Guide to Shooting Clothing & Attire

What to Wear The shooting season in the UK spans the beginning of autumn through to the middle of winter. So whilst there are many glorious sunny days to be had when shirt sleeves are in order, there are also those which are wet and wild! Temperatures can therefore vary between 25 degrees down to freezing and slightly beyond in a particularly cold snap. Therefore if pays to be prepared for all eventualities.

In days gone by it was a necessity to turn out in full tweed regalia to be accepted on a shoot. These days things are significantly more relaxed, but there are still some traditions upheld. We therefore suggest the following as a guide for your shooting clothing.

On Top Whilst the traditional style of jacket is still commonplace on the shooting field, gone are many of the heavy tweed examples and in are the new light weight fabrics. These new style jackets are superb and really enable you to move freely when shooting and most importantly keep you dry. Schoffel and Laksen are two of the best brands on the market. Both produce shooting jackets and shooting suits that are waterproof, breathable, and light weight. Under the jacket most people wear a shirt, tie and perhaps a pullover depending upon the weather.

Trousers & Socks Traditionally Breeches (also know as Plus Twos and Plus Fours depending upon the leg length) have been worn and this tradition is still very much in practice today.

Generally the Breeches finish just below the knee and your long shooting socks are then pulled up and over the bottom of the garment so keeping you warm. Garters are frequently used to keep the socks in place.

Although at first though Breeches might seem a little odd they are very commonplace in shooting field and actually exceptionally comfortable. Many brands offer tweed breeches that are waterproof, however, if you are not so lucky to own a pair, it is more than acceptable to wear overtrousers to keep you dry.

Hat Generally people wear traditional flat caps when shooting and tweeds are still very much the norm. However, trilbies and deer stalker are also often worn.

Footwear Whilst every effort is made to locate gun drives on hard and firm ground, getting there might be slightly different! Many of the stands are adjacent to rivers or brooks and some time, particularly after prolonged periods of rain it can become a little soggy. Therefore we do recommend wearing wellington boots or hiking boots. At Farlows we have an excellent selection of footwear brands, from traditional Le Chameau and Aigle wellingtons, to GORE-TEX® lined leather Dubarry boots, and Brasher walking boots.