First up is a 100% cotton twill engineers jacket and trousers (above) from Yarmo priced at £19.05 and £18.40 respectively. Not bad I thought, a nice shade of navy and not a million miles away from something Universal Works might have in one of their collections. The three button jacket has nice narrow lapels and the trews look reasonably slim. Team this up with a nice gingham check shirt and pull on some Jack Purcells and this ensemble could work I reckon. I did think they could have chosen a better model for their catalogue though.
Then there's a truly American piece of workwear, this Chore Coat from Pointer at £23.50 available in brown duck or denim. I liked this a lot, and could see myself not only wearing this, but paying four times the price for it at a fancy shop in Soho.
Next there's some combat pants from A.S. Elite workwear. These look good too, and cost just £12.45. The website doesn't say what they're made from (I'm guessing polycotton), but at this price, who cares?
Finally the Portwest Engineer's jacket. A nice simple design in 100% cotton, and a classic blue colour, almost like the Kelly jacket. Swap the daft shirt and tie for something by Olly Spencer and dump the pen, and this could look the business. The price tag looks good too at just £21.
So that's it. Not a bad selection and really cheap. If you get them home and find they aren't quite as cool as you expected, you could always wear them to fix the car or do the gardening in. And I'm quite sure if you trawl the net harder, you'll find better stuff that this. If you do, please send your recommendations my way.
I bought a pair of the Portwest engineers trousers and was surprised how good they were. The fabric seems good, and the traditional dark blue. the waistband is also at traditional height. The cut of the leg, to m
ReplyDeletey mind, is astonishingly good. It reminds me of the German army moleskin style of leg , which is my favourite style of trouser. They are very comfortable, of course this fabric washes and wears to wonderful shades of blue. Last year I bought a pair of this style by Faithful, and was a bit disappointed because it had been modernised, the waist lower and less comfortable, the leg narrower and less to my liking. The Portwest engineers trouser is a surprising gem. I recommend you get yourself a pair of this remarkably inexpensive and superb product. This is the real thing!
I have also ordered the Portwest jacket. I shall probably fold up the collar, and either fold it back down like a nehru Indian collar, which I usually do with engineers jackets[very simple to do, I just fold the collar in half, away from the neck, pin it in position around the neck, and when you sew it down, it make a very classic collar, a bit like a collarless shirt]. If it works well , I'll probably remove the poppers and replace with some buttons, probably the old traditional brownish workman's.