If I Could Only Own One Jacket, It'd Be This One

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Hey y'all, I'm Luke, and I've got a jacket problem. It's become a bit of a stressor on my relationship. My wife understands the RRL Type III trucker I wear most days, but she can't fathom why I have a 1960's deadstock Big-E Levi's model that looks the exact same. (It's an investment.) She doesn't love how much vintage shopping I do or when I have to occupy the living room and wax the Barbour. She's really on edge because I just rewatched Band of Brothers, and she happened to look over my shoulder and see how much a Buzz Rickson's reproduction airborne jacket costs. I told her we can compromise on an issued M43 that's in stock at Americana Pipedream, and she threatened to take away my credit card.

I think it comes from my dad. He's got like two or three Arc'teryx jackets. The closet at home has more North Faces, L.L.Bean barn coats, hunting jackets, and waxed jackets than any man could ever make use for. I guess these behaviors are learned.

If this were an addiction I actually cared about beating, I would cut it all down to one jacket. If I had to live the rest of my life with one jacket to rule them all. (We're excluding suits and blazers, obviously.) If I had one casual jacket for the rest of my life, it'd be the Filson Tin Cloth, the short trucker version. It's the only one that can do it all.

Florence Sullivan

It'll Replace a Trucker

I'm a sucker for the trucker shape. It's flattering and more workman-like than a double-vented jacket that came from militaria and equestrian riding. It, and it's cousin the station jacket, are more American than the chore coat. Like a shorter body tee, cutting the body at the waist just looks good on every guy.

This short Filson Tin Cloth Cruiser, not the classic long one, does that. I've always found the Flint and Tinder jacket that Pedro Pascal wears in The Last of Us falls slightly too low on my body. A Flison cruiser is cut a little higher, and a bit more snug. It just fits damn-near perfect. I think guys, the ones into fashion, have gone off the rails with some of the shit they'll wear. If you threw on a short Filson cruiser, you'll look better than any of the guys to the left or right of you on the fashion spectrum.

Shop $360, filson.com

Florence Sullivan

It'll Replace a Rain Jacket

Ok, this one is a stretch, but I'll stand by it. One of our style writers made this same hot take, and I'm all for it. My thinking is, first, when was the last time you really got poured down on? For me, it was walking from the bus stop to my place in Brooklyn in the middle of a summer storm. Sure, that Arc'teryx Beta kept my torso dry, but my legs were soaked. A Barbour and a hat would've done the same thing.

I could replace both those jackets with this Filson cruiser. You just have to understand that if the sky is going to open up, you're going to get wet. Unless you're in head-to-toe rain gear, a 14-ounce waxed cotton trucker is totally fine. Take an umbrella if it's going to really rain. And as for anything less than a downpour, I feel like a tool wearing an Arc'teryx shell. I'm not mountaineering, I'm walking to a bar. This jacket is technically built for the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, but it doesn't scream that. Plus, despite everything you've been told, heavy waxed cotton will age one-hundred times better than petro-derived hard shells. This jacket is a lifetime investment.

Shop $360, filson.com

Florence Sullivan

Any Guy Can Rock It

The thing about my other jackets—and why even after all this theorizing, I won't stop buying—is they're specific to my interests. RRL, military stuff, English heritage brands, these aren't niche interests, but I don't share them with my buddy that's always wearing Lululemon. He tells me I look crazy in my getup; I tell him the same. This Filson jacket, however, works with anything. If you're in Lululemon pants, a golf polo, and white sneakers, wear it in the pictured navy or maybe the gray. If you're going to hardcore shows, get it in black. If you're into the traditional Americana thing, get it in fatigue green or khaki. In any instance, it just works. It's the ultimate five-to-nine off-duty jacket.

And that's really the thesis of what I'm saying here. If any guy came up to me and said they want to be a One Jacket Guy, this is the jacket I'd hand him. It looks as good, if not better, than most of what's out there. It's built to take a beating, and it'll last so much longer than all the high-performance nonsense you've been sold. Per usual, the classic thing is the best thing.

Will I drink my own Kool-Aid and cut down on my jacket arsenal? No. I'm buying that Buzz Rickson's reproduction as soon as I have a good weekend at the sportsbook. But if I were to make the sensible decision, a decision that satisfied me in all realms of jacket-owning, this is the jacket I'd turn to.

Shop $360, filson.com

Photographs by Florence Sullivan