Grey Herringbone Wool Blend Crombie Coat for Men

Would not have guessed it but a hood coming out over the collar looks completely fine with this, better than it does with a fitted coat. The relaxed cut is what makes it work. Wear it that way at weekends and the other way for work and it does not look like the same coat.

Over a suit into the office and then straight out afterwards without it looking like the office coat, which is a specific thing I wanted and did not think I would find. The relaxed shape helps because it does not read as formal on its own. Been doing that most Fridays and it has not let me down onece.

Went over the whole thing when it arrived, inside and out, and there is not a loose thread anywhere. The lining is properly finished at the armholes too. Nothing to fix.

You would think losing the bottom third of a coat would cost you a lot of warmth and it barely does, because most of what you lose is around the shins and your legs are moving anyway. The cloth is thick enough that the top half of you is properly covered. I have been out in it for a couple of hours at a time in real cold with a jumper underneath and been comfortable.

This was the whole reason I wanted a relaxed cut. A suit jacket goes under it with room to spare and nothing bunches at the shoulders or pulls at the armhole, which is where most coats fail that test. I wear it over a suit three days a week and over a jumper the rest of the time and it works both ways without looking like it was made for the other one.

My father wore a coat almost exactly like this for the whole of the eighties and I can picture him in it standing at a bus stop. Bought this without really admitting to myself that was why. It is a bit unsettling putting it on because I look like him in the hall mirror, but I have made my peace with that and he would have approved of the price. He would also have said it was too loose.

The two flap pockets are deep and wide enough that a pair of gloves goes in alongside a phone without either of them working their way out. I lose gloves constantly and I have not lost one since October, which I am putting down to the pockets rather than any improvment in me.

The shoulders sit wider than my own by a fair margin, which is part of the relaxed cut and looks deliberate on a bigger frame. I am narrow up there and on me it reads a bit borrowed. If you are slim through the shoulders be aware it will hang off you. Its the one thing I would change.