A pea coat (or peacoat, pea jacket, pilot jacket, reefer jacket) is an outer coat, generally of a navy-coloured heavy wool, originally worn by sailors of European and later American navies. In the Kriegsmarine, the German War Navy, it was called the Uberziehers (overcoat).

What does the pea in pea coat mean?

Once they were worn exclusively by sailors in the navy, and called pea jackets. The origin of the name peacoat is uncertain, but experts think it either comes from the Dutch pijjekker, jacket of coarse woolen cloth, or from pilot cloth or P-cloth, a waterproof material used in the US Navy.

Is boiled wool waterproof?

First of all, boiled wool is a knitted fabric. Thanks to this process, the fabric becomes more resistant, more compact and fairly waterproof.

Who makes pea coats for the Navy?

Sterlingware While Sterlingware is the current manufacturer, the peacoat has been a naval staple for hundreds of years and popularized by the U.K. Royal Navy, military uniform historian Jennifer Daley told USNI News last month.