Recommendation? Vest (Filson?)

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
5,249
I like vests. I have a couple carhartt\dickies heavy work vests that are awesome as well as a few fleece vests. I think I've got a fishing vest somewhere too.

I want a vest that is a little nicer that I can wear in the office or going out to dinner. Not a suit vest, but suitable for khakis and a dress shirt as well as sweat shirt and jeans.

I like the looks of the Filson Mackinow vest and the Filson Moleskin Vest liner (one for colder weather one for warmer). They seem to be a nice mix of "classy" but not like a suit vest, etc.

Also was looking at a Scottevest for warmer weather, but I can't tell from pictures if they are nice looking or not. Lots of pockets though!

Do Filson fit true to size? It looks like a XXXL is the right size, but I've read that they run big. Except of course, for the reviews that say they run small. :)
 
I have 4 of varying ages, two regular Mackinaw and two western style, and they all seem to be sized correctly.
 
I have a Filson wool jacket. Its sized LG and I was an XLT when I got it. But I was able to try it on at a feed store and it fit fine, still does 25 years later although I've lost some weight and am a LT these days. Its held up through some rough cowboyin' over the years.

Nuther thought though. Handmade wool vests were the first product that Horsewright ever made and sold, custom knives, etc came later. Each one is handmade out of two layers of wool by my wife, pictured here wearing one:

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Sporting Classics magazine declared them: "The finest handmade wool vests on the planet, period!" She hand makes each one on our dining room table:

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She makes both men and ladies styles and has made them as large as 4XLT. We have a cattle ranch too and I can personally attest to their durability:

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I wear em in the shop too, when I'm doing leather work. Don't wear em when I'm grinding knives though, thats too dirty. Wear Carhartts for that job:

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She's got quite a few prebuilt and ready to go:

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Just another idea for ya.

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Horsewright's vests look great. For more, Google waistcoat as opposed to vest. Tons of options appear. I'm partial to moleskin myself.
 
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I have three Filson vests, two wool and one canvas. (I have a hunting vest too, but that's a specific use...) All are fantastic. The wool ones are nice enough that you can wear them with suit pants, dress shirt and tie and look pretty snappy. I also have one Orvis moleskin vest that is pretty nice too. Love my vests, and wear them whenever I can.
 
IMO, you might want a completely different style vest for a sweatshirt versus a dress shirt. Maybe even something sporty, warmer, and wind blocking if you are already wearing a sweater underneath. I love vests with a suit, but rarely wear them otherwise. I have a good friend in Europe who often wears the winter style vests in the fall... kind of what you would find from North Face.

Another alternative for use with a dress shirt and khakis would be a sweater vest. I often wore these when traveling to Europe in the Fall.
 
I practically live in a Filson Mackinaw vest from October thru March. My first one got pulled out of my hunting vest by a branch or something when I was woodcock hunting--I didn't know it at the time and never found the thing. The second one has been used hard for 15-16 years of work and bird hunting from south Georgia to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. After all those years of briars, dirt, mud and modification by a young dog it was starting to look a little lived in. I got a new one a couple of years ago and repaired the damage on the old one done by the toothy Brittany. Well, at least I stabilized it, and made it look good enough for work and rough use. The two should outlast me.

Filson used to size the vests using suit sizes, e.g. 42, 44, 46. Now they're sized by SM/M/L etc. There might be a sizing guide giving the ranges on the Filson site.

I saw a reference to the Horsewright vest years ago on Jameson Parker's blog but haven't seen them on the Horsewright site for a while. Now I got the wants for one of them. Man 'o man they look nice!
 
Cooter Brown said:
I practically live in a Filson Mackinaw vest from October thru March. My first one got pulled out of my hunting vest by a branch or something when I was woodcock hunting--I didn't know it at the time and never found the thing. The second one has been used hard for 15-16 years of work and bird hunting from south Georgia to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. After all those years of briars, dirt, mud and modification by a young dog it was starting to look a little lived in. I got a new one a couple of years ago and repaired the damage on the old one done by the toothy Brittany. Well, at least I stabilized it, and made it look good enough for work and rough use. The two should outlast me.

Filson used to size the vests using suit sizes, e.g. 42, 44, 46. Now they're sized by SM/M/L etc. There might be a sizing guide giving the ranges on the Filson site.

I saw a reference to the Horsewright vest years ago on Jameson Parker's blog but haven't seen them on the Horsewright site for a while. Now I got the wants for one of them. Man 'o man they look nice!
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Thanks Cooter! Yeah JP likes em, he's got 4 or 5 of em and his wife has one.
 
Cooter Brown said:
And she lets him get away with that? Sounds like he needs to make a Christmas order...
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Oh its bout even. Here's two from the set of six steak knives he had me make her for Christmas one year:

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Ya read his book Accidental Cowboy?
 
Pretty excited. I just ordered a blue wool vest with buttons from Nichole (and a couple of other little things).

I'd offer to model it for you guys when I get it but nobody wants to see that!
 
Shann said:
Pretty excited. I just ordered a blue wool vest with buttons from Nichole (and a couple of other little things).

I'd offer to model it for you guys when I get it but nobody wants to see that!
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I do. I didn't mention it but she has kinda specialized in bigger vests over the years. Lots of big guys have had trouble finding something to fit em right and she's got er down. As an aside my little brother, and I say that tongue in cheek as he's an inch or so shy of my 6'3" ish but at least a buck fifty heavier than my 212, bought the domain name, bigboybelts.com (he's a computer program engineer) some years ago. He says a big guy can't find a decent leather belt. Guess who's gonna be building the belts if he ever gets around to building the website? Here we are at our range on our ranch for our annual Father's Day Shootout. We made both belts!

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Just for info you'll love that wildrag too:

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She hand makes all those too, on the dining room table:

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Plus she's a handy cowchick:

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