Type 1 vs Type 2 vs Type 3 Denim Jackets: Which Is Right for You?

There’s no jacket more American than the denim jacket, which has been part of American culture for as long as the jean itself: the first denim jacket was made in the 1870s, the very same decade that Levi Strauss (and Jacob Davis) patented the jean in California.

As the decades went by, the denim jacket took on many different forms. And while it’s fair to say that one of them rose to the top to become the most common “type,” each iteration of the denim jacket has its own champions.

There are three specific types of denim jackets you need to pick from if you want to make a properly informed decision about which one you’re going to buy.

To break down the pros and cons of each, I spoke to two experts. First is David Claxton, the Creative Manager of the UK’s biggest heritage menswear store Son of Stag, who was kind enough to let me film our chat in their flagship store. The second was denim historian and designer Mohsin Sajid, whose home I visited just south of London.

A Quick Background on American Denim Jackets

Denim first came to America via German immigrants in the 19th century, standing out from other kinds of twill by weaving together indigo yarns and undyed yarns, producing the mottled, textured look we all love.

“Denim jackets started in the late 1800s, when they were originally called ‘blouse jackets,'” says Claxton. “Companies like Montgomery Ward and all the big retail department stores would produce their own version.”

“Everyone thinks it started with the Type I, but it didn’t,” says Mohsin Sajid, a denim historian and founder of the brand Endrime who helpfully supplied this picture of one of the first denim jackets. “Levi’s says it’s from 1880, but some denim historians say it’s from 1874.”

In 1900, Levi’s made the Type I for railroad engineers, cowboys, and miners, but it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that anyone would have considered wearing denim workwear outside of a farm or jobsite.

Every generation rebels against their parents’ norms, and it was around the 1950s was when the cool kids of the post-war generation upended the social norms around workwear, and denim jackets were seen on the shoulders of celebrities like Marlon Brando and Marylin Monroe. 

Over the decades, the jackets had three iterations that are so iconic, companies still make reproductions of the original Levi’s.

What’s a Type I Jacket?

The Type I is often referred to as a trucker Jacket, even though it predates trucking. Its design was influenced by cowboys, but the Type I worked for both use cases because of its short length (you’re sitting all day) and the super roomy fit.

There was no stretch fabric back then, so if you needed a jacket that would let you spin your arms around steering wheels or horse reigns, you just had to wear really loose clothes.

Type I Denim Jacket’s Defining Features

• Single pocket low on the left chest
• Belt cinch on lower back
• Back pleats
• Knife pleats on the front to adjust the size
• Short, boxy, and roomy

“Levi’s came out with the first type around the turn of the 20th century,” says David, “The pressed in pleats on the back is a defining feature of the Type I. They are there so that you’ve got lots of freedom of movement. There’s also a cinch back, which is another quite iconic feature that allows one to adjust the waist if one’s weight, or the jacket itself, fluctuates in size.”

I really liked learning about all the elements that were added because the customer was expected to wear his jacket throughout his life.

“The reason why it’s got pleats is so when you get a bit fatter, you could undo the pleats and you could still wear it,” says Mohsin.

Type I Jacket Pockets

The Type I has the fewest pockets of the three Types, with just the one on the front chest. (No traditionally made denim jackets have “handwarmer” pockets on the sides, but most modern variations have added them in — to the chagrin of traditionalists.)

The Type I only changed slightly over the years.

“Pre-1936 Type Is wouldn’t have the pocket flap you find on the post-1936 Type I,” David says. “It’s becoming a bit more what we know as a modern jacket.”

Notable Type I Jackets

I can say that the Type I is the least common of the three, but some designers have tweaked the design to appeal to more customers.

“Some brands will go ahead and make the body of a Type I really long,” says Claxton. “And that’s unheard of in terms of heritage accuracy.”

