Heritage Menswear Inspired by the British Isles:

Inside Our Fall/Winter Jacket Capsules

June 28th, 2025 | WRITTEN BY: RJQ

A Journey Through Fabric, Fog, & Some Founding Lore

Where our jackets are tested by fog, wind, & folklore

When I first dreamt up Arc & Iveagh, it was rooted in more than just aesthetics. It came from a deep and growing appreciation for the kind of life shaped by movement — by travel, exploration, and the quiet moments in faraway places that stay with you. Over the years, I’ve found myself increasingly drawn not just to where things are made, but how — and by whom. The story behind a garment has become just as important to me as its look or fit: the mill that wove the cloth, the hands that cut the fabric, the design details that set it apart from the anonymous churn of fast fashion or the idea that inspired even the smallest detail.

Alongside that, my own style began to evolve. I found myself shedding trends and instead leaning into silhouettes with heritage — timeless shapes with utility in their bones. What I later came to understand as “workwear-inspired” had already begun to define my wardrobe: pieces that feel as functional as they are refined. It was the moment that crystallized the phrase I’ve since adopted as my north star — the one that continues to shape this collection and every one that will follow: rugged sophistication.

It was only fitting, then, that after a late-night streak of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, a return to Skyfall and No Time to Die, and even a few evenings watching Beckham on Netflix; some light cultural research if you will — the vision started to take shape. Autumn was approaching, and with it came thoughts of heavier textures, substantial fabrics, and garments that told a story. The region that kept surfacing, again and again, was the British Isles.

It felt inevitable. The landscapes, the legacy, the quiet power of waxed cotton and heavy tweed — it all pointed to this. And so, after careful thought and refinement of the brand, ‘The Odyssey of the Isles’ came to be. Each piece in this debut collection is tied to a place that shaped it — from crescent-lined Georgian cities to monastic cliffs and royal hunting grounds.

More to come on what that may look like for our campaign later this summer — but for today, a look at the places that inspired each piece.


II. The British Isles: A Sartorial & Cultural Tapestry

From tweed to tartan, our heritage is stitched from every corner

To speak of the British Isles is to speak not merely of geography, but of atmosphere — of a region shaped as much by its climate and history as by its poets and warriors, tailors and explorers. There’s a certain weight to the Isles, a sense that the land remembers.

It’s in the wind that moves through the heathered Highlands, where clans once rallied beneath banners now immortalized in tartan. It’s in the sea mist that rises off the coast of Kerry, veiling the stone ruins of monasteries that have withstood centuries of conquest and quiet. It’s in the sharp click of leather soles against the cobblestones of Bath, echoing beneath crescents built for kings and thinkers during the Georgian golden age.

This is a land where style was born from necessity and elevated by tradition. Tweed from the Outer Hebrides — handwoven, weather-defiant. Waxed cotton — the armor of sportsmen, sailors, and estate-bound gentlemen. Tailoring that traveled from Savile Row to Yorkshire mills, shaped by artisans who saw no line between form and function.

The Isles gave us garments not just made, but meant — for walking, weathering, wandering. And within this cultural mosaic, The Odyssey of the Isles takes root. Each jacket in the collection draws its spirit from a region — its tone, its purpose, its character — as if the land itself stitched its way into every seam.


III. Bath’s Royal Crescent — The Suede Blouson Reimagined

Architecture so sharp it could wear our Suede Blouson

Still steaming after 2,000 years, timelessness we can get behind

There are few places in Britain that hold the kind of architectural poetry found in Bath. Nestled in the rolling hills of Somerset, the city has long stood as a symbol of refinement — a Georgian jewel built on Roman foundations, where past and present meet in quiet harmony. It is a place of balance: of Palladian symmetry and natural spring waters, of polite society and ancient stone.

At the heart of it all lies the Royal Crescent — a sweeping arc of honey-hued townhouses, completed in 1775 and regarded as one of the greatest examples of Georgian architecture in the world. Once a haven for Britain’s cultured elite, it was here that aristocrats, artists, and thinkers strolled, conversed, and conspired. The Crescent wasn’t built merely to impress, but to embody Enlightenment ideals: proportion, order, restraint — a kind of architectural dignity that still radiates today.

It was this quiet grandeur that inspired the Royal Crescent Blouson. Traditionally a utilitarian jacket — often seen in canvas or leather — the blouson has here been refined in French goat suede, softened in silhouette, and rendered in a stone hue that mirrors Bath’s limestone façades. Understated yet worldly, it channels the effortless cool of 1960s icons — part McQueen, part Caine — but tailored for the modern gentleman who prefers his rebellion wrapped in elegance. A cosmopolitan classic, born from British heritage.


