The sport coat. Worn less and less these days, but in the right circumstances it can elevate your casual, business casual, smart casual, and semi-formal attire, as well as make you look more put together and mature. And the masculine lines of this garment accentuate wider shoulders and a narrower waist, giving you a more masculine appearance. This is why the sport coat, or blazer (distinction here), has been a staple of the gentleman’s wardrobe for quite some time, and why should consider wearing them more often. We’ll review the 4 best sport coat colors to own, as well as some examples of how to wear them.
| Sport Coat Color | Best Overall Option | Best Budget Option | Best Splurge Option |
| Navy | Spier and Mackay | J. Crew (when on-sale) | Proper Cloth |
| Grey | Bonobos | Banana Republic (when on-sale) | Brooks Brothers |
| Tan/Brown | SuitSupply / Spier and Mackay | J. Crew | Todd Snyder |
| Bold | Spier and Mackay / Bonobos | J. Crew Factory | Todd Snyder |
- Classic navy
- Grey
- Tan/brown
- Bold (not a color… we’ll explain)
The colors are ordered by importance – the rest of the article will explain why they are in this order. These four options give you the most versatility and variety for your wardrobe. From here, you can mix and match for different looks and styles using these color options.
For a more general guide on how to match sport coats with pants, check out this article.
Sport Coat Benefits
As mentioned before, a well-fitting sport coat adds polish, dressiness, and maturity to basic outfits, if executed properly. For instance, it can add elevate a typical shirt and chinos combination for much dressier occasions, giving your attire much more versatility.
Secondly, the lines and silhouette of the blazer accentuate the ideal male V-shaped physique. All the lines go from the middle of the torso out to the shoulders and hips, making your shoulders appear broader and your waist appear smaller. This visual effect gives you a more cleaned up and masculine appearance, which never hurts.
Let’s jump into the colors.
Classic Navy
The most basic and classic color for a sport coat. Navy is a versatile color that looks great on almost everyone. If you only have one sport coat in your wardrobe, it should be navy.
As far as styling, we recommend going pretty neutral for your navy sport coat, but not too traditional. One made with a textured wool (a hopsack weave is a good choice), two-button closure (or a 3 roll 2 button closure), brown or dark buttons, a soft shoulder, medium width lapels, and patch pockets will allow you to wear it both casually (with jeans or chinos and a casual button down or polo shirt) or more formally (with wool slacks and a dress shirt). The pictures below provide a good example of this navy sport coat style.
If your style leans more preppy, you could go with the classic hard-shouldered, brass buttoned sport coat. This type of jacket can look great with the right aesthetic, but for most styles it is less versatile.
Navy sport coat styling
As far as styling, you have a ton of options. You can pair with different chino or dress pant colors (distinction here). Any pant colors from the brown/tan family are the most classic pairing and work great. Most shades of grey match well too (light grey for a casual look in the spring/summer, dark grey for more business/formal looks or for the cooler months). White or off-white can give you a killer look in the summer. Olive green is an underrated match.
You can even pair your navy sport coat with bolder more unconventional pant colors like burgundy, pink, bright green, or powder blue, depending on your personal style. Dark denim with a navy sport coat can work well too.
The same goes with shirts – so many colors and patterns can work with a navy sport coat. White, light blue, blue checks/stripes, red checks/stripes, green checks/stripes, yellow, pink… you get the point. Navy matches almost everything.
Notice how the addition of a well-fitting sport coat elevates the outfits below, whether dressy, casual, or in-between.
Grey
You can go in a few different directions with your second sport coat. We recommend a conservative shade of grey. The color is muted and neutral, and grey matches almost all other colors. It grounds bolder, more seasonal pant and shirt colors, and you can wear grey year around.
The key to a grey sport coat – making sure it doesn’t look like an orphaned suit jacket. To avoid this look, your grey sport coat should emphasize more casual details. Look for fabric with a pattern and/or texture to keep this sport coat more casually leaning. Patch pockets help too.
You can pick your style of grey sport coat depending on many factors specific to your lifestyle. You can choose between a plain grey jacket, a subtle check pattern, or a loud pattern depending on your style. A lighter or heavier fabric can work depending on the weather where you live. You can also lean either casual or dressier depending on how casually your wardrobe leans.
In the pictures above and below, notice how a bit of pattern, texture, or different fabric can create a completely different look, while keeping the jacket from looking like you stole it from a suit combination.
A good grey sport coat can add a ton of mileage and variety to your wardrobe. Feel free to wear it in any season and with any variety of colors – the grey sport coat will ground your look while adding an understated elegance to almost any outfit. If you develop an affinity for sport coats, you’ll find yourself reaching for your grey option more often than you thought you would.