If you want an accurate reproduction of a pre-1936 Type I, Full Count makes a 13.75oz jacket that’s just called the Type I Denim Jacket (above). It has all of the iconic design elements including the single pocket, donut buttons, front knife pleats, back pleats, and waist cinches.

Another classic example of a 1936 Type I is Oni’s Natural Indigo Jacket. It has a short, boxy shape, donut buttons, and is made with expensive natural indigo dye.

Because these brands are cool, there’s a decent chance these models won’t be sold forever — if that’s the case, trust that a different Type I from those brands will probably be just as great.

Who Should Buy a Type I Jacket?

• Guys who want the most vintage and original of the three Types
• People who wear high rise pants (or have short torsos) to complement the jacket’s short length
• Anyone who prefers a lot of extra room for layering, movement, comfort, or body type
• Guys with a little extra room around their waist and prefer roomier fits
• Customers who like the idea of being able to increase the jacket’s size if they gain weight

Who Shouldn’t Buy a Type I Jacket?

• Those who value pockets (which disqualified the Type I in my books)
• Guys who prefer a more fitted jacket; Type Is are as old fashioned as it gets

What’s a Type II Denim Jacket?

Easily identifiable by the two pockets positioned beneath the chest, the Type II came out in 1953’s post-war America and is the personal favorite of Mohsin Sajid and your author.

The Type II is a big deal because it’s the first denim jacket that was created after denim had become cool.

“Celebrityism, art culture, all the cool kids in the 1950s are wearing denim now because all their favorite actors are wearing denim in all of the films,” says Mohsin. “So it was no longer associated with manual labor. But the older generation still didn’t like denim!”

Type II Jacket’s Features

• Two flap pockets under the chest
• Button cinches to adjust waist
• No more belt cinch on lower back
• Slightly longer and slimmer than a Type I
• Bar tack stitching

The Type II is typically a bit longer, typically a little slimmer, and doesn’t have as many rivets.

Jeans, of course, are famous for the rivets that secure the stress points — those rivets are what legally identified them as Levi Strauss’s patent. Type I jackets had plenty of rivets too, but the Type II protected stress points with bar tacks, which basically means “lots of really dense stitching.”

The Type II had some new ways of adjusting the size, swapping the belt cinch on the low back for button cinches at the waist. But it kept the knife pleats on the front.

“Without the knife pleats, it would probably lose its shape very easily. It looks great, so why not?” says Claxton. “In some models they align with the buttons, on some they don’t, on some they have less. Some really early Montgomery Ward-style jackets will just have one in the middle.”

Notable Type II Jackets

“All these traditional denim jacket types go on quite an identifiable journey in terms of fit, becoming a little longer and slimmer with time,” says Claxton.

Both Son of a Stag and Nick from the Denimscapes Instagram in these pictures are a big fans of Warehouse & Co’s 2002x Type II. It’s one of those pieces that’s famous for how painstakingly the measurements and materials of old have been reproduced. (As always, if they aren’t selling that one anymore, whatever else they’re selling is also very good!)

When I first wrote this article I hadn’t owned any denim jackets. Now, as I’m updating this article years later, I’ve owned several type IIIs and two different Type II jackets from Tanuki Japan, a brand I love for combining Japanese heritage wear ideas with insanely creative fabrics, dyes, and textures. (My Tanuki “Amagumo” jacket, below, was dyed with black soybeans.)

Who Should Buy a Type II Jacket?

• Guys who want a slightly more modern fit than the Type I while retaining a streak of traditionalism
• Slimmer or taller guys with broad shoulders
• People who prefer the less conspicuous button waist cinches over the dangly belt on the Type I
• People who want more storage with the extra chest pocket

Who Shouldn’t Buy a Type II Jacket?

• To be honest, the chest pockets on the Type III are more flattering than the rib pockets on the Type II
• Those want the most modern and popular jacket you can get — that’s the Type III

What’s a Type III Jacket?

