• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

How many Sports Coats?

tcmquincy

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 22, 2019
Messages
89
Reaction score
34
If one were to only own 2 sports jackets and wear them 4 out of 5 days to work it would become extremely obvious that you only own 2. How many sports jackets would one need to own to be refreshing and not look like you are wearing the same stuff over and over and over.
 

Joe Schmoe

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2017
Messages
1,125
Reaction score
6,814
If one were to only own 2 sports jackets and wear them 4 out of 5 days to work it would become extremely obvious that you only own 2. How many sports jackets would one need to own to be refreshing and not look like you are wearing the same stuff over and over and over.

I wear a sports jacket every day when I'm not wearing a suit, and I own 5 sports jackets. That seems like a reasonable number, so long as you wear a suit every so often. I generally wear a suit 2-3 days per week.

I'd like to own more sport coats but I don't feel like I *need* more. Now, I'm a little unusual in that I put on my jacket almost every time I leave my individual office -- if I'm in the common areas, or in a co-worker's office, I'm always wearing my sports coat. Every so often I'll walk the halls in my shirtsleeves, but I usually put on my sports jacket. But a lot of people -- probably most people -- will wear their sports coat while traveling to work, take it off when they reach their desk, wear shirtsleeves during the workday, and put on their sports coat when they go outside. Those people can make do with 3 sports coats IMO.

Honestly, if you wear clothes that fit well and generally look well put together, you'll look better than 90% of office workers. I love clothes, and I try to brighten everyone's day by looking good and wearing suspenders, a pocket square, seersucker, nice cordovan shoes, etc. But it's not necessary, you just have to dress nicely and show the world that you care about your appearance.
 

Nobilis Animus

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2017
Messages
2,660
Reaction score
2,384
By this, do you mean tailored jackets that count as sports coats? If so, I'm living proof that three can be quite sufficient: just make them all tweed. One dark blue/black houndstooth, one brown birdseye, and one brown herringbone.

Now granted, I can swap in a suit for any of those and it wouldn't matter in my own field - but there's nothing wrong with repeating outfits, so long as you let your clothes rest in between wearings and have a fresh shirt/tie to go with it.

There's also nothing stopping you from using a plain navy suit jacket as a blazer.
 

dieworkwear

Mahatma Jawndi
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Apr 10, 2011
Messages
27,320
Reaction score
69,979
I think blue and grey suits, along with navy sport coats, are kind of the default for professional American dress. These things sort of disappear from view because they're so common, like blue jeans. No one notices if you wear the same navy sport coat every day, just as no one would notice if you wear the same blue jeans.

Once you get away from a navy sport coat, things become more specific. Tweeds are only for fall/winter, and will likely be uncomfortable in the summer depending on where you live. If you live in a warmer climate such as Los Angeles, you may be better off with wool-silk-linen. Some materials, such as cotton, are also very casual.

Personally don't recommend wearing a suit jacket as a sport coat. Most ready-to-wear suits nowadays aren't built for that kind of thing. They're mostly made from fine worsteds. If you get a custom suit made that can be broken into separates (such as the BlazerSuit idea popular on this forum ten years ago), the jacket will often need to be compromised in some way -- the edge finishing, pocket style, etc. Despos on here also thinks that some BlazerSuit fabrics, such as Fresco, aren't suitable for sport coats. Reasonable people can disagree on whether some suitings can be used as sport coats (I wear Harriston Oyster and Fresco as sport coats), but it's true that it's not ideal. You want something more textured.
 

Keith Taylor

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2019
Messages
354
Reaction score
754
If one were to only own 2 sports jackets and wear them 4 out of 5 days to work it would become extremely obvious that you only own 2. How many sports jackets would one need to own to be refreshing and not look like you are wearing the same stuff over and over and over.

It’s not so much how many you need to own but how many you’ll regularly wear. I have about 15, but for various reasons (formality, comfort, ease of pairing, the fact that my weight fluctuates, etc.) only 3 or 4 of them are in regular rotation. The rest just sit there in my closet, wondering what they did wrong.

