In the perfect field jacket, style and practicality are two sides of the same coin. As you’d expect from a garment with military origins, the initial priorities were movement, flexibility, storage, and all-weather comfort. From those utilitarian goals a family of jackets emerged that were tough yet restrained, deeply practical but without the finicky details of modern outdoor gear.
Contemporary field jackets inherit this legacy of practical yet elegant design. But this also sets a high bar: it’s not enough to have four pockets and a stand-up collar. You need to have all the substance of the old jackets, and enough subtle innovation to justify remaking a classic.
Images by Alex Natt | Words by Alex Freeling
An obsession with materials and manufacturing explains why Ten c offers some of the best modern outerwear today. The brand has spent a decade focused on military-derived outdoor gear, developing unique fabrics and a distinctive worn-in style along the way. The label is steered by creative directors Paul Harvey and Alessandro Pungetti. Harvey cut his teeth at Italian luxury streetwear label Stone Island, while Pungetti was working at sister brand C.P. Company. Both come from the stable of legendary designer and innovator Massimo Osti, famed for developing and popularising garment dyeing, a technically challenging process where clothes are coloured after they are made, creating a dappled, broken-in effect.
Harvey and Pungetti combine the technical know-how and ambition of their previous brands with a heavy dose of stylistic restraint: Ten c garments are more classic in sensibility, letting fabric and silhouette do the talking rather than logos. The result is a combination of British and Italian design instincts: the stress on tradition, endurance, and discretion that can be seen in sober British countrywear, and the love of technical innovation, comfort, and fun that has made Italian design famous across the world.
This season Trunk presents Ten C’s take on the field jacket. It’s derived from the US Army M-65, a shorter and more modern cut that’s closer to a bomber jacket than the older mid-length M-43. All the essential features are here: four generous front pockets, two on the chest and two on the hips; a front zip concealed under a press stud closure; drawstring waist cinch; and a concealed hood zipped into the collar.
The Ten C model adds scrupulous attention to materials and design. It’s made in an exclusive Japanese technical fabric that’s knitted, rather than woven, for density and protection from the elements, combined with top-of-the-line hardware. Details such as the overlapping bellows construction at the underarm give extra mobility, while meticulous overstitching and reinforcement provide longevity and an understated design accent.
As you’d expect from its pedigree, Ten C’s field jacket is garment dyed. With technical fabrics, the process is much more challenging than with cottons, but the payoff is a product that’s immediately softened and given a depth of colour that brings out edge stitching and seams with subtle faded patterns. It’s a marriage of high-performance technical nylon jersey with a character closer to denim: rugged, broken-in, and built to age gracefully.
Offered in tan and olive, the jacket is a versatile option for three seasons of casual occasions, pairing with anything from chinos and a casual shirt in spring through to denim and sweaters in autumn. The refined and balanced design is perfect for a relaxed city weekend, but comes with the endurance and technical heft that prove its worth in an unexpected storm, or serious country hike, year after year.
Shop Ten c here.