When one thinks of pea coats or pea jackets, one would understandably envision sailors on the docks. This vision is because sailors and merchants of European navies originally wore pea coats or jackets. A pea coat is a heavy topcoat, usually made from wool, short in length and navy blue in color. They include a set of eight anchor-inscribed buttons or eight large wooden buttons on the front. One column of buttons only serve the purpose of being decorative. Pea coats have broad lapels and vertical or slash pockets. The broad lapels were often pulled up around the sailor’s neck to keep them warm when the winds and water were whipping around on deck. Double-breasted pea coats are constructed for warmth by helping to retain body heat.

Origins of the name pea coat come from the Dutch or Frisian word pijjakker or pijjecker, which means coarse cloth jacket and refers to the type of cloth from which the coat is made. They were typically made from 30-ounce wool, which made them very warm. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the terms pea coat or pea jacket were used to describe this style of overcoat. By the nineteenth century, some referred to them as pilot coats. The United States Navy began to use these wool overcoats early in the twentieth century. The pea coat goes by several other names also. In Britain, it is known as a reefer jacket and has been worn by members of the Royal Navy. In the Belgian Navy, the pea jacket is known as a pilot jacket.

No matter what you call it, it is a distinguished and popular style of jacket worn by anyone nowadays, not just sailors or those associated with the seaside. Now made from 22-ounce to 32-ounce wool, they are still guaranteed for warmth. In additional to the traditional navy blue color, pea coats for women can now be found in a much wider variety of colors such as red, brown, olive green, loden (grayish-green) and camel. Women’s pea coats come with six anchor style buttons, rather than the customary eight buttons. They are typically short in length. Men’s pea coats comes with the customary number of eight anchor style buttons and is short in length. A longer version, fashioned after the coats that the chief petty naval officers and officers would have worn, the double-breasted bridge coat resembles the pea coat, but reaches down halfway to the thighs. The bridge coat typically comes in the traditional navy blue wool, but in lieu of the anchor-inscribed buttons, it features gold naval insignia buttons. It also has epaulets, a half belt in the back and a deep center vent. For those who would enjoy owning an authentic pea coat worn previously by a sailor, those can sometimes be found in navy surplus stores. Authentic navy peacoats would have the name of the sailor stenciled inside.

Most of the pea coats you see today are not authentic, but the current fashions have kept the original style of the pea coat intact while keeping alive the nostalgia associated with sailors and the sea.