Surgeon’s Jacket (Tweed) by Nigel Cabourn

I recently bought a tweed jacket made by Nigel Cabourn. It’s a limited edition based on an original worn by Edward Atkinson, the surgeon on the ill-fated Scott expedition to the South Pole in 1912.

I really like this pattern: typically Edwardian with narrow lapels, slight waist, fixed half belt, and full skirt and rear vents. Four button fastening (with a fifth reversed to close the front in poor weather and a throat clasp). Two patch pockets to the chest with horn button closure and two flapped pockets to the waist. Four button functional cuffs with leather backing, lined sleeves, piped hems, vintage old stock lining.

The attention to detail is superb and it’s a high quality garment-the horn buttons are beautifully cut. It’s hard to capture the depth of colours in the cloth: a two-tone grey background with a narrow herringbone in mid brown and a vertical red selvedge. A really subtle combination and the finish really looks vintage, although it was commissioned and woven specifically for this project. It’s a medium weight tweed (the jacket weighs around 1kg), but a really good insulator so it’s very wearable.

I also bought the corduroy version of the jacket, which is not labelled as a special edition, and I’ll compare the two in another post. It shares most of the features and construction, but it lacks some of the authentic features of the original (the vents, fifth button, throat clasp, Melton lining under the collar, and the half belt).

The sleeves are about 3/4” too long, but the functional (surgeons’ cuffs) make the alteration tricky, so the corduroy is being shortened at the crown of the sleeve by an excellent family of tailors that I found in Bristol. This is the dry run for the tweed if all goes well.

More images of the Surgeon’s jacket.

Wow!

It’s a stunning piece of work. I’m a vocal advocate of Will Brown, at Old Town, from whom I buy most of my clothes. The corduroy Surgeon’s jacket is of a similar quality to Old Town, but this tweed is perhaps even a little better.
Once the sleeves have been altered, it will be my go to jacket for work on colder days.

Beautiful jacket! I just got into Harris Tweed myself and it is incredible.

Resurrecting a very old thread, but single-/bloody-minded persistence has paid off and a beautiful example of this jacket in the largest size has turned up. The brown tweed Akinson's jacket is my favourite pattern and weight, but the size 3 (equivalent to a 40"-42") has always been very snug whereas this is a 42"-44" which is my usual size. I shan't post new images as the jackets are identical save the numerical label and the issue label.



The actual dimensions of the size 4 (measured today, fastened and laid flat) are chest 23" (59 cm), shoulder 18.5" (47 cm), back length 30" (76 cm), and sleeve 26" (67 cm). This fits comfortably around the chest for me.

A reflectionon buying again from Japan, which I'll share with you as I've finally worked out the operation and it's convoluted. I have previously bought throught a Japanese agent, which is painless and much smoother, but that really only happens once you have ironed out the sizing and they intervene.

I bought this jacket twice, and requested measurements a third time. The first EBAY purchase was from another seller and was around $80 higher. The jacket was advertised without measurements but with the message that buyers should check sizing after purchase. I was suspicious, but this is a really rare jacket (and my favourite tweed in the smaller size) so I hit buy it now and took a chance. When I queried dimensions they were given as chest 57 cm, shoulder 42.5 cm, back length 76.5 cm, and sleeve 65 cm.; it all looked oo small. I followed up and was told that Japanese sizing is smaller and I cancelled the order.

The same images were shown on another Japanese EBAY listing (but cheaper): I queried the measurements and was told
chest 55 cm, shoulder 47 cm, back length 76.5 cm, and sleeve 65 cm.; I asked whether the chest measurement could be checked and was politely told no (huge store, very large stock, etc.). I decided to risk it and made an offer which was accepted.

The jacket images appeared a third time on EBAY, I contacted that seller and was given a third set of measurements, corresponding to the second set. - chest 55 cm, shoulder 47 cm, back length 76.5 cm, and sleeve 65 cm.

Deeply suspicious, I contacted 'my seller' queried this new listing and was told that this was posted in error by 'one of his team' and that it would be taken down (it was, but a couple of days later). I double checked that I would get the numbered jacket in the images; which I have now received.

So, the lesson is that the quality control on garment measurements is poor - presumably done quickly or transcribed without as much care. It's risky as the the initial chest measurements looked snug, and the shoulder unfeasibly narrow.

A store seems to give agents permission to advertise the same jacket with the same images and get what they can for it within a set price range; presumably on commission.

Risky and worrying, but the initial refund was prompt and complete and the jacket arrived in beautiful condition, laudered and pressed, immaculately wrapped, and I'm really delighted with it. On the other hand, it could have been a disaster as the Cabourn prices are strong, particularly for limited edition garments.

The search for the correct size jacket for me in this pattern has gone on for a while as it's such a rare item. According to the relase publicity from Nigel Cabourn each of the 12 individual 'Scott Last Expedition' each item design (boots, pullover, tweed, over trousers, balaclava, etc.) was made in 100 items and so this jacket was made in four sizes (36-38, 38-40, 40-42, 42-44) and the largest size probably warranted the smallest allocation in Japan..

Finally, the Size 3 jacket (40-42) will now be put up for sale.

Glad it finally worked out for you. Painful process, but hopefully was worth it. Online sellers are horribly inconsistent with sizing.

I recently had to move on a beautiful California Sportswear jacket from yahoo japan that should have been perfect, but turned out to be at least 2 sizes larger than advertised.