Posts Tagged ‘european navies’

A cheap pea coat (or pea jacket, pilot jacket) is an outer coat, usually of a navy-colored heavy wool, originally worn by sailors of European navies. Pea coats are characterized by broad lapels, double-breasted fronts, frequently big wooden or metal buttons, and vertical or slash pockets. Even though it first appeared within the early 19th century, modern day renditions nevertheless preserve the first design and composition.

A “bridge coat” is a pea coat that extends towards the thighs, and is really a uniform specifically for officers and Chief Petty Officers. The “reefer” is for officers exclusively, and is identical to the basic design but usually has gold buttons and epaulettes.

These days the style is regarded a traditional, and cheap mens pea coats are now donned by all method of people, not just professional sailors. Frequently worn by a woman, it’s often referred to as a Jackie O Jacket. This jacket is very related, but not the same as a trench coat.

Note that few of the jackets noticed on the street are genuine navy surplus; being a traditional garment, it is frequently available from retailers, though often with small design modifications that reflect the current fashion trends. The common for historical pea coats was 30 oz. wool, but presently coats are made from 22-32 oz. wool. Whilst cheap pea coats are offered in numerous colors by retailers, the U.S. Navy-issue pea coat is constantly dark blue.

The term “pea coat” originated in the Dutch or West Frisian term pijjekker, in which pij referred towards the kind of cloth used, which was known as “Pilot cloth” , a coarse type of twilled blue cloth with a nap on a single side. The cloth was sometimes known as P-cloth for that initial letter from the term and also the garment created from it absolutely was called a p-jacket – later cheap wool pea coats