I don’t know what it is about a tan summer suit or sportcoat, but even when I was a teenager I liked how it looked. One of the first suits my parents bought for me when I was old enough to be part of the buying process was a shade of tan (though in a gabardine wool or something). And looking back, I think I’ve bought, worn and sold around 10 different tan jackets—all looking for the perfect one. Unfortunately the fashion cycle that makes certain color hues popular have just not been on my side this past decade. Usually there’s something about the color of the tan that turns me off—sometimes it’s too yellow, sometimes it’s too beige. Sometimes the fabric isn’t great or the style details aren’t to my liking. I think I’ve explored most of the different variations that you can in this realm. Read on for an overview of those, and at the end are links to the long list of great looking tan sport coats and suits this season from my favorite retailers.
Cotton khaki twill
The easiest to ones to find are unstructured and made in cotton twill fabric like you’d find on chinos. Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, J.Crew all make them. In fact two of the first ones I bought were cotton jackets like this. They can be a slightly more dressed up alternative to a lightweight jacket, but as a warm-weather fabric, the dense twill is not your friend. That said, since they exist on the casual end, they’re easy to throw on and look good with jeans, and even just a t-shirt underneath.
Cotton suiting
Cotton suiting is also a route I explored, and in fact that was my very first foray into this realm. In 2008 I bought a cotton sateen stretch suit from Express, which I wore for a few years, including at my university graduation. Today, I’d avoid the sheen of something like that and go for Drake’s in cotton drill, which is another twill. It’s not going to keep you very cool in the hottest, most humid temps, but on the flip side it can be worn in the cold months and still look good. Drake’s creative director Michael Hill wears their cotton drill suits, and favors them because they gain so much character after lots of wear, much like a pair of raw jeans do. Other brands like Brooks Brothers, Southwick, Hickey Freeman, and Samuelsohn make tan cotton suits, too, in poplin. But of course, I prefer the style and design of the European makers.
Pure linen
Linen is the natural summer fabric choice for something like this, for those who embrace the wrinkles it brings. Heavier Irish linen has a better drape than lightweight linen like most Italian mills make, but almost defeats the purpose of linen if your intent is to have something that wears cool in the heat. Either way, a broken in wrinkled tan linen sportcoat is an awesome thing. Worn with pale blue shirt and white or off-white trousers, you can’t go wrong. I’ve never owned a pure linen jacket myself, though I almost pulled the trigger on one last season from Spier & Mackay in a light brown glen plaid fabric.
Linen blends
I have, however, owned one in a linen blend, which is probably the best way to go. Wool-silk-linen is a fairly typical blend of fabrics that helps even out the wrinkle of the linen fibers while also adding visual texture all its own. One such sportcoat I had that I felt was just about the perfect color was from PoLo Ralph Lauren (I ultimately sold it because I preferred the design and styling of other makers). There’s also just a plain wool-linen, like the gorgeous and perfect Sartoria Carrara jacket at No Man Walks Alone made in a Marling & Evans cloth from last year.
The most recent tan jacket I owned looked like a linen blend but was in fact something different: hemp and wool. After buying and reselling time after time and feeling neurotic about it, a few years ago I just decided to buy something and accept it. I wore it a few years but ultimately, the beige color just wasn’t my favorite. Actually I owned two different hemp jackets over the years; I’d owned then sold an earlier, chunkier fabric that was much more “greige” and was 100% hemp, which I was dissatisfied with the length of back in 2015.
This season’s outstanding crop of tan jackets and suits
This season it’s like every shop I normally buy from has a tan jacket in a beautiful, just-about-right color. When it rains, it pours! Where were all these 5 years ago?!
That previously mentioned No Man Walks Alone x Carrara jacket is the top choice right now (though it’s sold out in nearly every size at this point).
My new favorite entry-level tailoring shop Natalino has a pure linen jacket in what they call “rope” that looks very appealing in the studio photos.
Drake’s is also carrying pure linen suit separates in a warm shade of tan that feels just right.
The other stand-by’s for entry-level Suitsupply and Spier & Mackay typically do something in an attractive shade of tan or light brown each year, this year being no exception. Spier’s is a linen-wool blend jacket in a lighter tan called “sand.” Suitsupply’s best offering is a light tan in an unstructured model.
The Armoury has a wonderful linen herringbone jacket (albeit in their ventless Model 12).
They also have an all-silk hopsack cloth tan jacket in their Model 3 that looks really great.
Anglo-Italian has a slightly darker tan linen herringbone in their excellent single breasted model, as well as a khaki suit.
Polo Ralph Lauren has a 3-piece suit separate in plain cotton stretch, and a jacket in a bizarro stretch fabric combo that nonetheless looks pretty good.
How about you? Does the tan summer sportcoat hold such a powerful sway over you as it does me? Let me know in the comments below! And which of the ones I linked is your favorite?
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Great post, and totally hear you on the quest! I found something quite good, very similar to your Finer-weave hemp-wool blend Eidos. Mine is by Ermenegildo Zegna Couture, an awesome w/s/l blend by them. It’s a 3-roll-2, the 3rd buttonhole is fully visible on the lapel. The fabric is magic, the colour is great (I’d say perfect), the construction is very soft and light, and it is quarter-lined. A near-perfect summer jacket. If only the lapels were 1cm broader (or 2 to approach the NMWA one) it would have been the end-all light summer jacket for me.
That being said, that Eidos of yours is a close second for me, the top choice being the NMWA (the only tiny downside: the lapel could be a 0.5-1cm narrower), and the third being the ‘bizarro’ PRL (very similar to my Zegna too, with the same narrower lapels).
I gotta ask: why did you return the all-linen S&M and the ‘big’ honey Eidos? In my view, they both fit perfectly.