Why You Need A Wool Overshirt

A long time ago, I wrote an article about the “tools” within our wardrobes. By “tools” I meant the items that don’t really get much fanfare. They are the items that have slipped so seamlessly into our daily rotations that we don’t even really notice they’re there at all.

Recently, I was reminded of another item in my wardrobe that fits that bill. It is my wool overshirt from Filson.

I also wrote an article a while back about Filson. It was about how I really don’t understand who their target customer is considering how expensive their products are. I still stand by that article and owning a handful of Filson products at this point doesn’t negate what I stated in that article.

The overshirt I am referring to is a heavy, felted wool in navy (which appears almost black). It has two large, flapped, breast pockets. The hem is straight, which indicates it’s meant to be left untucked. The fit is roomy. The collar substantial.

My wife bought me this shirt about a year and half ago, on sale. I have featured it many times in my “OOTW” series.

Ok, fine. It’s a shirt. What makes it so special? What makes it different from all the other heavy flannel shirts in my closet?

Until recently, I’d be hard-pressed to really give definitive answers to those questions. Sure, I love the shirt and wear it all the time, but I hadn’t really thought about WHY this particular shirt was so indispensable.

Let me break it down…

Recently, our family visited my in-laws for about a week. I always try to pack as minimally as possible since not only does it make it less annoying to unpack the truck after a long drive but I like the challenge of working with a small wardrobe for a given length of time.

I find it a fun sartorial exercise! I like to pack some items I don’t wear very often (which forces me to use them) along with the things I wouldn’t want to go a week without.

One of the “wouldn’t want to go a week without” items I ALWAYS pack is my wool overshirt.

Let’s run through the instances in which I wore my wool overshirt during the week we visited my in-laws…

I wore it as a “house shirt” while relaxing at the end of the night after we put the kids to bed. The temperature fluctuated a great deal that week so it was sometimes chilly in the evenings.

I wore it as a “toss on” layer when I needed to be Cameras On during work calls.

I wore it while drinking coffee on the front porch one drizzly morning while the kids were inside eating breakfast and watching KPop Demon Hunters.

I wore it on the walk back to the house after taking the kids to the pool.

For the entire week, the shirt was always within reach. I don’t think it was ever more than a few feet away from me. I grabbed it as soon as I got out of bed and kept it with me almost all day, every day.

And I didn’t even really think about it.

But what makes this particular shirt so good? Well, a few things…

First, the construction. I have another wool shirt from Filson, but that one is a little… I don’t know the right word… fluffier than my overshirt. That shirt is a fantastic outside work shirt since it keeps me warm when it’s cold, but then allows me to release plenty of body heat when I get hot. It’s not as dense and impenetrable as the overshirt. That shirt sits squarely in “flannel shirt” territory, while the overshirt more so straddles the line between “flannel shirt” and “light jacket”.

And the reason it can do that is because the material is felted, which makes it feel more like a blanket than a regular flannel shirt does. That density makes it VERY good in windy or wet conditions. It also means that it’s incredibly durable for outdoor work.

The roomy fit allows it to be layered over even a bulky sweater, if needed, and the large, flapped pockets permit the safe carry of all my EDC.

I also really like the fact that the shirt is a dark, solid color. I feel that this sets it apart from “regular” flannel shirts in that it can pass as a little more presentable on a video call than a traditional tartan plaid flannel can. On a video call it just looks like I’m wearing a dark, collared shirt.

The ability to serve as a soft, cozy, house shirt and then a durable, weather-resistant, outdoor layer in an instant is a really nice feature. It allows me to wear the shirt pretty much constantly throughout the day without having to remove it and put something else on to step outside to grab something from the car, or something like that.

Oh, I also never need to wash it because it’s wool and doesn’t smell. Even if it gets wet, it just dries and then… is fine. Talk about a perfect travel garment!

I think the real difference maker for me, when it comes to this shirt, is the peace-of-mind it offers me. Having a bulletproof, wool shirt in my bag gives me the confidence that I will be warm and comfortable if I need to… oh, I don’t know… maybe wrestle with a damaged car tire in cold, wet weather with my kids in tow, or something else along those lines.

Traveling gives me a bit of anxiety (Did I bring everything the kids need? Did I turn off the stove before we left? Did we lock the door?) so taking with me an item that can pull double and triple duty actually relaxes me to some extent. I know there will hardly be an instance in which I find myself that a tough, wool shirt won’t excel.

Cold? Rainy? Snowy? No problem.

Having my wool overshirt with me is very calming. It’s the same feeling I get with a good hat, tweed jacket, or pair of boots.

A regular, cotton flannel doesn’t really give me the same feeling because I know it’s limited in its utility. It won’t keep me as warm or as protected against rain or snow that the wool variation would.

Interestingly, I pack my wool overshirt in the summer, as well as in the colder seasons. Since it’s wool, it regulates my body temperature pretty well. Do I wear it when it’s 85 degrees? Of course not. But it’s great for those cooler mornings or when I just showered after a day at the beach with the kids and the air conditioning is blasting.

I sometimes feel like Linus with his blanket… always either wearing it or carrying it around the house just in case I feel I need it.

If your normal rotation consists of hoodies or anything hoodie-adjacent, I think you’ll find that a stout, wool overshirt does everything a hoodie does, only better.

It also looks a hell of a lot more handsome, too.