How many Sports Coats?

[Eset]

I currently have

• 3 for the warmer season, where I wear a sports coat maybe 1-2 times per week max, including a lovely navy seersucker
• 7 for the colder season. which are in rotation and in use 4-7 days per week, including 1x navy flannel and 3x tweed)
• + 1 with which I can get away all year long except the hottest and coldest months.

I could trim it down to 2 + 5 and would still enjoy my collection a lot. But I love the perspective of growing and re-discovering my collection in the future. My personal advice would be to have fun with the great garments and patterns that are out there.

 

[mak1277]

I totally understand not wearing a heavy, fall/winter jacket in the summer...that makes total sense. But why would it be necessary to avoid wearing "summer" jackets in the fall and winter? I mean, if it's cold out, you're going to have an overcoat on anyway, right? And your office is probably going to be set at 70-72 degrees no matter what. So why wouldn't you wear, say, a light linen/wool jacket all year long, assuming it's color/style isn't "inappropriate" for winter?

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Odd jackets and pants have been the major casualty of my wardrobe reorganization over the last couple of years. Frankly, there's almost no situation in which they are the best option, and I could never see myself wanting a navy blue jacket. Not ever. My workplace has no dress rules and I mainly wear good quality SWD stuff these days. If I need to be smarter or to make an impression then I wear a suit, and I have a selection of those. I only really have three odd jackets left now, all of which I have kept because I like the texture (and in one case also because it was bespoke).

 

[Nobilis Animus]

The absolute, bare minimum for anyone who wants to wear a jacket every day is two. You must have at least two to be able to wear them alternately - just one navy jacket will not do, unless you want to wear a sweater or something on alternate days.

Clothes need time to rest and air out between wearings, or they won't last. Especially with modern fabrics or lightweight materials, which will look shabby in no time if you wear them constantly.

 

[Nobilis Animus]

Odd jackets and pants have been the major casualty of my wardrobe reorganization over the last couple of years. Frankly, there's almost no situation in which they are the best option. My workplace has no dress rules and I mainly wear good quality SWD stuff these days. If I need to be smarter or to make an impression then I wear a suit, and I have a selection of those. I only really have three odd jackets left now, all of which I have kept because I like the texture (and in one case also because it was bespoke).

Same. I've found that sports jackets are a very occasional wear for me.

 

[TheShetlandSweater]

I totally understand not wearing a heavy, fall/winter jacket in the summer...that makes total sense. But why would it be necessary to avoid wearing "summer" jackets in the fall and winter? I mean, if it's cold out, you're going to have an overcoat on anyway, right? And your office is probably going to be set at 70-72 degrees no matter what. So why wouldn't you wear, say, a light linen/wool jacket all year long, assuming it's color/style isn't "inappropriate" for winter?

Well...1) It looks weird wearing things like linen in the winter. 2) If you are outside for a substantial amount of time you may want the extra warmth provided by a winter jacket. 3) There are in-between days in the fall and spring when the weather is in the 50s. You are not going to wear an overcoat then, but you want more warmth than linen can provide. 4) There is something nice, fun, and elegant about wearing clothes that are appropriate to the season. 5) Not every office is 70-72 year round. 6) Winter clothing is generally more durable. If you can get something more durable for roughly the same price as something less durable, it makes more sense financially to wear the more durable item. 7) Many winter fabrics drape better. 8) Variety is nice. I don't want to wear the same things year round. I also enjoy tweed a lot more than most summer fabrics. 9) If you drive to work, wearing an overcoat in the car can be inconvenient. At the same time, your car probably won't be that warm, at least not at first. A winter sport coat can help with this. It can also save you a bit of energy as you can keep the heat on much lower (or not at all).

 

[bicycleradical]

I have 9 sport coats of which 5 are summer jackets and 4 are for winter. The temptation to buy more always exists however these ones have served me well for the past bunch of years. A minimum amount to have would be two, imo.