Anyhoo, there’s no need to own this many. Just have enough that you can afford to rest and air them regularly and you’ll be fine. Very few people will notice or care if you’re cycling through the same few sport coats. The only time I’ve ever noticed anyone overwearing an item of clothing is when my best friend showed up at the pub in the same sport coat about a dozen times on the trot, and I only noticed because I gave it to him and I knew it was the only one he owned. Nobody else would give a crap.
 

TheShetlandSweater

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2020
Messages
936
Reaction score
1,108
If one were to only own 2 sports jackets and wear them 4 out of 5 days to work it would become extremely obvious that you only own 2. How many sports jackets would one need to own to be refreshing and not look like you are wearing the same stuff over and over and over.

To echo Derek's comments above, no one will really pay much attention if you wear navy all the time. This will especially be true if you have 2 or 3 navy sport coats that are each slightly different from each other. This will give the impression that your wardrobe is far bigger than it is because people will be able to tell that you have more than one sport coat, but they won't be able to tell just how many.

If you want to have more fun with it, you can get some more seasonal stuff, but keep things more subtle if you want to be able to wear your clothes regularly without people saying "oh, he's wearing that jacket again".
 

tbaja27

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2019
Messages
187
Reaction score
295
I think I started at 2-3. I have 15-18 now, if not more. One can never have too many sport coats. They are pure love. Between different types of materials, styles & patterns - options are endless!
 

An Acute Style

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
Messages
7,692
Reaction score
56,308
No one notices if you wear the same navy sport coat every day, just as no one would notice if you wear the same blue jeans.
I will notice! :fu:

If you wear a sport coat 5 days a week to work, I would recommend between 5 to 10 sport coats (per season given climate). Not saying you NEED that many, but that would be my recommendation. I would not recommend wearing the same sport coat two days in a row. They need to rest after each wear. I imagine the wear and tear would be high if you only have two jackets. Solid colors and simple patterns would be your best bets in terms of making your wardrobe look bigger.
 

dieworkwear

Mahatma Jawndi
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Apr 10, 2011
Messages
27,320
Reaction score
69,979
I will notice! :fu:

If you wear a sport coat 5 days a week to work, I would recommend between 5 to 10 sport coats (per season given climate). Not saying you NEED that many, but that would be my recommendation. I would not recommend wearing the same sport coat two days in a row. They need to rest after each wear. I imagine the wear and tear would be high if you only have two jackets. Solid colors and simple patterns would be your best bets in terms of making your wardrobe look bigger.

Curious, for where you work, among the men who wear tailored clothing, is there a great percentage of them who wear more than a navy sport coat? (Not counting you, of course)
 
  • Like
Reactions: CMJ

JFWR

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2020
Messages
6,065
Reaction score
10,017
I have about eight sports coats, as I don't generally wear suits. Even if I wore suits, I think sports coats are versatile for non-professional settings where a business style suit seems a bit stuffy.
 

An Acute Style

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
Messages
7,692
Reaction score
56,308
Curious, for where you work, among the men who wear tailored clothing, is there a great percentage of them who wear more than a navy sport coat? (Not counting you, of course)

Very few wear tailored clothing, but I meant wearing the same jeans several days in a row, missing a belt loop, shoes untied, zipper is down, food in your teeth, lint in your hair, etc. I notice all those things. I don't judge anyone because of it, but I definitely notice it. I think if someone wore the same sport coat several time a week, people will notice. I doubt they will care. Maybe I'm giving humanity too much credit here.
 

mak1277

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
3,913
Reaction score
5,847
If someone wore the same blue blazer to the office 5 days a week, I would notice. But I wouldn't think it was weird or wrong in any way. I agree with @dieworkwear ... you can certainly make it work with a blue sport coat and nothing else (and still probably be better dressed than most).

I also agree with Mark Cho (from DWW's "what do I actually wear' articles), that life's too short to just wear a blue blazer all the time.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,161
Messages
10,579,036
Members
223,882
Latest member
anykadaimeni
Top