Olow Sherwood: a wool jacket built to stay in the wardrobe for years

What it is

The Sherwood is a wool jacket from Olow, sold in sizes from XS to 2XL. It sits in the category of outerwear you reach for when a t-shirt or a light jumper isn’t enough but a heavy winter coat is too much — the kind of piece meant to work across several months of the year rather than for one specific occasion.

Olow describes the Sherwood as a jacket that has stayed in its collection season after season, rather than a one-off design. That framing matters: it positions the piece less as a trend item and more as a wardrobe basic, something bought once and worn repeatedly over several years.

The brand itself is built around small-scale manufacturing. Olow makes its clothes in Portugal, in family-run workshops.

Why it exists

Olow’s pitch is less about a single technical problem and more about how clothes get made. The brand’s own statements point to two recurring frustrations in fashion: unclear manufacturing conditions, and materials chosen for cost rather than durability or environmental impact.

Olow says it addresses the first point by keeping production in Portugal, in workshops it describes as attentive to the wellbeing of the people working there, rather than spreading manufacturing across less traceable supply chains. It addresses the second by saying it favours materials and production methods that are more respectful of the environment and of people, wherever that’s possible.

The Sherwood, as a long-running piece in the Olow range, is presented as an example of that approach applied over time: a jacket kept in production because it holds up, rather than replaced every season.

What matters

The fabric is 100% wool, at a weight of 480 g. Wool of this weight sits toward the heavier end for a jacket — it’s a fabric built for insulation and structure, not for packing light. It also tends to hold its shape better than lighter cloths, which matters for a piece meant to last several winters rather than one.

The lining is 100% cotton flannel, weighing 190 g. A cotton flannel lining adds a soft layer against the skin and helps the jacket go on and off more easily over other clothing, without adding the bulk a heavier lining would bring.

The jacket has piped pockets on the outside, plus an interior pocket with its own screen-printed label. Piped pockets are a tailoring detail — they sit flatter and cleaner than patch pockets, which points to a jacket cut with more structure than a casual work coat.

The collar carries a screen-printed label, and the interior pocket has its own printed label as well. These are branding details rather than functional ones, but they’re worth knowing before buying: this isn’t a jacket that hides its label inside a neck seam.

Care is by dry cleaning only. That’s a direct consequence of the wool and flannel combination — both fabrics can shrink or lose shape in a washing machine, so the garment is built with the assumption that it will be maintained professionally rather than washed at home.

Day to day

The Sherwood is worn as an outer layer, over a t-shirt, shirt or light jumper, given its weight and wool composition. Its piped exterior pockets and interior pocket function as everyday storage — the interior pocket, in particular, suits smaller items like a phone or a set of keys, kept closer to the body and away from the outer pockets.

Because the jacket has to be dry cleaned rather than machine washed, day-to-day maintenance is limited to airing it out between wears and brushing off surface dirt, with dry cleaning kept for when the garment actually needs a proper clean. This is typical of wool outerwear at this weight, and it’s worth planning for before buying: dry cleaning has its own rhythm and cost compared with machine-washable pieces.

Technical specifications

Characteristic	Value
Outer fabric composition	100% wool
Outer fabric weight	480 g
Lining composition	100% cotton flannel
Lining weight	190 g

What the brand says

Olow presents the Sherwood as a fixture of its own range, a jacket that has stayed in the collection across several seasons rather than being redesigned or dropped.

On manufacturing, Olow states that all of its garments are made in Portugal, in family-run workshops, and that it pays attention to the wellbeing of the people working in them.

On materials, Olow says it favours, wherever possible, fabrics and production processes that are more respectful of both the environment and the people involved in making them.

These are the brand’s own statements about its practices; they describe intent and approach rather than figures.