California-based menswear brand Taylor Stitch is far newer than Golden Bear Sportswear, the legacy San Francisco brand best known for its long-lasting varsity jackets, but they share a home base (San Fran) and an appreciation for Golden Bear's humble beginnings. You see, the brand first sold coats to the dockworkers who pulled cargo off ships entering the San Francisco Bay. They were refined yet rugged, two pillar descriptors for Taylor Stitch's present product assortment, which is why the brand taps Golden Bear for collaborations from time to time.
Previously, they made an entire collection together, tethering San Francisco of old to its newest class. Now, they've crafted a blue-ish black bomber together based on Golden Bear's earliest iterations of the style, which date back the 1940s. But the brand hasn't shuttered or slowed. In fact, this collaboration is proof that Golden Bear still has (and that the duo should collaborate more often, and maybe they will).
"Golden Bear has been a longtime partner and neighbor of ours here in San Francisco for years. We wanted to do something new with them this year and ultimately came together with a classic varsity bomber that's a perfect weight to wear year round," says Luke McAlpine, Senior Director of Brand Marketing at Taylor Stitch.
Priced at $598 and limited to just 50 pieces, The Golden Bear Snap Bomber in Midnight Wool mixes design features introduced for athletic endeavors and those saved for pilots preempting enemy aircrafts (hence the price). The base is 80 percent wool and 20 percent polyamide melton wool with an 100 percent acetate liner and 100 percent cowhide inserts at the shoulders and pocket entries. There are two angled pockets on the exterior and one on the inside, but the style isn't designed to carry a ton of cargo — it's tailored but not tight, which means you're better off leaving the pockets empty (or just putting your hands in there).
There is a catch, though — you won't get yours (if you order one) until mid- to late February, or even as far away as early March. It's to be expected, though, since these are made to order in San Francisco, in Golden Bear's Potrero Hill factory.
