The Dehen 1920 N-1 Deck Jacket, Explained
The Dehen 1920 N-1 Deck Jacket, Explained
Where the deck jacket came from, what the US Navy got right in 1943, what Dehen changed when they rebuilt it in Portland, why waxed canvas and genuine mouton are the whole point, and how to size and care for one so it outlasts you.
Why We Keep Coming Back to This Jacket
Every autumn the same conversation happens at the counter. Someone asks for a proper winter jacket, one that will hold up to a real Canadian winter, whether that means minus twenty in Edmonton, Winnipeg or Montreal, or the damp, bone deep cold we get here on the coast, and we walk them to the Dehen N-1. On paper it is more jacket than a Vancouver winter needs. In practice it suits this city better than the spec sheet suggests. Our cold is a wet cold. Four degrees and raining at the bus stop gets into you in a way a dry minus ten never does, and the two things this jacket does best are shed rain and hold heat. Waxed canvas was made for exactly this weather, and a full mouton lining means the damp simply does not reach you. It is the heaviest, warmest and most expensive piece of outerwear we stock, and it is also the one we have the fewest reservations about recommending, whether you are staying on the coast or heading somewhere the cold is serious. That combination is rare, so we thought it was worth explaining properly.
The short version: the N-1 is a 1943 US Navy pattern that was already close to perfect, and Dehen 1920 rebuilt it with two materials the original never had, a waxed cotton shell and a genuine sheepskin lining, then cut and sewed the whole thing in their own Portland factory. The long version is below.
Where the Deck Jacket Came From
Sailors on an exposed steel deck in the North Atlantic or the North Pacific have a very specific problem: wind, salt spray and cold, all at once, for hours. Early in the Second World War the US Navy issued a dark blue zip front jacket that closely resembled the Army's winter tanker jacket, with exposed knit cuffs, collar and waistband. It worked in an armoured vehicle. On a ship it was a disappointment. The knit trim snagged in rigging, the short body let the weather in, and it was not warm enough.
By late 1943 the Navy had replaced it with a design of its own, the jacket now known as the N-1. The shell was a dense, heavyweight cotton Bedford cord that sailors called jungle cloth, a tightly woven fabric with faint lengthwise ridges that resists wind and spray far better than a plain weave. Inside, the body and collar were lined with a thick alpaca and wool pile. The knit cuffs moved inside the sleeve so they could no longer catch on anything. The body was lengthened, a drawcord was added at the hem, and a throat latch let the wearer button the pile collar closed against the wind.
The closure is the detail people remember. A brass zipper runs up the front, covered by a wide placket that buttons over it. Two layers of protection, and a slightly off centre look, balanced by a pocket on either side. There is no decoration anywhere on the jacket. The first N-1s were navy blue; from around 1945 the colour shifted to a light olive khaki, which is the version most people picture today, usually with a black stencilled USN on the chest.
The N-1 stayed in service into the 1960s and never really left civilian wardrobes after that. Paul Newman, who served in the Navy from 1943 to 1946, was photographed in what was very probably his own issued jacket, and that did the rest. It is the direct ancestor of nearly every fur collared, placket front winter jacket sold since.
Who Dehen Are
Dehen Knitting Company was founded in Portland, Oregon in 1920 by William Peter Dehen, a knitter who left Jantzen to start his own mill. Through the 1920s they knit varsity and collegiate sweaters. In the 1930s they supplied riding sweaters to local motorcycle clubs. When the Depression hit and the bank foreclosed on the factory, William moved the knitting machines into the basement of the family home overnight (one of them reportedly poked up through a hole in the kitchen floor) and sold sweaters door to door, sometimes for food. During the war his youngest son Bill joined the Navy while the company fought wool shortages. In the 1950s Dehen added the hand built varsity jacket, and the modern Dehen 1920 line launched in 2011.
Over a century later they are still a family business, still in Portland, and still knitting worsted wool on vintage machines under the same roof where they cut and sew their outerwear. Their own description of the philosophy is that they put more material into each garment than most manufacturers would consider sensible, on the basis that you should only have to buy it once. That is exactly the mindset the N-1 was designed with in 1943, which is why the pairing makes sense.
What Dehen Changed
Dehen's N-1 keeps the pattern and the logic of the original and swaps the materials for ones that suit a civilian who wants the jacket to last decades rather than a deployment. The two big changes are the shell and the lining.
Black/Black and Fig/Brown, the first two of three colourways arriving this season.
