The Fleece Vest

The fleece has become something of a cold weather calling card for us over the last few seasons. We’ve made one from Casentino wool, that famous Florentine fabric beloved by everyone from Franciscan monks to Pitti Peacocks to serious hikers and climbers. There have been full zips, half zips and versions with and without sleeves. It’s an item of clothing that lends itself comfortably to updates and adaptations. 

As autumn draws closer, we’ve launched a Fleece Vest style with a full zip. It's a piece that’s as at home worn over a rugby jersey and under an overcoat - keeping out the chill of the city - as it is on long and bracing walks in countryside, on the beach, or manning the wheel of a pleasure cruiser on a windy weekend. Whereas many pile fleeces are heavy on synthetic fibres, ours is made from a densely knitted Italian boucle jersey with a high concentration of pure wool. The result is a vest with the feel of premium knitwear that retains the sporty and versatile aesthetic of a classic pile fleece.

Combining elements of the 70s heyday of colourful American hiking gear; Ivy style; the Great British outdoors and, with the sporty white zip (a design signature), bright blue colour and embroidered Drake's flag emblem, there's also something of the Italian Paninaro — the Eighties youth movement where trendy Milanese dressed themselves in blue jeans, deck shoes, smart shirts and bright, nautically-inflected outerwear. 

With bound edges, cover stitching, ribbed tape, two roomy inside mesh pockets and an elasticated hem, the Fleece Vest is designed to be worn out in the elements. A meticulous piece of outerwear that you'll want to reach for again and again. On trips to the great outdoors and trips just outside of your front door.

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