How to Look After an Overcoat: Brushing, Resting and Storing
The short answer: brush it after wear, rest it between wears, hang it on a broad hanger, and air it before it goes away for the season. An overcoat asks for very little care — but it asks consistently, and it repays it for years.
A good coat is the most expensive single garment most men own, and the one expected to last the longest. The Double-Breasted Overcoat (£258.00) or the Longline Overcoat (£198.00) will still be in service a decade from now if the small habits below become routine. None of them takes more than a minute.
Brush it down
After a day in the city, a coat comes home carrying dust, grit and other people's weather. A clothes brush — a few firm strokes downwards over the shoulders, chest and back — lifts it off before it works into the cloth. Two minutes with a brush does more for a coat's appearance than any amount of cleaning, and it is the single habit that separates coats that age well from coats that merely age.
Rest it between wears
Cloth needs time to recover its shape. Worn day after day without a break, a coat's shoulders and seat begin to hold the day's creases rather than shed them. Alternate where you can — a peacoat makes an easy second coat: the Double-Breasted Peacoat (£258.00) or the Wool-Blend Peacoat (£258.00) covers the days the long coat rests. Twenty-four hours on the hanger between wears is the rule of thumb; forty-eight after a soaking.
Hang it properly
Wire hangers are for shirts. A coat needs a broad, shaped hanger that fills the shoulders out to their natural line — a thin hanger lets the shoulder sag into a point that no amount of steaming quite removes. Button the top button before hanging so the front keeps its line, empty the pockets (a pocket carrying keys and a phone all season will pull the coat out of square), and leave a little space either side in the wardrobe so the cloth can breathe.
Rain, and spots
Caught in the rain: shake the coat out, hang it in moving air away from direct heat — never on a radiator — and brush it once it is fully dry. Mud should be left to dry and brushed off, not wiped. Small marks are a job for a barely damp cloth and patience; anything bigger, or anything on a coat you care about, belongs with a reputable cleaner. Clean sparingly in any case: a coat that is brushed and aired needs professional cleaning rarely, and every clean costs the cloth a little of its finish.
Storing it for the season
Before a coat goes away in spring: brush it thoroughly, air it for a day, and make sure it is clean — marks left over summer set. Store it on its broad hanger in a breathable garment bag, never a sealed plastic one, with the pockets empty and the buttons done up. If the coat contains natural fibres, a cedar block or lavender sachet in the wardrobe is the traditional, effective precaution against moths. It will come out in October looking as it went in.
Fit and length come before care, of course — how long an overcoat should be and what to wear under one cover the choosing; this guide covers the keeping. Between the two, a coat stops being a purchase and becomes a fixture.
