When people first come into classic menswear, they usually think of dealing with suits. The advice to start building a tailored wardrobe is usually to begin by getting a navy suit, often followed by one in charcoal gray. Meanwhile, sport coats, also called sport jackets, sports coats or sports jackets get somewhat less attention when first building that introductory level menswear wardrobe.
Sport coats, of course, are odd jackets designed to be worn with non-matching trousers and even if you do have a decent number of sport coats in your own collection, the average layperson is probably going to compliment you on the street by saying, “nice suit” or “I like your suit,” because they might not be aware of the differences. Today, though, we’ll boost the profile of sport coats a bit and give them their proper due by discussing five advantages that a sport coat can have over a conventional suit in some situations.
Since they originated, they have been considered somewhat secondary to full suits especially on the scale of formality because they are inherently more casual. They originally appeared in the latter half of the 19th century to be worn for outdoor sporting events such as hunting, fishing, or horseback riding. So, definitely not for business wear.
Sport coats are odd jackets designed to be worn with non-matching trousers. (bow tie and pocket square from Fort Belvedere)
More specifically, they started with the Norfolk jacket which was designed for shooting parties. The origins of this jacket style are a bit more muddied. This style was later adapted into a slightly shorter jacket with fewer buttons and this was the beginning of the modern sport coat.
As it can be difficult to tell it apart from other outerwear, our guide to the differences between suit jackets, sport coats, and blazers defines each type of jacket to clear up the thin line of confusion between their somewhat similar characteristics.
Early Full Norfolk Ensemble
When you’re wearing a sport coat, people won’t automatically assume that you’ve just come from the office. The roots of the sport coat reveal this first advantage that it has over a suit because it wasn’t originally designed to be business wear. Therefore it can now be worn in a wider variety of situations and settings. Even though it is now considered appropriate for many business environments and can often be worn with a tie in the business casual dress code, the more casual connotations of the garment still remain.
Sport coats still have connotations of being casual to this day even when worn with a tie for a business casual look.
For off-duty wear then, it is simply less conservative and formal. If you’re going somewhere dressed in a full suit, most people’s automatic assumption is going to be that you’re a businessman on his way to or from the office. Meanwhile, if you’re wearing a sport coat with odd trousers, people may still think or compliment you on this suit, but they’re not going to associate it immediately with business wear.
Bolder suit jackets can also be worn like sport coats.
Given that a sport coat is less formal than a suit, you can wear it in a largely business casual workplace and not feel overdressed or overly formal. Many workplaces these days are already quite casual as a default so if you show up to a casual office wearing a full suit all the time, you’re going to be violating some of the unspoken norms of the office by so drastically overdressing your peers.
However, if the typical dress code of your office features things like oxford cloth button-down shirts and chinos, throwing on a sport coat over the top of this isn’t going to be seen as too formal. So, with a sport coat, you can indulge your interest in classic menswear in the office without sticking out like a sore thumb, especially if you go further into the casual mold by wearing the sport coat without a tie.
Wearing a three-piece suit in a business casual setting would be a “violation” to the unspoken norm of the office – as you’d be overdressing your peers. (accessories from Fort Belvedere)
And, during and following the COVID-19 pandemic which is going on at the time of this post’s writing, workplaces are probably going to become a bit more casual as a result. So, this is especially important to keep in mind. Plus, putting on a sport coat for a Zoom meeting at home is probably going to be seen as more natural than putting on a full suit, for one, and I can back this up with personal experience.
You can pair your sport coat with chinos and a tie for a business casual look. (knit tie, pocket square & boutonniere from Fort Belvedere.)
Sport coats generally have more casual features than suit jackets and even most blazers. For example, they often have soft shoulders without much padding, patch pockets and they’re not made from smooth worsted wool, instead, being made from fibers like linen or cotton in warm weather, and tweed in cold weather. Whether it’s the rougher texture of a tweed jacket or the elegant wrinkling of linen, sport coats are typically just going to look more laid back than a worsted wool suit jacket would.
A sport coat is much easier to dress down because it’s more casual than a blazer or a suit jacket. (accessories from Fort Belvedere.)
As we mentioned, with a sport coat you can often choose to skip a tie and wear a shirt with a pattern like stripes or checks. Meanwhile wearing a suit without a tie is going to look somewhat incomplete most of the time especially if your shirt doesn’t have a pattern. Again, a sport coat can be worn in a wide variety of settings. It is appropriate for some offices but it’s also equally at home, at the movies, out with friends for drinks, or on the weekends. It can even be worn in some circumstances with jeans, and we share some outfit ideas of this mold in our jackets and jeans pairing guide.
