What Is a Peacoat?

Where does the peacoat come from?

The peacoat began as a sailor’s coat, and its English name was in print early in the 18th century: Merriam-Webster gives 1721 as the first known use of “pea jacket”. Merriam-Webster describes the garment as a heavy, double-breasted wool jacket originally worn by sailors. Dictionary.com dates the word to 1715–25 and describes the coat as worn by seamen, fishermen and others.

The coat stayed in naval use. In 2016 the US Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command wrote that sailors had been wearing the peacoat as a cold-weather topcoat for more than 200 years.

Fashion has borrowed it too. In 1966 Yves Saint Laurent made a dark blue, double-breasted wool twill couture coat that The Museum at FIT says was originally inspired by the naval peacoat. The museum adds that the dark blue, double-breasted coat quickly became one of his signature styles.

Why is it called a peacoat?

The dictionaries consulted here all connect the “pea” to Dutch, though they describe the route differently:

• Merriam-Webster derives “pea jacket” by folk etymology from Dutch pijjekker, from pij, a kind of cloth, and jekker, jacket.
• Dictionary.com treats “pea” as a variant of the late Middle English pee or pie, a coat of coarse woollen cloth, related to Dutch pij. It adds that the compound was perhaps modelled on a northern Frisian dialect word, pijekkat.
• The Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue records Scots pe, pee or pie, “a kind of (? loose-fitting, ? short) coat or jacket”, with citations from the late 15th century: a reference dated 1490 and a first quoted example from 1494 (“peys”). Its etymology note gives late Middle Dutch pîe, a coat of coarse woollen stuff, and compares the 18th-century English “pea-jacket”.

Is the pilot-cloth story true?

The pilot-cloth explanation is not supported by the dictionaries above. Pilot cloth is a heavy navy wool used for seamen’s coats. A 2016 Naval History and Heritage Command article, drawing on Connell and Mack’s book Naval Customs, Ceremonies, and Traditions, says the peacoat was originally made of pilot cloth, which “has also been viewed as a possible source of the name”. But Connell and Mack, as the article reports, conclude first that the term “possibly comes from” Dutch pij, and the article settles neither (“Whatever the source”). None of the three dictionaries mentions pilot cloth. The Scots record also shows the word in use as the name of a coat from the 1490s, quoted as peys in 1494, pe in 1498 and pee in 1506. On that evidence, treat the pilot-cloth idea as an unproven suggestion, offered as a possibility by Connell and Mack, not the documented origin of the word.

What makes a peacoat a peacoat?

A peacoat is a short coat in thick wool, usually double-breasted and navy, which is how Dictionary.com defines it. Each feature has a job:

• Short length. The Naval History and Heritage Command says the coat’s shortness, double-breasted fit and warmth have made it practical for movement and foul-weather use.
• Heavy wool cloth. The traditional cloth, pilot cloth, is described by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as a coarse, heavy, navy blue wool, usually in a twill weave with a raised, brushed finish.
• Double-breasted front. The fronts overlap and close with two rows of buttons, so two layers of cloth cover the chest.
• Navy blue. Dictionary.com says “usually” navy, so the colour is the norm rather than a rule.

The nearest look-alikes are easy to separate. A blazer is a tailored jacket worn as part of an outfit, over a shirt or light knit; a peacoat is outerwear in much heavier cloth, cut to go over other layers. A longer coat with the same double-breasted front is a different garment: length is part of what makes a peacoat a peacoat.

What are the main types of peacoat?

There are three broad kinds: the working sailor’s coat, the everyday coat cut in its image, and designer versions that keep the naval cues.

How do you tell a well-made peacoat?

Judge the cloth, the buttons and buttonholes, the collar and front, the sleeves and the hem: each can be checked in a fitting room with your hands and eyes. The checks below follow the clothing quality standards published by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension for Texas 4-H, which are written for sewn garments in general rather than for peacoats in particular.

The cloth

• Pilot cloth has a raised, brushed finish. On any brushed cloth, stroke each panel from collar to hem: the nap should run in the same direction on every part of the coat.
• Look closely at the surface. Traditional pilot cloth is usually a twill, so faint diagonal lines under the brushed surface are expected.

Buttons and buttonholes

A double-breasted coat has more buttons than most, which makes them a quick test.

• Each button should stand on a shank, of thread or part of the button, long enough to clear the thickness of the cloth it buttons through. Thick wool needs a real shank.
• Buttons should be sewn securely with double thread and neat stitches.
• Buttonholes should be cut with the grain, sized to the button and its thickness, stitched securely, with even “lips”, and backed by interfacing.

Collar and front

• Turn the collar up and fold it down again. Its outer seam should roll under, out of sight from the right side; the standards call for understitching to achieve this.
• Look along the fronts in raking light. Interfacing should lie flat and smooth, with no bubbles, wrinkles or folds, and should not show from the outside or change the colour or handle of the cloth.

Sleeves and fit

• The sleeve cap should be smooth and rounded, with no pleats or gathers unless they are part of the design.
• Stand with arms relaxed. The sleeve’s crosswise grain should sit parallel to the floor and its lengthwise grain perpendicular to it, with no diagonal wrinkles.
• Reach forward with both arms while buttoned. The sleeves should feel comfortable, with no binding.

Hem

• The hem should be firmly secured with a stitch suited to the cloth, and should not show on the right side.

Red flags

• Flat buttons sewn tight to thick cloth with no shank.
• Buttonholes with uneven lips or loose stitching.
• Bubbles or ripples across the front, or a collar seam visible from outside.
• Nap that changes direction between panels.
• Puckered or gathered sleeve caps on a plain design, or diagonal wrinkles down the sleeve.

How do you wear a peacoat?

Wear a peacoat as a short winter coat over knitwear, and buy it with room for that layer. Practical points:

• Try it on over a thick jumper. A peacoat is outerwear, so fit it over a turtleneck or heavy knit, not a shirt. Then do the reach-forward test above.
• Keep the trousers simple. Jeans or chinos suit the coat’s working origins and its short length.
• Check it buttoned. A double-breasted front is cut to be worn closed, so judge the fit with every working button done up.
• Add a scarf in cold wind and tuck it under the collar.
• Decide how naval you want it. Navy cloth with bright metal buttons leans nautical; dark buttons in a dark cloth look plainer. If you like the reference, it sits within military-inspired fashion.
• For milder, wetter days, a trench coat is a lighter alternative to heavy wool.