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A chore jacket or chore coat is a
A chore jacket or chore coat is a jacket
A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, whic ...
made of robust cloth such as denim
Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been p ...
, heavy cotton drill
A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driver chuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...
or moleskin
Moleskin is a heavy cotton fabric, woven and then shorn to create a short, soft pile on one side. The feel and appearance of its nap is suede-like, less plush than velour and more like felt or chamois. The word is also used for clothing made fr ...
, with up to four large front pockets.
This type of jacket was originally worn as workwear
Workwear is clothing worn for work, especially work that involves manual labour. Often those employed within trade industries elect to be outfitted in workwear because it is built to provide durability and safety.
The workwear clothing industry i ...
by farm workers and laborers in late 1800s France, called ''bleu de travail'' ("working blue") for its indigo
Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...
shade. It is therefore also called a French worker's jacket. It was worn with matching trousers, and was almost always blue, though carpenters wore black, and workers sometimes had a black jacket for the Sunday church service.
In the 2000s, the jacket gained popularity in Western countries as an item of smart casual
Smart casual is an ambiguously defined Western dress code that is generally considered casual wear but with smart (in the sense of "well dressed") components of a proper lounge suit from traditional informal wear. For men, this interpretati ...
attire, particularly among creative professionals. By 2016, all menswear brands in the United Kingdom sold cotton chore jackets, and the jacket continues to be made in France by traditional manufacturers. The photographer Bill Cunningham was known for wearing almost only blue French chore jackets.{{Cite web , last=Gallagher , first=Jake , date=2013-04-03 , title=Dropping Knowledge: Bill Cunningham's French Workman's Jacket , url=https://www.gq.com/story/dropping-knowledge-bill-cunninghams-french-workmans-jacket , access-date=2022-04-18 , website=GQ , language=en-US
The British donkey jacket
A donkey jacket is a medium-length workwear jacket, typically made of unlined black or dark blue thick Melton woollen fabric, with the shoulders back and front reinforced and protected from rain with leather or PVC panels.
Originating in the ...
, which has reinforced shoulder patches, is a similar garment.
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