Cheap linen sports coat for summer wear?

I'm looking for a cheap linen sports coat to wear during the summer. I've heard good things about H&M, but there's only one local store, and they don't carry any.

I went into Macy's and they only had the following sports coat in khaki on sale for $36. I purchased it, but I can always return it. Alternatively, I could get this one from Old Navy. Sort of a stupid question, but if you had to choose between the two, which do you think would be of higher quality for the price, or which would you buy?

Notice that the Old Navy sports coat is a linen/cotton blend; I've heard that some people prefer the blend to prevent wrinkling. However, some reviewers say that the material is thicker than they would expect. Also, the Old Navy blazer seems to be center-vented, whereas the one from Macy's is side-vented.

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

Go with the Old Navy one. Tasso Elba is cheap and bulky looking. Plus Macys laid me off 3 months ago after 8 years of dedicated service. **** em.

Originally Posted by mrgoblueguy

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Go with the Old Navy one. Tasso Elba is cheap and bulky looking. Plus Macys laid me off 3 months ago after 8 years of dedicated service. **** em.

Even if Macy's poduced Saville Row quality merchandise, I would have a hard time buying their stuff. But that's just me.

Originally Posted by mrgoblueguy

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Plus Macys laid me off 3 months ago after 8 years of dedicated service. **** em.

Stickin' it to the man, eh?

Is it me, or is the Old Navy jacket a two-button sack? Even on the large photo, I can't see any darts.

Be weary of a cheaply-made linen coat, for the following reasons:

(1) It will be fully-lined. This defeats the entire purpose of buying a linen coat, as it will be suffocatingly hot.

(2) It will be fused, which means that any sweat that would be wicked-away by the linen will first get stuck in the glued chunk of canvas in the chest piece. Over time, this will start to stink, which will require somewhat frequent dry cleanings, which will shrink the coat over time and might cause bubbling in the chest.

Best bet: troll around until you find a fully-unlined linen coat on a clearance rack. I have seen PRL coats like this in navy at Marshall's/TJ Maxx (Made in China, I think, so not the Corneliani stuff, but still decent). You'll get many years fo wear out of it and will be happy you waited.

Zara? American Apparel? Ebay has a million + some careful measurements?

(1) It will be fully-lined. This defeats the entire purpose of buying a linen coat, as it will be suffocatingly hot.

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The Old Navy blazer is "partially lined." Does that make much of a difference?

Best bet: troll around until you find a fully-unlined linen coat on a clearance rack. I have seen PRL coats like this in navy at Marshall's/TJ Maxx (Made in China, I think, so not the Corneliani stuff, but still decent). You'll get many years fo wear out of it and will be happy you waited.

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Hmm... the difficulty is that I don't have many stores in my area. I have to travel 40 minutes to reach a Macy's and mall, and the options are limited there as well.

Originally Posted by enarchay

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The Old Navy blazer is "partially lined." Does that make much of a difference?



Hmm... the difficulty is that I don't have many stores in my area. I have to travel 40 minutes to reach a Macy's and mall, and the options are limited there as well.

Partially-lined does make a difference - probably means that half of the back of the coat will not be lined, which is a good thing. It will allow the coat to breathe more.

I like them both. I actually bought an Old Navy sports coat for $25 this weekend. Granted it's no Kiton, but at $25 I figured it wouldn't hurt to add it to my collection.

Why not buy both? You really wouldn't be breaking the bank. Two blazers are better than one. Even if you get 2-3 wears out of each, seems like it would justify the cost.

Final verdict: ON sports coat for sure (why pass on it at that price?) plus the Tasso Elba is you can spare the $99. Look for coupons/ deals/ sales too.

Originally Posted by Bull

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Be weary of a cheaply-made linen coat, for the following reasons:

(1) It will be fully-lined. This defeats the entire purpose of buying a linen coat, as it will be suffocatingly hot.

(2) It will be fused, which means that any sweat that would be wicked-away by the linen will first get stuck in the glued chunk of canvas in the chest piece. Over time, this will start to stink, which will require somewhat frequent dry cleanings, which will shrink the coat over time and might cause bubbling in the chest.

Best bet: troll around until you find a fully-unlined linen coat on a clearance rack. I have seen PRL coats like this in navy at Marshall's/TJ Maxx (Made in China, I think, so not the Corneliani stuff, but still decent). You'll get many years fo wear out of it and will be happy you waited.

As someone who lives in Florida with heat+near suffocating humidity (not quite Guam bad, but near) all the above advice by Bull is spot on. I have slowly amassed a set of blazers for just this sort of purpose - but I'll add a few more hard-won-experience points:

1. Especially if you're getting unlined or partially lined, look for coats that have little plackets of material in the inside where your armpits go. Those will help absorb any pit sweat and prevent it from moving to your jacket. If it's not present, I suspect a tailor could easily add something similar there though I've never had it done.

2. An unlined linen jacket is highly breathable, but as with most linen, crushes and wrinkles easily. Some linens are better than others, in my experience, the "stiffer" the linen is on the rack, the more tendency it will have to crease and wrinkle. Some people consider this part of linen's "charm", I tend to not like it...

3. That said - also include linen blends in your search. I've found somewhere like a 40/60 wool+linen to be about a perfect for resisting wrinkling and still being light and breathable. Other blends with natural fibers like cotton, silk, flax, may vary - some have seemed great while other as stifling as a normal fully lined jacket. I think it has as much to do with the weave as it does the fibers, which is hard to deduce from pictures.

Hope it helps!

You may want to look on STP - I picked up an unlined navy linen blazer (soft 3 button, twin vents, unstructured shoulders & unlined) for $60 or so a month back. Both the quality of the cut and the weight of the fabric came as a pleasant surprise. Swapped out the buttons and adjusted the sleeves and I was in business w/a solid summer beater.

But since the great NW is having a record-setting streak of 47 out of the last 50 days of cool, cloudy, and wet weather, this has proven to be a largely theoretical purchase.

Zara has about 3-4 different linen jackets at this moment. One is a regular flap pocket coat, one is a 2 patch 1 welted pocket (both lightly lined) and last week I saw a half lined one. All are decently priced.

Originally Posted by Spark

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You may want to look on STP - I picked up an unlined navy linen blazer (soft 3 button, twin vents, unstructured shoulders & unlined) for $60 or so a month back. Both the quality of the cut and the weight of the fabric came as a pleasant surprise. Swapped out the buttons and adjusted the sleeves and I was in business w/a solid summer beater.

But since the great NW is having a record-setting streak of 47 out of the last 50 days of cool, cloudy, and wet weather, this has proven to be a largely theoretical purchase.

Help me out.

STP = Sierra Trading Post (an affiliate here). Good prices.