In a world where dressing casually is becoming the norm and fewer and fewer people pride themselves on looking sharp, you can put on a sport coat and a pair of odd trousers and still probably be the best-dressed person in the room, even though you’re not wearing a full three-piece suit, for instance.
Kyle wearing a sport coat, denim shirt, and a pair of chinos.
As they were originally designed for outdoor activities, the fabrics used to make many sport coats are often thicker and more durable than that for suits. Meanwhile, the standard business suit is made of worsted wool and the super wools in particular, something like super 130s or above, are going to be very fine and thin. While these smooth weaves will give you a refined and formal appearance, they’re probably going to wear out faster.
On the other hand, when you think of conventional sport coat fabrics, the first one to come to mind is probably going to be tweed, which is much thicker. In fact, there is even a so-called thorn-proof tweed which was designed to stand up to potential rips and tears from thorns and brambles in the countryside. Other hard-wearing fabrics typical to sport coats are things like corduroy in the winter months and to a lesser extent seersucker and linen in the summer.
Tweed sport coats are usually durable because the fabric is thick.
The smooth worsted wool of a suit jacket will also probably show stains more easily. If you happen to spill coffee or barbecue sauce on your suit, you may need to bring it into the dry cleaner. Though if you are of a more courageous sort, you could also try laundering your suits at home.
Conversely, sport coats tend to be woven to create more texture like a bird’s eye or a basketweave and they’re more likely to contain a pattern like a houndstooth or a Prince of Wales check or a herringbone that might be too casual for some business suits. These textures and patterns can hide dirt stains and minor imperfections in the weave over time so you won’t have to bring things to a dry cleaner or launder them yourself as often, which will increase the overall longevity of the garment.
Super wool.
And of course, it will also likely be easier on your wallet. The pants of a suit will also wear out faster than the jacket will because of friction created from things like sitting or if you’ve got larger thighs – if they happen to rub together while you’re walking. So, unless you thought ahead or bought a custom suit with an additional pair of trousers you may ultimately end up with a jacket that you won’t want to wear, as orphaned suit jackets often are a bit too plain to be worn with much visual dynamism in outfits.
Meanwhile, if a sport coat is wearing out one of the areas where it’s likely to show where first is in the elbows. This isn’t a problem, however, as you can simply get elbow patches for a more Ivy League look. On the other hand, a suit coat with elbow patches is probably going to look a little bit discordant in terms of overall formality.
You can still wear your sport coats with elbow patches for an Ivy League look.
Finally today, the sport coat’s fifth advantage is that it’s likely going to open the door to a wider range of exciting style possibilities. Aside from the practical considerations we’ve already outlined, one of the other major advantages of a sport coat is that it’s going to allow a gentleman to get into more different style scenarios. This isn’t to say that suits are stylistically limiting, of course, but simply that sport coats open the door to an even wider array of options.
For example, if you’re fond of patterns, a sport coat will allow you to use them on a larger scale than just in your accessories. While a whole suit with a windowpane pattern might be too bold or loud, on your upper half only it can certainly work. In other words, pattern is expected when it comes to sport coats.
A sport coat opens a lot of possibilities in style. (tie and pocket square from Fort Belvedere)
In another example, simply by adding a pair of odd trousers to be worn with the sport coat, you introduce more complexity and stylistic opportunities. Because a suit is a uniform top and bottom, you don’t have as many opportunities to mix and match unless you’re deliberately going with the spezzato style.
When it comes to odd trousers though, you could experiment with things like corduroys in the winter months and in the summer go with chinos or maybe even a step further into go-to-hell pants. As an example here, you could wear a sport coat with a Prince of Wales check featuring an over plaid in a particular color. Then, if that color is replicated in your trousers or elsewhere in the outfit, it creates a dynamic look with visual interest that’s still harmonious.
Given the wide variety of options that it allows, a sport coat can often be the preferred choice for experienced dressers. Speaking for myself, I do find that the combination of a sports coat or blazer with odd trousers is more versatile and can be more creative than a full suit often would be.
Raphael wearing a Nantucket Red chinos with a blue and white sport coat, linen pocket square, and red and blue tie from Fort Belvedere.
So while a suit may be an easier option because you’re simply pairing a jacket, trousers, and optional waistcoat together all in the same fabric, the sport coat will allow for more creativity overall and it’s more versatile when it comes to formality. With these five advantages, then, sport coats are definitely appreciated by aficionados of classic men’s style.
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