Vented Jacket with fencing veil

01 · WORKING IN THE HEAT

Three layers that let the air through

The fabric is a three-layer mesh held away from the skin: air moves through it while the distance does the protecting. That is the difference from a cotton suit, which in July becomes a sauna. On long summer days — inspections, harvest, moving hives — is where this smock pays for itself.

02 · THE VEIL

It comes right off, and there is something you should know

The fencing veil detaches completely on its YKK zip, so the smock washes one way and the veil by hand another. Vision is panoramic, with no wires crossing in front. Now what has to be said: the veil has no front hoop. Lean well forward — picking something off the ground, looking under a hive — and the mesh can come to rest on your chin, and there you do get stung. People who work bent over solve it with habit, or by putting something under the veil at chin height.

03 · THE CLOSURE

Cuffs, waist and storm flap

It closes at the front with a YKK zip and a hook-and-loop storm flap over it, which is what stops a bee finding the zip teeth. Cuffs and waist are reinforced elastic: check them before you open the first hive, because a loose or ridden-up cuff is the commonest way in. And like any elastic, it loses tension over the years — it is the part that ages first.

04 · THE SIZE

It is worn loose, over your work clothes

It runs from S to XXXL and it is a garment meant to be worn loose: your own clothes go underneath, and the slack is part of the protection, because it keeps the mesh off the skin. On that basis, anyone hesitating between two sizes does well to take the larger. If you need the exact measurements of a given size before deciding, write to us and we will give them to you.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The veil is washed by hand, separately from the smock. And it has no hoop: leaning over it can touch your chin, so allow for that if you work close to the ground.