 

[tcmquincy]

Well thank you very much for y'alls advice! I own 10 sports coats currently, and 5 suits (that being said, I cannot really wear the suits to my office most days of the year; it would stand out way too much). It sounds like I should be fine and nobody will notice or care. but that doesn't mean I won't buy more sports coats! haha

 

[Nobilis Animus]

Well thank you very much for y'alls advice! I own 10 sports coats currently, and 5 suits (that being said, I cannot really wear the suits to my office most days of the year; it would stand out way too much). It sounds like I should be fine and nobody will notice or care. but that doesn't mean I won't buy more sports coats! haha

So you could potentially wear two sports jackets simultaneously and still not repeat the same combination twice in a given week at work.

The answers are in the questions.

 

[corpseposeur]

At present I have three sportcoats: a RTW Huntsman in a medium blue glen check tweed-like fabric, a Richard James RTW in a Piacenza fabric and a Redmayne MTM jacket in a dark blue Abraham Moon twill. I am planning to get another MTM coat in a proper hopsack from Redmayne and I think that should be more than enough for a workplace like a financial services firm but where I don't do client facing or financial work. As mentioned earlier in this thread, I agree with the idea that one navy coat for meetings will do 95% of the time. Also sweaters go a long way in the winter.

If you're in a position where you need to wear a jacket all the time, I'd probably just wear suits. The best dressed execs that have taste all wear navy in subtle but interesting fabrics.

 

[Billax]

I turned 79 a couple of weeks ago. Retired (mosty) when I was 60. Worked almost all my business life in Investment Banking and Venture Capital... investing in, researching, and participating in (and ultimately taking public) entrepreneurial companies funded, in large part, by Venture Capital firms. It was a good life... and life was good to me.

Oddly enough, I have stayed the same size for 59 years... 42 Regular jackets, 34x29 trou, 16 1/2x34" dress shirts, 9.5D shoes, 7 3/8 hats. So, I have accumulated far more clothes than I need and a fair amount more than I want. Nothing gets thrown away if you stay the same size! THERE ARE JUST TOO MANY ITEMS TO HAVE ANYTHING WEAR OUT! To wit, I have 72 Sport coats and similar wretched excess in most other apparel categories. Now that I am completely retired, I wear very casual apparel 13 days out of 14.

At the moment, I have enough closet space to manage, The two Boys have graduated college and gone off on their own. But the bride is making noises about moving to smaller quarters. She always wins these discussions.

So, change is coming... but the only thing I know is that change is coming. Smaller wardrobes ahead!

 

[volcanotristate]

I wear sport coats on a daily basis, and have way too many. A full closet for spring/summer and another for fall/winter
Probably 25 in all, but you never see the same one twice... with the exception of the venerable blue blazer

 

[rjkabk]

As far as need goes I’m with Dieworkwear on this one. Early in my career as an attorney when I was less menswear conscious and less financially stable through a series of unfortunate incidents I was down to 2 suits and a navy blazer. Luckily those two suits were my MTM solid navy Coppley (which I still have by the way, and it doesn’t fit great for a MTM but at over 10 years old and my first decent suit still going strong I will wear it until it falls apart) and a charcoal solid. I mostly wore the two suits, and if anyone noticed they never said anything.

Getting to the question at hand, I’d say it depends on how often you wear sport coats and then which ones you choose. If you are 1-3 a week and own a Navy blazer that’s all you need. If you own something with a small pattern like puppytooth in a conservative color you could probably also get away with just one. Still ANYTHING other than a navy blazer would be hard to do. In fact if I only owned 2 sport coats I’d own a summer navy blazer and a winter navy blazer. If you are wearing bolder patterns, I’d make sure I didn’t wear then more than 1 or 2 times a week depending on how unique the jackets are. I’d try to avoid wearing anything other than a navy blazer 2 days in a row.

Ultimately without knowing someone’s particular situation it would be hard to answer, although I think the suggestion of 5-10 per season is absurd and certainly goes beyond “need.”

 

[Captain O]

I have between 7 and 9 sports jackets. This is enough for me to rotate them while keeping them tidy for wear.

 

[thedavidstarr]

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.

Even if you keep it simple re BLUE BLAZER as uniform you can own more than one. By weight by texture by season. I think it’s nice to own seasonal clothing. Even Floridians who enjoy clothing wear winter things in the winter. And your coloring matters. If you’re fair a camel hair blazer looks great. Earth tones/tweeds if you’re darker or just enjoy a more collegiate look