Travel Coat

A travel coat for the serious professional traveller has a specific set of requirements: it must be light enough to pack, structured enough to put on upon arrival without looking as though it has spent six hours in a bag, warm enough for cool climates, and well-made enough to look correct in a boardroom or a client dinner. At The Black Lapel, we make travel coats in lightweight wool-cotton blends and fine travel-weight wools that meet all of these requirements.

Read the full guide to the travel coat.

Clients who travel to cooler cities and want a coat cut to their shoulders and length.

Cloth from Ermenegildo Zegna, Holland & Sherry, Scabal, Dormeuil, Vitale Barberis Canonico, Roger La Viale and Raymond: year-round worsteds, tropical and high-twist weaves for Chennai, flannels for cooler cities, linen and silk-wool blends.

Any size. There is no size chart: the pattern is drafted from your own measurements, so tall, short, broad and asymmetric builds are cut as they are.

Lead time. Confirmed at the consultation; plan on the suit timeline of four to six weeks, longer if the cloth is ordered in.

Fittings. Two fittings: a basted fitting in your own cloth at week two or three, and a final fitting before finishing. A third is added if the fit demands it.

Brush after each wear, rest it a day on a shaped hanger, steam rather than press at home, and dry-clean as rarely as possible. Repairs and re-pressing come back to us.

We do not publish a price list; the cloth decides most of the number. What moves it is the cloth first, then the construction (full or half canvas, hand-padded lapels, hand-worked buttonholes), then the complexity of the cut.

• Entry. An Indian mill wool such as Raymond, half-canvassed, in a plain two-button cut.
• Mid. An imported British or Italian worsted from Holland & Sherry, Vitale Barberis Canonico, Dormeuil or Roger La Viale.
• Top. Super 130s to 150s and above from Zegna or Scabal, full canvas, with hand-finished details.

By appointment at the Adyar atelier. Book on WhatsApp (+91 98414 31402), by phone, or through the website; walk-ins are welcome when we are not with another client. Measurements are taken in person; outstation and NRI clients have fittings planned around their trips to Chennai.