Mens pea coat styles have always been regarded as a classic outerwear. These coats go back to the 1700s when they were designed for males in the military. By the mid twentieth century, the pea coat, also called sailor jacket, started to become a popular fashion for women. Although the coat still maintains the hip length with double breasted style, they were basically the same. Today, you can find different types including men, women, winter, spring, tailored and swing styles.
Swing pea coats are designed with an outward flare from the waist. These still end at the hip, similar to the original styles, but resemble a tent from the waistline. These are the styles available for women in spring and winter fabrics. This style is often designed with wide kimono sleeves like jacket, which is tapered outward from top to bottom.
The tailored pea coat styles have shaping details, like vertical seam work. The tailoring helps to make the coats more slimming, since the original style was not the most complementing for shorter and fuller body types. These coats might also have a vent at the back and a vertical opening at the middle edge at the coat bottom.
The most popular material for the pea coat is wool, which is ideal for winter or the cooler spring months. Some other materials used include denim, corduroy, cotton and khaki. These materials are lighter and more casual for the spring styles. Essentially the most elegant, luxurious materials used to make these coats would be the ultra-soft wool from goats called cashmere.
The pea coats for men can be found in classic colors, like tan and blue. All the coats are double breasted, which means that they are designed with two rows of buttons instead one button row like most outerwear. Even though most of the mens pea coat styles have six buttons, you can find some with just four large ones.