Tan/Brown
A lot of the same rules from the grey sport coat apply to the tan/brown color family, with the brown shade leaning a bit more casual. When choosing a third sport coat option, a shade of brown is your best bet.
Choose patterns and fabrics depending your personal style, how dressy your style leans, and the weather where you live. If you want to wear sport coats more often, the tan/brown sport coat colors can add a major dash of class to your casual wardrobe.
Deeper tones and thicker fabrics of this color traditionally work better for the fall and winter, and lighter tones and more airy fabrics can look great in the spring and summer.
For fall/winter, navy and grey pants look great with brown. Dark denim works particularly well with a tweed or textured brown sport coat.
For spring/summer, white, stone, medium blue, and light grey pants, especially those made of linen, match tan well. You can even match a brown sport coat with a lighter shade of brown/tan for a warm-weather monochromatic look.
White and light blue shirts go best with these color jackets. You can play around with some more casual combinations, like a dark green polo, navy blue turtleneck or sport shirt, or a grey OCBD. Below are some traditional examples of how to work with this color sport coat.
And below are a few examples of how to incorporate more color with a brown sport coat for a bolder look. Notice how the shade of brown both elevates the outfit while complementing and allowing the bolder components stand out.
Bold
“Bold” is obviously not a color. But if you love wearing sport coats enough to own a fourth one, you should go with something fun and bold that allows your personality and confidence to shine.
You can sport this one more casually and reap the benefits of wearing bold colors, which include more confidence, a more fun outward vibe, and complementing your skin tone.
What color should you go for? Maroon? Cream linen? Big navy check? Seersucker? Dark green tweed or corduroy? Velvet dinner jacket? You have endless options, and you should consider what will allow you to best express your personality.
If you do wear a bold jacket, keep everything else in your outfit toned down. You want to let your jacket stand out without fighting against other colorful elements in your outfit.
Below are some great options. You should feel free to let your imagination run a little.
And a few more options to give you additional ideas on incorporating a bold sport coat.
These are the best sport coat colors for any wardrobe. Nail these, and you’ll be in good shape. And make sure to wear your sport coats, they add a gentlemanly flair that will turn heads.
Additional Resources
Finding the right fit
To realize the benefits of a sport coat, it must fit you. A poorly fitting jacket will make you look frumpy and shapeless.
To dial-in the fit, you can purchase a made to measure blazer, have one custom-made (not cheap but worth it if you wear it often), or buy one off the rack and get it tailored.
For most, buying off the rack makes sense. If you go this route, try a few sizes. The most important aspect of off the rack fit is the shoulder – the shoulder seam should sit directly over the end of your shoulder. The jacket shoulder shouldn’t hang over the end of your shoulder, nor should your shoulder bulge out at the top of the sleeve. Every other part of the jacket can be adjusted to your frame by a good tailor, but the shoulder is almost impossible to adjust.
Your sport coat must fit. Otherwise you waste the whole purpose of wearing a sport coat.
Structure
These days, many sport coats lean more casually with an unstructured fit. This means there is little or no lining throughout the jacket or padding in the shoulder areas.
These coats tend to be more versatile, but if you wear sport coats for professional or dressier occasions, you may need one or two (probably your navy and/or grey options) to offer more traditional structure to match the seriousness of these situations.
Fabric
We mention fabric and pattern in the color options. Another strong consideration is the weather where you live and/or wear this clothing item. Warmer climates call for lighter fabrics, like cotton, silk-blends, wool-linen, cotton-linen, tropical wool, or other lighter weight blends. These fabrics will allow you to reap the benefits of a sport coat without overheating. They can also offer some interesting textures and patterns to your look.
For colder climates, heavier wool, flannel, tweed, and wool-cotton blends will allow you to look great and stay warm. You can also layer merino or cashmere sweaters underneath for insulation and additional color.
Either way, if you wear sport coats often, it’s best to have a few warmer and colder weather options for your sport coat colors.
FAQ
If you only have one sport coat, the color should be a conservative shade of navy blue. Navy sport coats are extremely versatile, as they can match a variety of shirt and pant color combinations. You can also wear a navy sport coat in business casual, casual, smart casual, or dressier and semi-formal situations. Make sure to get yours in a versatile style, as we mention above in the article.
Even though navy should be your first sport coat color, grey is the most versatile sport coat color. It can match the widest variety of colors in the rest of your outfit. This is why we recommend it as your second sport coat color. A grey sport coat grounds your outfit and adds a touch of sophistication, while allowing you to sport bolder items in the rest of your outfit.
This depends on your budget. In our experience, Spier and Mackay is a great sport coat brand. They have a very wide variety of colors, patterns, styles, and price points, and they offer a great balance between modern and classic style. We have a full list of recommended brands in the chart at the top of the article, but check out Spier and Mackay for their many offerings.
