Vetra was founded in 1927 with the motto “ever lasts” and it’s easy to see why. For almost all of their century-long history, they have produced their hydrone blue French workwear jacket in their French factories — first in Paris and then Sarthe since 1955 —and it is a true cost-per-wear champion. What do we mean by this? Cost per wear is the most important metric when it comes to clothing. It’s the value of an item weighed up against how much you use it and for a jacket that is sub $200, the cost per wear of Vetra’s workwear jacket is astronomical.
Bleu de Travail, as it’s commonly known, has a rich history on the continent, with both the chore coat and Vetra becoming synonymous with French workwear. Vetra’s name is even an abbreviation of Vêtements de Travail (work clothes). Though not the first brand to produce workwear in the deep indigo blue that gives Bleu de Travail its name, Vetra’s jackets are potentially the most tried and tested. And tested they can be—they can be thrown on every day throughout the year, over a t-shirt on a summer evening, or layered up with a knit or loopwheeled sweatshirt in the winter. What makes the Vetra jacket even better is that they go with pretty much anything else in your closet: selvedge denim, chinos, button-downs, Breton stripes, you can even pair them with a pair of Vetra’s hydrone blue work trousers for an informal two-piece. The list is endless, we weren’t lying when we said this was a champion piece.
Made of a hardwearing cotton twill in that iconic workwear shade of hydrone blue, these jackets develop more and more of a certain “je ne sais quoi” the more they’re worn and loved. They are built for work and, as Vetra’s motto suggested, built to last forever. This isn’t just a workwear jacket, it’s a family heirloom.
Available at Cultizm for $199.
Like this? Read these:
