weskit
british made waistcoats
Weskit is a British waistcoat maker.
Our waistcoats are individually cut and impeccably made.
We offer two distinct cuts, each with a choice of collars and pocket styles, in a wide array of finely woven British textiles.
We carry a small amount of ready-to-ship stock in a choice of cuts and in a limited range of sizes and outers.
You can also choose from our extensive range of outers, selecting your preferred cut, outer, collar, lining and buttons.
We offer our waistcoats in standard sizes from 36" to 54". We can cut longer, shorter, wider and narrower than standard for those that need it.
We make in Britain, offer repairs and alterations on our waistcoats and will replace linings when they go.
We ship next day on our ready to ship waistcoats and within three weeks for MTO waistcoats.
– ready to ship –
– made to order & bespoke –
– coloured flannel –
– patterned flannel & lighter tweed –
– warm tweed –
– corduroy & velvet –
– silk matka –
– irish linen –
– | our waistcoat cuts | –
– | our cloth | –
All our cloth is sourced with care in the United Kingdom.
Our wools and linens are woven on Lewis, in Roxburghshire, Yorkshire, Somerset, Northern Ireland and beyond.
For lighter alternatives we also offer a few weights of Irish Linen, as well as some Silk Matka – the latter being carefully sourced and cut here, but sadly not woven here.
– | our collars | –
We offer our waistcoats with a choice of five different collars.
When ordering your waistcoat you can choose from a Cut-Away collar, a Mandarin collar, a low Nehru collar, a classic Nehru collar and a T-shirt collar.
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We generally use a mid-weight canvas stiffener on our collars, but can either exclude it if you prefer things a little softer, or use a firmer one if you are a stickler for structure.
– | our linings | –
Choose your own lining.
Our house lining is a wonderful, sturdy cotton ticking.
Good looking, it also lends structure to the waistcoat – particularly useful for some of our lighter fabrics (if you like things neat).
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If you prefer a smoother ride, when ordering your waistcoat you can also choose from our different coloured Viscose linings, as well as from EdNerat's houseful of silk linings.
– | our buttons | –
Our buttons are made in Great Britain.
​We offer a choice of buttons in different sizes, materials and colours and will add to our selection if we (or you) don't see a perfect companion for a particular cloth.
We suggest one or two alternatives to go with each fabric – but you are of course free to choose your own from our house offering – or even to send us your own!
– | our sizing | –
Our cuts are offered in sizes 36" to 54"
– but we know that the chest measurement isn't everything.
Our Classic Cut can be cut to allow for wider girths and our Tailored Cut for narrower waists.
In developing our sizes, we haven't taken short-cuts. We have taken care to maintain proportion, adjusting everything necessary– the button spacing, vent length and pocket sizes (alongside the obvious width, length, armhole and collar measurements).
– | our labels | –
Our labels are made in Great Britain.
Our Weskit labels are made to order in London. Embroidered on to the softest silk grosgrain ribbon – they will caress, not scrape, the delicate skin at the back of your neck.
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Our care and tailors' labels are discretely situated in the inside pockets. They are woven for us in small batches in Pembrokeshire on the softest cotton.
– | attention to detail | –
A word about our name ....
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Some call them jerkins, others gilets, others tunics, others jackets.
Call them what you will, we call them waistcoats – and name ourselves the old-fashioned way, Weskit – and we make them well.
When setting out to create our waistcoats we had our eyes on three things – firstly the cut, secondly the textiles, thirdly the making.
Firstly the cut. Often the ambitions of our girths exceed those of our chests. Some of us have longer torsos, others shorter. Some prefer a nip at the waist – others can't afford such luxuries. Necks too offer challenges. You may like a mandarin, I may prefer a Nehru, he may prefer a T-Shirt. And so it was we devised two cuts, both allowing for adjustments – one in, one out; and five collars ... more may yet come.
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Secondly the textiles. A good cut is vital – but it's not enough in isolation. How often do we plump for something that has the right shape, but not quite what we were hoping for in substance? Too often we have no choice. So Weskit gathered a good array of textiles – a range of outers drawn from the finest British mills, offering choice in composition, weight, colour and pattern. We then added buttons and linings to complement them.
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Thirdly the making. We wanted our waistcoats to be made well and here. Well, because quality matters. Because things things that are made well, last and durability matters. And here because skills, livelihoods and proximity matters. It matters that what we consume provides work for those around us and it matters that the quality we seek is afforded by paying fairly, here – not by seeking advantage of those paid less elsewhere.
The benefits of all this we hope are clear.
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Well-made waistcoats, gilets, tunics, jackets or jerkins, cut to your chosen measurements in the finest materials. By Weskit.
