10 Best Stylish Technical Jackets For Autumn
By
3 hours ago
Combine style and substance with this pick of pieces guaranteed keep you warm this season
You don’t have to live in the British Isles to know we get a great deal of weather – and at this time of year, most of it isn’t particularly favourable. But in our age of tech and design innovation, there are a plethora of brands out there to shield you from the worst of Mother Nature’s wrath that combine both technical prowess and style kudos. C&TH men’s style editor Shane C. Kurup rounds up some of the finest designs to combat the meteorological shift this autumn and beyond.
10 Unique Technical Outerwear Pieces For Autumn
Ten c
Woodland jacket, £1,380
Ten c – an ironic acronym of The Emperor’s New Clothes – was founded by Alessandro Pungetti and Paul Harvey, both design alumni of cult technical street wear brand C.P. Company. Japanese fabrics and engineering are core pillars of the label, as is longevity in design. Its Woodland jacket, for example, is made from hardwearing 11oz Japanese jersey, dyed using natural pigments and is finished with a natural wax coating to keep you high and dry in the right sort of fashion.
66° North
Dyngja down vest, £320
While we certainly get our share of inclement weather, spare a thought for Icelanders, who deal with fickle microclimates where bright sunshine turns to torrential rain in minutes. This of course means they know how to dress for such conditions, and no brands embodies this better than 66° North. Both technical and edgy with a clean-cut Nordic sensibility, this Icelandic icon has a planet-first approach, prizing recycled and natural materials. Its Dyngja gilet is made with upcycled down and is warm yet ultra-lightweight – just the thing for an unpredictable British autumn.
ThruDark
Shroud camo insulated overcoat, £300
Poole-based ThruDark takes its cues from the utilitarian functionality of military garb. Its high-performance range of bombers, parkers, down and packable jackets each have their own merits, but a standout for this season is the Shroud insulated camouflage overcoat, which is cut from tear-resistant Cordura and lined with fleece. Best of all, that stealthy foliage-blending print will give you the air of an off-duty Forces man.
Sealskinz
Burlingham waterproof packable jacket, £145
Hailing from Norfolk – a county known for outdoor pursuits – Sealskinz has developed its technical gear with athletes, mountaineers, skiers, sailors and horse riders to ensure it performs in all weathers. As the name suggests, waterproofing is central to the brand’s designs, and its Burlingham jacket is fully impervious to water. As an added bonus, it packs up into its own pocket for easy transportation wherever you’re heading.
Paul Smith x Barbour
Paul Smith Loves Barbour Bedale wax jacket, £499
As an outdoor brand, Barbour needs little introduction – for the past 80 years, its waxed jackets have become a cult staple among both urban and country dwellers. This season, it’s received a touch of sartorial colour from another British design stalwart, Paul Smith, which has given its signature all-weather waxed jackets a natty spin. This Beadale jacket, with its multi-hued striped design is unmistakably Barbour and Smith at the same time and will ensure you standout in sea of army green and black.
Nanamica
Reversible KODENSHI® down cardigan, ¥42,900
Tokyo-based Nanamica has been making performance-first apparel since 1947. Blending understated Japanese aesthetics with western practicality, its reversible down cardigan is functional enough for the field, but smart enough to rock an urban gorpcore look. It’s filled with the brand’s KODENSHI® down that reflects infrared rays emitted by the body for exceptional thermo-regulation. Just choose from the plain or quilted side to switch it up.
Norwegian Rain
NR duffle coat, £1,080
Bergen, on Norway’s west coast, has the accolade of being the rainiest city in Europe. Resident label Norwegian Rain, knows a thing or two about dressing for wet weather and blends this know how with a Japanese sensibility, through both its fabrics and avant garde cuts. Its duffle coat has a slew of pockets for your personal effects – and even one for your favourite book – while the popper-button fastenings are a more functional take on traditional toggles. There’s also a detachable hood and shearling wool collar for maximum functionality. It will have you wishing for dark clouds on the horizon.
KASSL Editions
Original hip oil coat, £650
Less is more, so they say, and in the case of KASSL Editions, don’t let its clean-cut simplicity fool you. Something of a cult staple for sartorially fluent men who want to look the part even in a downpour, its raincoats are engineered in Germany and sport natural rubber fabrications, technical coatings and moisture-resistant taped seams. This water-repellent hip oil coat has been made from a coated cotton blend, giving it the swagger of a slick leather jacket with none of the drama when the rain starts hammering down.
K-Way
LE VRAI 4.0 Claude jacket, £120
Anyone who lived through the 80s and 90s will know about the fondness for K-Way, and the brand is enjoying a revival right now. It’s just opened its first UK flagship store – on Chelsea’s King’s Road, no less – and its ultra-lightweight packable waterproofs are still a byword for practical wet weather style. Its iconic LE VRAI jacket is ideal for layering and comes in a rainbow’s spectrum of colours. It folds up so neatly it can slot into one of your hiking boots when you’re on the road.
Vollebak
Full Metal jacket, £1,495
Since founding Vollebak, twin brothers Steve and Nick Tidball have been on a mission to design our wardrobe of the future. This Full Metal jacket is a fine example of their forward-thinking mindset. Made from a Swiss-developed material that incorporates 11km of copper – making its surface uninhabitable to bacteria and viruses – this sci-fi like cover-up has been engineered with an advanced triple-layer construction and high-tech membrane so it’s highly waterproof and windproof, but breathable. Beam me up, Scotty.
