If you’ve spent much time looking at old hunting and camping photos, you will have noticed that people very often wore what we would now consider formal clothing for the woods. Ever wonder why?

Today, it would seem rather odd to come across a man in dress pants, a collared shirt, a button-up vest, and a wool sports coat in the woods, but back in 1906, this was the norm.

“The book of Camping and Woodcraft” by Horace Kephart published in 1906 offers a glimpse into the past, allowing us to understand the mindset of the outdoorsmen 100+ years ago.   In many ways, I think folks had their heads on straighter back then, before the Mad Men got hold of focus groups, A/B testing, and marketing the latest and greatest newest model, which made the average person feel inadequate if they didn’t have specially designed clothes for their recreational time. 

Chaper 11 of “Camping and Woodcraft” is titled “The sportsmen’s clothing” and it opens with this sentence:

“For ordinary camping trips, an old business suit will do; but be sure that the buttons are securely sewn and that the cloth is not worn thin.”   

That statement does a good job of answering our question. It wasn’t about dressing up; it was about wearing old items that were no longer part of their current business attire. Business suits were also often made with wool, lending several incredible benefits to outdoorspeople. Growing up on a farm in the late 80’s & 90’s my family followed the same principle. Buying new clothes for working on the farm or going camping would have seemed ridiculous when we had our old school clothes that we could wear. Today, the global outdoor apparel market is valued at over $15–20 billion USD, and it’s growing steadily. But why can’t we just wear our old business clothing or school clothing?    Well, for some who buy into the fast fashion collections, it has been made so poorly that it can’t be trusted for the hardships often endured for hunting, camping, and so on.   Stitch count, fibres, and weaves have been reduced to cut costs to such an extent that your clothing is simply not durable enough. The other factor is that much of modern clothing is made with synthetic fabrics that don’t lend themselves to multi-day wear, sweaty activity, or being around a fire. 

So let’s step back in time and take a closer look at the clothing once worn by sportsmen, the ones who didn’t need to spend their whole paycheck to be kitted out in outerwear for their hobbies and could wear their old business attire and experience all the comforts and necessities desired.  

“Overshirts should be loose at the neck, a size larger than one ordinary might think, for they will surely shrink, and a tight collar is not to be tolerated. The collars should be wide if the shirts are to be used in cold weather, so that they can be turned up and tied around the neck. Grey is the best color, the dark blue of soldiers’ or firemen’s shirts being too conspicuous for hunters.”- Kephart

For those curious where to get such a shirt, you happen to be in the right place. For heavy wool shirts, we offer the CPO, and for a lighter 4-season shirt that can certainly be used as business attire, we have just released our Whipcord Shirt. Mosquitoes have not proven to be able to bite through either shirt. Both can be worn as casual / business attire /semi-formal clothing for years prior to dedicating them to bush clothes.

“A heavy coat is a nuisance in the woods. It would only be worn as a “come-and-go” garment when one is travelling to and from the wilderness, and around camp in the chill of the morning and evening.” - Kephart

“But if the coat of thin, very closely woven khaki, “duxbak,” or gabardine, large enough to wear over a sweater, is taken along, the perfection of comfort in all kinds of weather is attained.” - Kephart. He goes on to say, “it should be all-wool, of course.”

Kephart also makes a very clear point that he believes that combining garments in various fabrics would defeat the purpose because it would not dry out as quickly or be as easy to regulate both heat and body moisture. Here at WeatherWool we also design on that principle. Our garments are always 100% wool and that is one of the key reasons in addition to wool still being warm when wet and other benefits. 

“For those who prefer a single heavy coat, rather than tolerate the ‘bunchy’ feeling of several layers of different materials, I would recommend, for steady cold weather, a Mackinaw wool coat of the best obtainable quality, such as sheds light rain; poor ones soak up water like a sponge.” - Kephart

Such a coat from our collection that fits this description would be the All-Around Jacket or the Mountain Jacket.

The photo on the right is our friend Ron Spomer in his Lynx Pattern All-Around Jacket

“Do not seek to keep your legs dry by wearing waterproof materials. Nothing but rubber or pantasote will shed the water when you forge through wet underbrush, and they would wet you most uncomfortably by giving no vent to perspiration. Take your wetting, and dry out when you get back to camp. Strong, firmly woven woollen trousers or knickers are best for the woods in cold weather and khaki or duxbak for warm weather.” - Kephart. 

For the colder weather our Jacquard Pants are going to be hard to beat.   For a pant that can work well in both an urban lifestyle and semi-formal situation, as well as the woods, our DenimJeans are a great solution and we’re currently developing and testing a lighter summer fabric wool pant as well.

“The color of a woodsmen’s clothing should be as near invisible as possible unless he ranges through a country infested with fools with guns, in which case a flaming red head-dress may be advisable.”
- Kephart.

I do wish Kephart was around today. We would love his review and feedback on WeatherWool. We feel confident he would be very pleased. 

I’ve personally been wearing my former office clothes as I’ve retreated to the woods more and more over the last decade much like the men who did it out of practicality and have received plenty of wardrobe compliments. Paired with a nice wool coat you’ll be looking good, but more importantly, feeling good regardless if you're heading into the office, working from home, or heading into the back-country. So next time you go shopping for a new coat or office clothes, ask yourself, how will this work in the woods? 

Cody Bokshowan, July 24th, 2025