The overshirt is the most useful thing to arrive in menswear in the last decade, and also the hardest to explain. Is it a shirt? Is it a jacket? The short answer is that it is a shirt cut and weighted like a light jacket, worn open or buttoned over something else — and it covers the exact temperature range where a coat is too much and a shirt is not enough.
Shirt, overshirt or jacket?
The differences are real and they are mostly about weight and cut.
A shirt is light, tucked or untucked, and worn against the skin or over a tee. It has a soft collar and slim body.
An overshirt — sometimes called a shacket — uses heavier fabric: brushed cotton, flannel, moleskin, corduroy, or a wool blend. It is cut roomier through the chest and shoulders to go over a t-shirt or a fine-gauge jumper. It usually has patch pockets on the chest, and it is never tucked in.
A jacket has lining, structure and weather resistance. An overshirt has none of those.
If you can comfortably wear a jumper underneath it, it's an overshirt. If you can't, it's a shirt.
Why it works so well here
Because Irish weather is rarely committed. An overshirt is the answer to a morning that is 9°C and might be 15°C by lunch. You can take it off and carry it, which you cannot really do with a coat, and you can put it on over a tee without looking like you're going somewhere.
It is also the single easiest way to look tidier without looking dressed up. Swapping a hoodie for an overshirt is a small change that makes a large difference, and it takes no more thought.
Fit
Roomier than a shirt, closer than a jacket.
Shoulder seams should sit at the edge of your shoulder or just slightly past — a fraction of drop is correct here, unlike on tailoring. Sleeves should end at the wrist bone. The hem should finish at or just below your hip bone, and never below the seat.
Try it on over what you'd actually wear underneath. An overshirt that fits beautifully over a bare t-shirt and won't close over a jumper has failed at its one job.
Four ways to wear one
Open, over a plain tee. The default and the easiest. A plain t-shirt, dark jeans, clean boots. Nothing to think about.
Buttoned, as a shirt. Heavier overshirts in flannel or moleskin look well fully buttoned with a tee underneath. Leave the bottom button open so it doesn't pull across the hip.
Over a fine-gauge jumper. The most useful winter version. A merino crew from our knitwear collection under an overshirt is warm, comfortable and reads as smart-casual without a jacket.
As a mid-layer under a coat. Where it beats a jumper, because you can open it indoors. An overshirt under a quilted or waxed jacket from the coats and jackets range gets you through most of an Irish winter.
Trousers
Overshirts go with almost anything, but they look best with a bit of contrast in weight. A heavy corduroy or moleskin overshirt wants something cleaner underneath — chinos rather than heavy denim. A lighter cotton overshirt handles rougher jeans well.
The one combination to avoid is a denim overshirt with denim jeans in a similar wash. If you want double denim, make the two shades obviously different.
Fabric, briefly
Brushed cotton and flannel — softest, warmest for the weight, best all-rounder. Moleskin — dense, hard-wearing, slightly formal. Corduroy — the most characterful, and the most seasonal. Wool blend — smartest, and the only one that really works over a collared shirt.
Where to start
If you're buying your first, get a brushed cotton or flannel overshirt in navy, olive or charcoal. It will go with everything you own and you'll wear it three seasons out of four.
Browse the full overshirt collection online with nationwide delivery across Ireland, or come and try a few on across our four floors on High Street in Ennis. Click and collect is available on everything.