of the most wearable things in menswear. It is unstructured, it buttons rather than zips, and it sits somewhere between a shirt and a jacket. That in between position is the whole value. It is warm enough to be outerwear in spring and light enough to keep on indoors, it goes over a tee or under a coat, and it does not read as either formal or sporty. Very few garments occupy that space.

Gray does more work than black

Gray sits with more colours than black does. It goes with brown leather, tan boots, olive, cream and grey, all of which fight with black to some degree. It also photographs and ages better. Black cotton fades to a slightly grey tone that looks tired. Gray fades toward a softer blue that most people find more appealing than the original. If you are choosing a single utility jacket, Gray is the more useful colour.

Buttons instead of a zip, and why that suits this jacket

A button front lets you leave the top two open without the jacket gaping the way an unzipped jacket does, and it means the front hangs flat rather than curling at the placket. It is also repairable by anyone with a needle. A broken zip on a jacket usually means a trip to a tailor and a bill. A lost button costs nothing.

Fit and how to wear it

Cut with room, as workwear is. Take your usual size for a relaxed line, or go down one if you want it closer and only ever wear it over a tee. It layers well under a wool overcoat because there is no bulk at the collar or the front. Over a hooded sweatshirt it also works, though at that point you want your usual size or one up.

Cotton and shrinkage

Cotton shrinks and it does most of it on the first wash. If the jacket is unlined and machine washable, wash it cold and hang it to dry, and it will settle at close to its original dimensions. If it is lined, do not machine wash it at all, because the shell and the lining will shrink at different rates and the jacket will end up pulling. The specification table tells you which this is.

Specification table

Garment measurements by size. Measured flat, in inches. These cells stay empty until you send production figures. Publishing a measurement that is wrong causes returns, so I have not guessed.