Men's Olive Utility Kimono Jacket 'Uguisu'

Olive green, two buttons, two pockets, and the manners of a field jacket

Olive is the colour of jackets that were built to be used, and this one borrows that seriousness. A single deep olive green, matte, in a weave with enough texture to catch the light along the seams. Two round buttons close the front at the chest, side by side. Two patch pockets sit at the hip, large enough for hands and a phone. The sleeves are wide and stop at the elbow, the hem sits at the hip, and the front hangs open when the buttons are left alone, which is most of the time.

It is the most grounded piece in the collection, the kimono jacket with the least kimono about it. Where the printed pieces are for evenings and the solid blacks are for looking sharp, this one is for a Saturday with things to carry. The pockets are not decorative. The buttons work. The green goes with mud.

The name, Uguisu, is the Japanese bush warbler, the small brown-green bird whose song announces spring, and the colour is named after it: an olive with a little yellow in it, warmer than army green and softer than khaki. On cloth it reads outdoors without reading military.

The cloth is a polyester weave with a dry, slightly slubbed hand, chosen because a working colour needs to survive working, and because the jacket should stay light enough to wear over a tee in the warm months. It does not hold a crease, and it does not hold a stain either.

The cut is a short open kimono jacket. Buttoned over a white tee, it reads like a chore coat with better sleeves. Open over a black or grey tee, it reads like a cardigan that has been somewhere. It goes with dark denim, with black, with stone-coloured trousers, and with the kind of shoes you would not mind getting wet.

Wear it when the printed pieces feel like too much and the black ones feel like too little. It is the jacket in the collection that asks the fewest questions and answers the most.

It also takes a knit. In October, over a grey crew-neck, the olive reads like a jacket rather than a shirt, and the elbow-length sleeve shows the sleeve of the knit beneath it, which looks intentional. Two seasons in one layer is a good ratio for a piece this plain.

Sizes run from M to 5XL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.