Gabardine overshirt - From concept to reality
Our latest project is a gabardine overshirt, inspired by the classic vintage military shirt and we're extremely excited to share it with you. We've been working on this since the beginning of the year with some small setbacks due to lockdowns here and abroad however we are now close to delivering our most exciting garment to date. If you've been with us a while you will know we started with just a few t-shirts but the vision was always to delve into men's tailoring and produce some real high quality menswear that 'we' would want to wear and this is us starting to realise that vision. The pictures you will see in this article are of an early prototype and is not the finished garment.
What we love about using military uniforms for inspiration is that everything has a purpose and out of that need for functionality comes fashion. Taking inspiration from past designs, we wanted to retain that vintage military style but also add some modern functionality by making this a full zip shirt as opposed to using classic buttons. Continuing on the theme of functionality, we added a 'hidden' pocket on the left chest which is accessed via a zipper and creates a third pocket space, unbeknown to anyone else.
Crafted from gabardine cotton, the fabric has been cut and sewn to create the shirt and then taken to the dye house, where it undergoes a garment dyeing process. If you're unfamiliar with garment dyeing, it's the process of dyeing clothes after they've been made. It gives the fabric depth and that worn appearance we all know and love. The overshirt will be available in two colours - off black and military green. At the time of writing this we have achieved the perfect off black but are still working on the military green with the dye house (we are close). So far we've been through over twenty different shades of green and we will keep going until we get the perfect shade.
The fit and form of the garment is something we can say with confidence is perfect. Our expert tailors knew exactly how we wanted this to fit and they have delivered. Rest assured you will be feeling comfortable and confident in our overshirt - we'll be sure to get this modelled and shot for you guys so you can see for yourselves before you purchase.
A completely new badge has been developed to go on the arm, crafted from black boiled wool and embroidered with our white Apostle head logo. The question was then how we were going to wear the badge on the arm. We debated sewing the badge directly onto the sleeve but that seemed too obvious. Velcro was then considered as most modern uniforms now have velcro patches but it didn't feel right. Finally, we decided on a badge that could be secured using small pop buttons which felt more vintage and classy than velcro (no offence velcro). More classic metal pop buttons have been used for the pockets and cuffs, embossed with the Apostle 'A' for that classic look and of course the Union flag has been sewn on the left chest, pride of place.
Production has started and we're on track to have these on pre-order by the end of September. Keep an eye out for more updates and photos on our mailing list and social media.