TCB Jeans_Black Cat Engineer Jacket

SPIRAL COMMENT

No collar. Short length. Plenty of character.

The Black Cat Engineer Jacket from TCB JEANS has arrived!

Inspired by American workwear from the 1920s and ’30s, this is a rather unusual take on the classic engineer jacket.

The first thing that catches your eye is the distinctive, angled five-sided chest pocket, inspired by vintage Black Bear Brand workwear.

There's a familiar Black Cat label on the pocket, while small green bar tacks add subtle touches of color throughout the jacket.

The collarless V-shaped neckline and cropped length give it a clean, distinctive silhouette.

Raglan sleeves create an interesting line from the neckline down to the arms, and the front is finished with metal buttons stamped “UNION MADE.”

Two generous patch pockets at the waist keep things practical.

TCB also developed a special 10oz denim for this jacket, called TCB-003.

Based on a piece of deadstock vintage 2×1 denim, the fabric was recreated through careful study of its yarn counts, weave density, and color.

It uses No. 10 warp yarns and No. 12 weft yarns, made with Zimbabwe cotton.

The surface has a subtle, irregular texture and a distinctive indigo tone that can appear slightly grayish in certain light.

Even when new, it already has the atmosphere of an old work jacket.

And of course, the real fun begins with wear. We're looking forward to seeing how the indigo fades and how the stitching along those raglan sleeves develops its own puckering.

Personally, I think this jacket would look especially good over a hooded sweatshirt.

Without a collar getting in the way, the hood sits naturally at the neckline, while the shorter length makes layering easy.

A printed T-shirt with wide jeans or chinos would work just as well.

It's shorter than a traditional coverall and quite different from your usual denim jacket.

TCB has taken some of the most interesting details of vintage workwear and turned them into something you can enjoy wearing every day.

Meanwhile, our good friends at WORKERS have approached the same type of jacket from a completely different direction, modifying the cropped design into a silhouette that's a little easier to wear.

WORKERS Engineer Jacket – 8 oz Pure Indigo Denim

Two brands releasing their own interpretations of the engineer jacket in the same season. That's what makes this so interesting!

So, which one would you choose?!

Spiral Note

From the Black Bear to the Black Cat.

The roots of the Black Cat Engineer Jacket can be traced to Black Bear Brand, a historic American workwear label that has long fascinated TCB.

One of its most memorable details is that unusually angled chest pocket.

Vintage workwear is full of curious designs that were originally developed for practical reasons. Pocket shapes and placements that seem unusual today often had a purpose in the working lives of the people who wore them.

TCB has explored these details in previous coveralls, and the distinctive pocket makes another appearance on this engineer jacket.

In recent years, TCB even had the opportunity to collaborate with Black Bear Brand, bringing together two labels that had once existed only as inspiration and admirer.

The Black Cat label on this jacket feels like a small reminder of that connection.

Another important part of the story is TCB's original denim, TCB-003.

When recreating vintage fabrics, makers usually have to work backwards from garments that have already been worn, washed, shrunk, and faded over decades.

This time, however, TCB had something rather special to work with: an original piece of unwashed deadstock denim.

That allowed them to examine the yarn thickness, weave density, and color directly, rather than having to estimate what the fabric might have looked like when it was new.

Now that recreated fabric is ready to begin a new life.

We get to wear it, wash it, and watch it develop its own character over the years.

It's a lovely thought: studying a piece of denim from the past in its original condition, then letting the story continue through the clothes we wear today.