IV. The Cairngorms — Rugged Grace in Waxed Cotton

Field-tested where stags roam & the mist never clears

There’s a particular kind of silence in the Scottish Highlands — not emptiness, but presence. A stillness broken only by the whistle of wind across the moors or the distant crack of hoof against rock. Among the wildest and most storied of these landscapes lies the Cairngorms, a vast expanse of forested glens and frostbitten peaks that has long drawn adventurers, aristocrats, and solitary wanderers alike. It’s a place of red deer stalking, weather-beaten bothies, and estate traditions that echo across generations.

But within that ruggedness is a certain grace — an unspoken code of how to move through the land, and how to dress for it. The Cairngorms Field Explorer Jacket was born from this balance. Crafted in collaboration with Halley Stevensons — one of Britain’s most storied makers of waxed cotton — the jacket carries the lineage of garments built not for show, but for storm.

Yet function here does not preclude refinement. Antique brass hardware, chocolate corduroy trims, and a removable flannel lining elevate the jacket beyond the field. It’s designed to weather the rawness of Highland sleet, but looks just as at home layered over a rollneck in a city pub. This is rugged sophistication distilled: resilient, practical, and quietly commanding — like the Cairngorms themselves.


V. Skellig Michael — Ancient Signal in Wool

Built by monks. Conquered by Jedi. Perfect for our Signal Duffle

Rising like a jagged cathedral from the Atlantic, Skellig Michael is one of the most hauntingly beautiful corners of the British Isles — a wind-lashed, sea-bound monastic outpost that feels suspended in time. Just eight miles off Ireland’s southwestern coast, this crag of stone was first settled by monks in the 6th century, drawn by a desire for solitude, spiritual purity, and nearness to the elements. They built stone cells into the cliffs and braved the brutal Atlantic storms, seeking clarity in the isolation. The island remains a UNESCO World Heritage site — not just for its historical gravity, but for its sheer, otherworldly presence.

It was this sense of stark devotion and natural drama that shaped the Skellig Island Signal Coat — Arc & Iveagh’s reimagining of the classic duffle. Traditionally worn by naval crews and signalmen, the duffle has always been a garment of utility, designed to keep the cold and salt at bay. Here, it’s refined in 100% soft merino wool, cut with clean lines that echo the island’s vertical silhouette.

The coat’s details are subtle but intentional — a structured hood, horn toggles, and reinforced seams. It’s monastic in its simplicity, but modern in its execution. The kind of garment that feels equally right boarding a windswept ferry or descending ancient limestone steps at dusk. A piece born of Ireland’s edge — resilient, spiritual, and unwavering.


VI. Balmoral — Royalty in Tweed

Balmoral Castle Scotland; regal legacy woven into Arc & Iveagh’s Polo Coat design.

The crown’s countryside escape, fit for coats with noble ambitions

Balmoral Castle is more than a residence — it’s a symbol. Set against the brooding hills and heathered glens of Aberdeenshire, this Scottish estate has served as the royal family’s private sanctuary since the days of Queen Victoria. Here, tradition lives not just in bloodlines, but in rituals: deer stalking at dawn, formal dinners by candlelight, long walks wrapped in tweed and mist. Balmoral is where monarchy meets the land — where the wildness of Scotland is given shape by centuries of custom.

It’s from this convergence that the Balmoral Polo Coat was born. Cut in a rich, heavyweight Harris Tweed — handwoven in the Outer Hebrides and protected by Act of Parliament — the coat is a statement of enduring pedigree. This particular weave, a brown herringbone flecked with blue and mustard, mirrors the landscape outside the castle walls: gorse in bloom, skies in shift, earth beneath it all.

Drawing from aristocratic tailoring and country sensibility, the coat features an Ulster lapel, martingale half-belt, and deep patch pockets — designed as much for strolling Mayfair as for traversing muddy Highlands. Inside, a Japanese Bemberg cupro lining adds a whisper of refinement. It is, in essence, a coat that embodies both lineage and adventure — a garment as comfortable in a drawing room as it is by a roaring fire after the hunt. The kind of piece one inherits, or hopes to.


VII. The Isles Within Us

The British Isles are more than places on a map — they are a mood, a rhythm, a quiet conviction in how one moves through the world. Their landscapes, traditions, and textures have long shaped the way men dress not for show, but for life. Practical, elegant, enduring.

Arc & Iveagh’s debut collection isn’t about looking back. It’s about carrying forward — honoring craftsmanship, celebrating provenance, and telling stories that wear in, not out. Each piece in The Odyssey of the Isles is a chapter in that narrative: stitched with heritage, shaped by place, and designed to last.

We invite you to explore this collection not merely as fashion, but as an odyssey — one grounded in rugged sophistication and timeless elegance. After all, the best journeys are the ones you can wear.


Stay Curious & Venture Boldly,

RJQ

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