The Type III was released in the 1960s and Claxton notes, “it’s probably the most drastic change between between the type iterations.”

This is by far the most popular kind of denim jacket. If any mall brand decides to try their hand at a jean jacket, you can bet it’ll be a Type III. 

Type III Features

• Two pockets on the chest
• V-shaped stitching runs from chest pockets to waist
• No pleats to change your size
• Way more likely to have handwarmers and/or extra internal pockets
• Typically longer, slimmer cut than Type I and Type II

“The Type III is slightly longer, a little slimmer in the arms, slightly longer arms,” says Claxton. “The knife pleats are gone. The pockets tend to be a little more V-shaped, which the jacket is too.”

Why are there lines of stitching running vertically down the front and the back?

“It’s just slimming,” says Claxton. “As a design, it brings everything to the center of the jacket everything follows on, doesn’t it?”

Mohsin agrees. “Actually, to be honest, it’s just purely a way of updating it. I suppose it also emphasizes its ‘form fitting’ shape, too.”

Notable Type III Denim Jackets

There are countless interpretations of Type III. I talked about Levi’s iconic Type III (above) in this banger list of the most famous fall jackets.

You can’t really do a list of ‘best Type III denim jackets’ without making it a list of the best denim jackets in the world, and that’s not the point of this article. But as for Type IIIs that we like, Peter and I both have USA-made truckers from Flint & Tinder (above), which are extra cool because they’re made with Cone Mills Denim, a singular institution in the history of American denim.

The fanciest I’ve bought is the 20-ounce Secret Denim Type III Jacket from Oni Denim Co. But while the fabric was otherworldly, the design was too traditional for me: no handwarmer pockets.

Good examples of modern Type IIIs that are very good and not very expensive, I love the slightly slimmer and longer fits of Taylor Stitch’s Long Haul and Thursday Boot Co’s (below), both made with raw selvedge denim.

Who Should Buy a Type III Jacket?

• Most denim jackets you’ve seen are Type IIIs, so it’s natural that most people will be the most comfortable with a Type III
• People who like pockets; a Type III might even have more pockets on the interior
• Guys who like the slimming,V-shaped look
• Taller guys and thinner guys

Who Shouldn’t Buy a Type III Jacket?

• If you prefer a loose, workwear-ready fit, you’re probably better off with a Type I or II
• People who will miss the pleats’ ability to expand the size

Honorable Mention: The Lee Storm Rider Jacket

It might not be on of the “Types,” but you’ve seen this jacket around: it’s the one with a corduroy collar. It’s there, of course, because it’s more comfy and cozy on your neck than rigid, coarse denim.

“The Lee Storm Rider came into existence around the 1950s,” says Mohsin. “The pleats going down the body were to make it more form fitting and less boxy. This is the one that Marilyn Monroe was known for wearing, so it’s a very, very iconic jacket.”

I wear this one from Flint and Tinder a lot because it’s flannel-lined, making it one of my warmest denim jackets.

Wrapping Up

I hope this cleared up the differences between the Type I, II, and III jackets.

What’s the takeaway? That pretty much everyone decided the Type III was best. It’s by far the most widespread denim jacket Type.

The Type III’s chest pockets are more flattering than the rib pockets on the Type II, as is the Type III’s slimmer fit. Personally, I think the extra pockets cemented its position at the top of the food chain.

On a personal note, I picked up a thick Type 3 from Son of a Stag that’s made by Oni Denim Co after filming our interview, and quickly got fed up with its lack of handwarmers.

Ultimately, my favorite denim jacket became a Type II from Tanuki called the TNK402ID that I’m wearing with Peter in the picture above. My priority was handwarmers and internal bucket pockets, but I think my favorite element is that it has tonal stitching, giving it a more subtle and versatile look than the usual contrast stitching.

This jacket isn’t sold anymore, which is often the case in this space: if you’ve fallen for a denim jacket, be sure to buy it before it disappears forever!