I’ve always ben a sucker for clever and useful products, especially those that make traveling easier. A few decades ago, I was enamored by some products from an entrepreneur, Scott Jordan. He created a line of vests that contained an assortment of pockets of varying sizes to carry the myriad of stuff we take with us. His company, SCOTTeVEST, expanded their line over the years to create shirts, underclothes, and even jackets with extra pockets. One of the vests I first bought held a computer, a Kindle, pens, and a pad of paper. It was a clever way to stick to the two bag limit, while allowing me to bring on much more than would fit in my two bags.
For a trip this past Spring to South America, I bought a pair of his travel pants and travel shorts that had pickpocket proof pockets to hold a wallet, passport, cellphone, credit cards and an extra pair of glasses. They were designed to avoid wrinkling and to be washable in my hotel room.
His products have never been cheapened or cost-reduced over the years. They’ve always been made of durable, premium-quality materials that feel and look good, all with superb workmanship. There’s a huge amount of sewing for all the pockets, with each of them unique.
Scottevest has just introduced his latest product, the Epic Jacket for both men and women. It has a clean understated look, the best looking of all his jackets, but contains 24 pockets of varying sizes, inside and out, dedicated to hold specific items. There’s a dedicated transparent phone pocket (image above), a pocket for glasses with a tethered cleaning cloth, a key pocket with leash and hook, tablet and computer pockets. It’s not inexpensive, selling for $274, but considering the amount of work to create the jacket, it still provides good value.
I would note that I have no commercial connection nor any financial relationship. I just appreciate great product designs and an affinity for useful travel products. Check out his website here.
I owned one of the original SCOTTeVEST jackets. It was brilliant. Comfortable. Durable. Wore it all over the world. Its pockets held more than a carry-on backpack could. Then I accidentally left it in a LATAM overhead bin in Quito, didn’t realize it until after I went through immigration, and of course they wouldn’t let me back on the plane to retrieve it. Bye-bye jacket. Some Ecuadorian aircraft cleaner is probably enjoying it now.