A START-UP FOUNDED BY A TEAM OF ELITE ROWERS IS BRINGING THE BLAZER BACK TO ITS ORIGINS

WORDS DONNA McCLUSKIE BENEDICT TUFNELL

FASHION

Inset Rowing Blazers lookbook photograph by Rose Callahan

PHOTOGRAPHY ROSE CALLAHAN JACK CARLSON JOE GUPPY

Former US national team cox and world championships medallist Jack Carlson’s blazer odyssey began (where else?) at Henley Royal Regatta (HRR), all the way back in 2004.

After being knocked out in the first round, he vowed to return to HRR and win – a goal he and his teammates ultimately achieved nine years later in 2013. But the experience of being knocked out early also meant that he had ample time to chat with other athletes and spectators about their blazers.

Jack recalls: “I learned about all of these great blazer traditions and rituals. In the Netherlands, for example, rowers ‘fight’ using their blazers, grabbing each other by the lapels and wrestling each other to the ground. The blazers are often torn and shredded; they are usually filthy too, for many Dutch clubs maintain a tradition that only those rare few who have won the annual Varsity race are allowed to wash their jackets.”