J. Keydge - Slack Jacket

To the student readers of The Tweed Pig, might I suggest a robust jacket that will not only hold your pens, pipe, mints, prayer book and spectacles, but endure the knocks and scrapes of academic life.

The J. Keydge Slack Jacket, 'devoid of any needless artificial features' and with an emphasis on 'flexibility, comfort and lightness', will see you through all scholastic situations — whether you intend to be protesting or procrastinating, this jacket will see you right.

J. Keydge is a Paris-based company that scored an instant hit with their Slack Jacket when it was originally brought to market in the early 1990s. The popularity of the jacket gained traction first in Italy and has acquired a loyal following in most well-dressed enclaves. I think the company started in the 1970s, but I'm not going to continue looking for a precise date, because we won't gain much from knowing will we?

Let's concentrate on the jackets themselves. J. Keydge (a pretend name concocted by the company's founder, François Ferdinand) produce summer and winter versions of the Slack Jacket; so called because of its casual Ivy appeal, with a soft-shouldered unstructured style and relaxed construction — jeans-like double-stitching and patch pockets.

Summer options might be released in Madras cotton or seersucker. Heavier and warmer fabrics come to the fore in winter, like the Ivy cord jacket in autumnal orange above and the lambswool Ivy below.

The Slack Jacket has never been made in France (origin is all-American, design is in accordance with French know-how), but if they're now made in China, that might be something actually worth protesting about.