So what’s the difference between a suit jacket, a blazer and a sports jacket? These very similar pieces of men’s clothing aren’t in fact the same.
Let’s start with the most straightforward and the most formal. The suit jacket is simply a jacket tailored to be worn as part of a suit; i.e. with matching trousers and possibly waistcoat. It is the most formal of the three possibilities and therefore tends to be tailored from fabrics that are perceived as formal.
The most common are fabrics like wool, flannel or cotton which have subtle textures and colours. It’s the reason you are unlikely to see many suits tailored form denim though you do occasionally see some tailored from other less formal fabrics such as corduroy.
Suits are designed to be worn with a tie, though increasingly this is ignored.
The blazer is a less formal jacket designed to be worn with contrasting trousers. It is less formal primarily in the choice of fabrics which are often textured or patterned, or decorated with contrasting buttons. The traditional blazer was navy, often double breasted, and burnished with brass or gold buttons. One legend goes that the name blazer comes from the visit of Queen Victoria to HMS Blazer in 1837 whose crew all dressed up in navy blue double breasted jackets with gold buttons in preparation for the royal visit. The Queen was so impressed that this became the uniform of the navy and the name of the ship became the name of the jacket, the Blazer.
For Brits Blazer is simply the name we use for any jacket designed to be worn as a separate. Some people choose to wear a suit jacket as a separate. It’s often quite difficult to do this well. Many suit jackets simply don’t work quite so well if they are separated from the trousers with which they were designed to be worn. IF wearing a suit Jacket as a blazer a suit jacket made from a patterned fabric, such as a Prince of Wales check, might work better than simply wearing your navy suit jacket as a navy blazer.
Blazers are often tailored from textured and patterned fabrics such as Tweed, Seersucker or linen. Those tailored for warm weather wear are often unlined. In my view a well tailored blazer should fit as well as your suit jacket. indeed because it is worn in less formal settings, in recent years my blazers have become ever more fitted. My suit jackets as more formal garments need to be not quite so fitted. Blazers can be dressed up with a tie and tailored trousers, or dressed down with open necked shirt, and chinos or even shorts.
Then there is the sports jacket. This is a term that is not widely used in the UK. Our American friends however are far more likely to use the term. The background to this jacket is in outdoor sports, primarily hunting and fishing. Obviously very few people still wear a jacket when they go hunting. However, a few still do and these jackets are referred to as sporting jackets, which are the ancestors of the Sports Jacket. Traditional country clothing outfitters like Cording’s still sell sporting jackets, which have clever detailing built into the back of the jacket to allow greater freedom of movement.
Because the origin of the sports or sporting jacket was primarily meant to be worn in the great outdoors, they are often tailored from hard wearing fabrics like tweed, wool or corduroy, which also have the benefit of keeping the wearer warm. They are functional so sometime come with elbow patches to minimise wear and tear. Sports Jackets also often have either patch pockets, easy to access if wearing gloves, or flap pockets which keep the contents more securely in place if riding or running. Indeed one Jermyn Street retailer explained to me that for them this was the dividing line between a blazer and sports jacket; if it had external pockets, i.e. patch or flap pockets they deemed it a sports jacket. Otherwise it was a blazer
Sports Jackets are traditionally designed to be a looser fit, to allow greater freedom of movement. It is the most casual of these three and would almost never be worn with a tie, unless you belong to the hunting set who actually hunt in a shirt and tie. In which case, you probably refer to it as a sporting jacket. The example above from Cording’s is called an action back sporting jacket.
In practice, most Brits probably refer to anything that’s not a suit jacket as a blazer whereas most Americans would use the term sports jacket. Whilst it matters little what term you use, probably best not to to wear blazer or sports jacket when you should be wearing a suit.
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