As Joni Mitchell once sang, you don’t know what you got until it’s gone.
Earlier this year, one of Ring Jacket’s distributors, Taiwa, announced that they’re closing their operations. Ring Jacket’s US site, however, remained open for a few more months. It looks like that’s about to change. On September 6th, ringjacket.com will be completely taken offline, along with all of its stock. Someone associated with the company told me that Ring Jacket’s US plans are uncertain at this time. The only thing they know is that the website will be taken down on September 6th.
If you’ve ever wanted to get something, now is the time. To sweeten the pot, the company is offering an additional 25% off already discounted prices with the checkout code FAREWELL. They will also accept returns under their normal conditions. For readers in the United States, returns will be made domestically, making it easier to ship items back if things don’t work out.
In the last few months, I’ve been wearing Ring Jacket’s tailoring about once or twice a week, although all from The Armoury’s exclusive in-house collection (I like their Model 3). Unfortunately, The Armoury’s Model 3 isn’t included in this promotion, but you can find a breakdown of these RJ models in an old PTO post. Mitchell at Menswear Musings also has some photos of himself wearing some of these RJ models.
Some notables:
- A brown English tweed sport coat ($619). A wardrobe staple for anyone who wears tailored clothing. This brown checked tweed can be worn with tan or grey trousers, brown derbies or chukkas, and an oxford cloth button-down shirt. This specific jacket is made from undyed Marling & Evans wool. Typically, fabrics are made with dyed yarns, which allows them to take on a spectrum of colors. By working with undyed yarns, however, a weaver can create this unique taupe-y fabric with mottling.
- A beige and blue checked sport coat ($561). A nice choice for spring/ summer. The combination of blue and brown checks allows this to pair easily with almost anything in your wardrobe — tan chinos, grey flannel trousers, light blue shirts, etc.
- Tweed balmacaan coat ($750). Raglan sleeved topcoats are designed to be worn over tailored jackets, but I find they’re also a good substitute for sport coats. If you find that sport coats are too formal for your lifestyle, consider a raglan sleeved topcoat instead. It’ll give you some of the face-framing effects of tailoring, but little of the formality. This coat would look great with jeans, boots, and a cream-colored Aran sweater.
- Grey and orange checked sport coat ($561). I don’t know why, but I’ve been obsessed with autumnal sport coats with an orange overcheck lately. It can be challenging to wear non-traditional colors in tailoring — purple, red, and yellow mostly get passed over in favor of blue, grey, and brown (reasonably). But an orange overcheck seems like a nice way to add some color to your wardrobe while still being conservatively dressed. I think this jacket would look great with brown five-pocket cords.
- Olive serge suit ($673): I love olive-colored suits that almost look grey. The color feels more sophisticated to me than green suits in other shades, and it’s conservative enough for “serious occasions.” At the same time, it can also be the suit you wear for going out to nice bars and restaurants without looking like you’re wearing business clothes. The Armoury has the ideal “nighttime suit” in the form of a green-grey mohair-wool blend suit, but this one is just $673 and might serve as a more affordable substitute.
You can find the entire sale selection at Ring Jacket’s website.
