Advice on navy SC fabric

[JIMIG]

Would be grateful for some advice on fabric choices from SF members.

I am planning to commission a navy sport coat. Mainly for use with gray flannel trousers during autumn/winter/early spring.

Background: suits/SC not required for my work, but I like dressing up. I have:
- Solid suits (navy and charcoal SB and DB).
- Some SCs (including mid brown wool/linen, blue linen and blue hopsack),

Looking to replace the blue hopsack, as it doesnt fit me. While I like hopsack, I kind of want to expand my wardrobe with something a more casual fabric.

I have been looking at:
- Navy donegal tweed
- Navy flannel
- Navy wool/cashmere blends

Which one would you chose, and why? I do like flannels, but maybe not the best idea to combine flannel SC with flannel trousers? Should I just scrap all of these and just go with hopsack?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Andy57]

I don't like hopsack as I find it a coarse and unsophisticated material. If you're going for a traditional blazer-like look, I would recommend either a nice barathea-like cloth, or the cashmere blend you mention. If you use donegal tweed, you will get quite a different type of jacket, more casual, less refined. Which, if that is what you're going for, is fine.

I have a navy donegal tweed jacket and it's a burly, robust jacket suitable (where I live) for winter months only. It is far too warm for more than about 3 months of the year. I also have a cashmere jacket, cut by Edward Sexton so about as far from a traditional blazer as it is possible to get, but it does good duty instead of a navy blazer. If I were to commission a straightforward navy blazer, I would probably use a lightweight navy worsted flannel or a mid weight barathea worsted. I would only use hopsack if I had a need for some navy blue sacks in which to store my hops.

But the only thing that really matters is your own taste or preference. It somewhat depends on what is in your mind's eye, when you plan to wear the jacket, and with what.

 

[Bromley]

Check out some of the winter jacket cloths from Italian mills/merchants. There will be a lot of good, casual cloths that are flannely without being flannel, and tweedy without being tweed.

 

[yanagi]

I recently received a dark brown serge blazer from the Bateman & Ogden Apollo book. It also has a few navy-to-midnight choices in hopsack, serge, and barathea.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

I like hopsack but I don’t find it ideal for winter.

Doeskin is a good option. It’s a bit heavier but texturally different from flannel to allow for contrast.

 

[classicalthunde]

If it was me, I would go for a navy Donegal tweed (W. Bill or Molloy and Sons for heavier stuff, Abraham Moon for lighter stuff) for a more casual sport coat and a navy flannel sport coat for something a bit more formal (Fox Bros), I wouldn't worry too much about wearing navy flannel SC with grey flannel pants. I would also second the 'doeskin' recommendation made above, its another popular formal-ish blazer material in traditional American tailoring

Also, food for thought: if you opt for informal a patch and flap pocket is nice way to make the SC more casual as opposed to the standard flap pockets

I live in the Northeastern part of the USA (4-season climate) and my 13 oz Moon tweed is definitely wearable from October through March/April

 

[rjkabk]

I'm a little late to the party, but does anyone know some good books that actually have a wool doeskin? I have seen a cashmere doeskin, I think from Holland and Sherry, but I can't seem to find a wool doeskin...