The Importance of a Jacket’s Front Length

I mentioned purchasing a Ring Jacket in my post yesterday to support my local menswear shop. It’s a superb jacket that fits well and that I love, which I’ll wear in good health next fall when the temps drop again. However, I’ve been debating whether I should hold onto it personally or sell it at cost to someone else because of one issue: the front/back balance; or specifically, the front length.

Everybody should know the general rules of jacket length. The big one, to me, is that the jacket should cover your seat in the back. That’s the important one because it’s the most objective; the other rules you hear about are less helpful in my opinion (Simon at Permanent Style made a video with a hilariously grim-looking model to explain each of the jacket length rules here, wherein he also explains how useful each rule is).

However, just as important in whether or not your jacket appears long enough is how it looks in the front. For a jacket to look right, the front has to be longer than the back—and indeed, every jacket is cut this way—because the contours of your upper chest mean the fabric has more distance to cover. This is called the front/back balance. From the side, the ideal is that the hem line is parallel to the floor. However, depending on how long the maker cuts the front and how it hangs on your specific body shape, it might end up looking too short, even if a profile view shows that is it not—and even if the hem line is correctly horizontal.

This is the issue with the Ring Jacket—a side shot shows that it’s pretty even front-to-back. The back length covers my seat just fine, too (and unrelated, the back up in the shoulder blades, the sleeve pitch and overall appearance is super clean). But in the front, it looks a little short. It bothered me enough to take a poll on my Instagram (70% said it looked fine; though there were voices from people whose opinions I highly trust on both sides); and I have even listed it for sale in case anybody wants it.

Back when I wrote about Ring Jacket originally, wholesale director for Europe and North America Kapil Sehgal told me one aspect of their jacket that makes it fit a lot of people well is that they take the slouchier posture of Japanese men into account. That means the shoulders and upper back are a little roomier, and indeed it seems to fit a wider array of men really well on account of that. My buddy Zach postulated that perhaps they cut the front length a little shorter as well, to accommodate that slouch. That would make sense, because when you see someone leaning or slouching forward in a suit jacket the front length looks extra long and strange.

There are other issues that change the appearance of the front, as well, which could be accentuating what I reacted to so strongly the other day. First is the buttoning point and how it bisects the jacket. On the hanger, it looks perfectly proportional; the lapels aren’t too short, the quarters aren’t too short. And indeed it hits right about my natural waist. But when I’m wearing it, somehow it looks off, as if the lapels are too short. I took photos of an Eidos jacket I have that is almost identical in length, both front and back; the Eidos jacket doesn’t look as short in the front, though. Part of it, I think, is that the lapels look longer because the buttoning point is ever so slightly lower—it gives a long, slimming line from the waist upward.

Second is how open the quarters are cut. English jackets have quarters that are very closed—below the button, the jackets front panels fall directly downward. I prefer the Italian style of more open quarters, where the front panels sweep away slightly more. This jacket has more open quarters (which I like!), but that can exacerbate the already slightly-short front length’s appearance. In the comparison pics with the Eidos jacket, you can see both have open quarters—and the Eidos jacket’s quarters are even more rounded in shape. Both can accentuate a short length, but the Eidos does less so possibly because of the next reason.

Third is the jacket’s pattern and color. The check pattern is amazing and beautiful and lovely, but those horizontal lines and the mid-range brightness value accentuate the width of the jacket, while the length gets no additional help. In comparison, the Eidos jacket, which is dark, and has no pattern, is slimming.

Fourth, I think the sleeve length is actually working against me as well. The sleeves look fine with the shirt I’m wearing in the photos, but they are objectively about 3/8” too short (and many of my other shirts would make this more apparent). It might sound crazy, but sleeve length dramatically impacts how well a jacket appears to fit. Many men wear jacket sleeves way too long, and it makes the entire jacket look sloppy as heck, even if it fits okay otherwise. Likewise, sleeves that are too short make the entire thing look shrunken, like it’s a little boy’s jacket you grew out of. In the comparison photos, consider how the Eidos sleeves are longer.

Lastly, choice of pants and how high their rise is makes a difference. It was the photo below, of me wearing the jacket with my low-rise light-wash jeans, that first made me question the front length. The distance between the waistband of the jeans and the button of the jacket visually makes the whole thing look short. My dark jeans worn in every other photo have a rise about an inch higher than those light jeans. And I prefer dress trousers with a rise slightly higher than even that. But that can make an impact on it, too.

So, what do you think—is the jacket too short? If you read my blog, chances are you follow me on Instagram and probably saw the poll in my Story (and indeed I got many DMs telling me “dude we both know it’s too short” or “c’mon man it’s fine, stop nitpicking”). Let me know in the comments. I love the jacket and the length issue is small enough that whether somebody buys it off me, I’ll be neither upset nor greatly excited in either outcome.

Below, I’ve included some photos of other jackets I’ve tried over the years that showcase some of these same issues.