This is the Stetson Denim Sherpa Jacket, it’s a retro wardrobe staple made from high-quality 100% cotton denim, with chest and hard-warmer pockets, adjustable back tabs, and straight front and back yokes.
Stetson are better known for their hats of course, but they also make a range of apparel for both men and women, as well as boots, belts, wallets, and money clips.
History Speedrun: Stetson
Stetson started out back in 1865 in a one-room workshop at 7th and Callowhill streets in Philadelphia. Its founder, John B. Stetson, was born in Orange, New Jersey, in 1830, the son of a hatter, and left school to learn his father’s trade. Tuberculosis soon sent him west for his health, and he spent time prospecting for gold in Colorado before later returning east.
Company lore says that in Colorado he made himself a wide-brimmed felt hat, which a passing bullwhacker liked to much he bought it for a $5 gold piece. In Philadelphia he turned the idea into the Boss of the Plains, a flat-brimmed hat with a high, rounded crown inspired by the sombreros of vaqueros. He mailed samples to merchants throughout the Southwest, asking for a minimum order of a dozen. It was a risky move, but it paid off, and the orders soon started rolling in.
Production moved in 1874 to a factory site on the edge of Kensington that grew to almost nine acres. Stetson ran it like a family, workers got company stock, a building and loan association, a library and a free dispensary that became a hospital in 1887. When he died in 1906, the company was making close to two million hats a year.
Many men gave up hats after World War II as styles changed, and revenue fell from $29 million in 1947 to just $8 million by 1968. As a result, the Philadelphia plant closed in 1971, and Stetson turned to licensing, with much of its hatmaking done in St. Joseph, Missouri.
After a 1986 bankruptcy, production passed in 1987 to the company now called Hatco, maker of Resistol hats in Garland, Texas. Hatco closed the St. Joseph plant in 2004 and moved the work to Garland, where Stetson’s signature hats are still made to this day.
The Stetson Denim Sherpa Jacket
The Stetson Denim Sherpa Jacket is a classic Western-style denim jacket made from 100% cotton and finished in traditional blue. It has a trucker jacket silhouette, with a button-front closure, pointed collar, and what Stetson calls Western-inspired detailing.
The jacket has a faux-sherpa lining through the body and collar, providing insulation for the cooler months. The sleeves have a nylon lining, making it easier to put the jacket on and take it off over long-sleeved shirts or sweaters. Additional features include welt-style handwarmer pockets, chest pockets with curved flaps, and adjustable tabs at the rear of the waist for a closer fit.
Stetson-branded metal buttons and rivets are used throughout, and it’s designed to work as a practical outer layer for everyday wear, with the toughness of cotton denim and the warmth of a lined jacket. It sells for $150 USD, with sizes ranging from S through to 3XL. You can visit the store listing here if you’d like to read more or get your own.
Images courtesy of Stetson
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
