Men's Clothes Guide J

Welcome to the J section of the Men's Clothes Guide. This letter is small - two topics - but few letters carry more of a man's actual week. The letter J belongs to jackets and jeans: the layer he pulls on over everything else, and the trouser he probably wears more than all his other trousers combined. Between them they cover the shoulder seasons and the whole calendar, the commute and the weekend, and two of the deepest craft traditions in clothing - outerwear construction and denim weaving.

Are there more clothing categories that start with the letter J? Well, the answer is probably yes - please keep in mind that we are only human. If you know other men's apparel categories that you think should be listed in this directory, please do not hesitate to contact us with your suggestions. Until another J topic earns its place, the letter stays focused: one guide to the garment that finishes an outfit, and one to the garment that starts most of them.

Two Topics, Two Crafts

The jackets guide starts from the basic definition - a mid-stomach-length garment for the upper body, lighter, tighter-fitting and less insulating than a coat - and builds the whole buying method on it: read the shell for weather and duty, the lining for glide and warmth, and the closures for one-handed honesty, then choose among the bomber, the field jacket, the denim trucker, the leather jacket, the puffer and the rain jacket by the job each was designed to do. Fit is tested the way jackets are actually worn - over the bulkiest honest layer, arms raised, sitting down, every closure fastened.

The jeans guide starts a century and a half earlier, with the blue jeans Jacob W. Davis and Levi Strauss & Co. introduced in 1871 for cowboys and miners, and follows the trouser through greasers, hippies, punk rock and heavy metal to the modern fit wall. Its real subject is the cloth itself: indigo denim's warp-faced twill, dyed warp and white weft, the white core inside every warp thread that produces denim's signature fading, and the construction inheritance of rivets, chain stitching and selvedge edges. Between the two guides, nearly every question a man asks about his most-worn clothes has a home in this letter.

Using This Letter

Use the grid below as the letter's complete map: both topics are listed exactly once, in alphabetical order, and each guide covers its topic in full detail - styles and construction, fit and sizing, and the care that keeps the garment in service for years. The alphabet bar above reaches every other letter of the Men's Clothes Guide: I is the small letter of Izod shirts just before this one, and K opens the world of knitwear just after. Small letters are part of an honest directory - the guide lists the topics men actually look up, one letter at a time, whether the letter brings sixty guides or, like this one, two essentials done properly.

The Letter J Invitation

This section is the guide to men’s fashion that starts with the letter J. Are there more clothing categories that start with the letter “J”? Well, the answer is probably yes — please keep in mind that we are only human. If you know other men’s apparel categories that you think should be listed in this directory, the invitation to suggest them stands. Its two topics, jackets for men and jeans for men, are the guides in the grid below.