Hugh & Crye

Off the bat, Hugh & Crye has always placed fit as the cornerstone of its shirts. That's why they've garnered a loyal following of men who have generally had trouble finding the perfect button-up. The brand offers a dozen different sizes based off different body types: You get your size by combining your height (short through tall) and build (skinny through broad). After three years mastering the shirting game they've recently made the foray into unstructured blazers. Founder Pranav Vora says: "It was the natural next step—our customers wanted them, and we did too." Best of all, since Hugh & Crye works directly with manufacturers and mills to produce their wares, the savings get passed onto you. We caught up with Vora to get the story behind these awesome new jackets.

We wanted a lightweight blazer that could be worn year round—that'd make a great layering piece. And it took over a year to get to this point. The jackets have softer shoulders and are half-lined, giving them a more casual and wearable quality that you'd expect with lighter colored fabrics. We stuck with darker, classic fabrics, including looser weave hopsack wools, as a more classic alternative. Sticking with the modern classic aesthetic, the L'Enfant blazer has a slimmer lapel, two-buttons, double vents and working buttonholes.

Pierre L'Enfant was the original architect and planner of DC in the late 1700s, and who most recognizably gave us the grid of streets, intersecting diagonal avenues and the National Mall. His design was very French, but egalitarian. We like that these blazers are very wearable, very accessible no matter who you are.

It wasn't easy. Manufacturers like to work off of 'blocks', or standardized sets of sizes from which a linear grade can be extrapolated. We started from scratch, drawing a pattern and building a garment for each of the 12 sizes. And then iterated after many fit tests with our customers. This is something that we're adamant about—our unique approach to fit—that our customers love us for.

The 'buggy-back' refers to the shape of the half lined back of the blazer. The curved two-piece lining that overlaps across the back and covers the shoulders. Half-lined gives just enough form and structure without the bulk often found in fully lined blazers.