For many of us, our first introduction to the trusty blazer was as part of our school uniform. Usually purchased a few sizes too big (“you’ll grow into it!”) and made of scratchy material, the blazer was worn to and from school, at prize giving ceremonies, for school photo day… aaaand that was about it.

Here’s how to make a blazer look less schoolboy, more man about town.

It can’t be disputed that the blazer pulls an outfit together

Overcoat, topcoat: call it what you want. Just know that when winter truly hits, a properly long, all-in coat will become your best friend, keeping you toasty warm while also effortlessly boosting your cool.

But which to buy?

Dark and double-breasted is a solid choice if you’re

All hail flannel. This softest of winter shirting staples was apparently invented hundreds of years ago by the Welsh, as an alternative to wool. Since then it’s lent its cool to everyone from cowboys and lumberjacks, to surf culture and grunge, to become ubiquitous across the cultural spectrum. Such is the flannel shirt’s cachet that even becoming the unofficial uniform of a tween called Bieber couldn’t bring it undone.

In Vietnam, Don Rowe meets a man on an extraordinary mission.
Photography by Quinn Ryan Mattingly.

Behind a glass screen 30 kilometres outside of Ho Chi Minh City, a pair of suspended blue jeans are gently smoking. The plume moves smooth and serpentine across the left leg, then the right, leaving stylised bleaching as it goes. The plume starts again, moving top to bottom this time as a laser traces a pre-programmed pattern of distress and fading. A technician

Half an hour from the centre of Ho Chi Minh, the redemption of denim is underway. Don Rowe visits Sanjeev Bahl, founder of the cleanest denim factory in the world, and learns why Barkers have partnered with a true fashion maverick.

It took Saitex denim founder Sanjeev Bahl nine countries to settle on Vietnam. From Egypt to Mauritius, Sri Lanka to Bangladesh, Bahl saw again and again the environmental and human devastation of the apparel industry. He vowed to do better.

“Through