Waxed canvas instead of jungle cloth
The shell is a 10.10oz cotton canvas impregnated with wax. Jungle cloth resisted weather through the tightness of its weave; waxed canvas does it through the wax itself, which sheds rain and blocks wind while leaving the cotton breathable. For a Vancouver winter, where the enemy is weeks of rain rather than deep cold, that wax layer is the feature you will use most: water beads and runs off, and the mouton underneath stays dry. The trade is that waxed cotton has a memory. It creases where you bend, lightens at the high points, darkens where it is handled, and after a winter or two the jacket carries a record of how you wore it. On the black shell that shows as a subtle marbling; on the fig it is more pronounced. Neither is a flaw. It is the reason people buy waxed cotton in the first place, and the wax can be refreshed when it eventually wears thin.
Genuine mouton instead of alpaca pile
This is the change that matters most. Mouton is sheepskin with the wool still attached, sheared to an even, dense pile and finished to a soft, almost fur like hand. It is the same material used in the collars of the best flight jackets. Unlike a woven pile lining, which is fibre anchored into a backing cloth, mouton is the whole hide, so the wool sits at its natural density and the leather backing acts as a second windproof layer on the inside of the jacket. The result is a lining that is heavier, warmer and far more substantial than anything the Navy could have issued in quantity. Dehen line the entire body and the collar with it, not just the collar as a decorative touch.
It also means the jacket is heavy, in the way a good leather jacket is heavy. You feel it on the hanger. After ten minutes on your shoulders you stop noticing, and after ten minutes outside in a cold rain you understand why it is built this way.
Everything else, kept and upgraded
Six button placket over a hidden heavy duty #10 brass zipper with a canvas pull. Two layers against the wind, exactly as the 1943 pattern intended.
Hidden 100 percent wool knit cuffs, knitted by Dehen on their own machines in Portland. They seal the sleeve without showing, so nothing snags and the exterior stays clean.
Full mouton collar with a buttoned neck closure tab and zigzag reinforcement stitching underneath, so the collar can be stood and secured when the weather turns.
Two welt hand pockets at the front and an interior left chest pocket secured with a second #10 brass zipper. Nothing on the outside to catch or bulk out the silhouette.
Metal eyelets under each arm, carried over from the original. A jacket this warm needs somewhere for heat to escape when you step indoors.
Cut and sewn in Portland, Oregon. Dehen do not contract the N-1 out; it comes out of the same building as their sweaters and varsity jackets.
Original versus Dehen, side by side
| Element | US Navy N-1, 1943 to 1945 | Dehen 1920 N-1 |
|---|---|---|
| Shell | Heavyweight cotton Bedford cord (jungle cloth) | 10.10oz waxed cotton canvas |
| Lining | Alpaca and wool woven pile, body and collar | Genuine mouton sheepskin, body and collar |
| Closure | Brass zipper under a button placket | Hidden #10 brass zipper under a six button placket |
| Cuffs | Knit, moved inside the sleeve | Hidden 100 percent wool knit, made in house |
| Pockets | Two front pockets | Two welt pockets plus zipped interior chest pocket |
| Ventilation | Underarm eyelets | Underarm eyelets |
| Made in | Various US government contractors | Dehen's own factory, Portland, Oregon |
Original specifications are drawn from published histories of the N-1 and vary slightly by contract and year. Dehen specifications are from the current production jacket.
How It Fits, and How to Size It
This is the part we want to be clear about, because it is the one thing that catches people out. The mouton takes up real space inside the jacket. Compared with the rest of Dehen's outerwear, which runs true to size, the N-1 fits slimmer through the body and arms. Dehen's own guidance is to consider a size up if you are between sizes or want room for more than a shirt or light knit underneath, and we agree with it.
Think of the N-1 as the outer layer and the insulation in one garment. You do not need a heavy sweater under it, and if you try to wear one you will probably wish you had gone up a size.
The body length sits just below the waist, longer than a bomber and shorter than a coat, which is what lets it work over jeans without swallowing them. The sleeves are cut with the knit cuff hidden well inside, so measure your sleeve to where you want the outer canvas to end, not the cuff. If you are anywhere near Vancouver, the easiest way to settle it is to come in and put both sizes on. We keep them on the floor for exactly that reason.
Why It Costs What It Costs
We would rather address this directly than pretend it is not a fair question. The N-1 is priced where it is because of the mouton. A full sheepskin lining is an enormous amount of material, it has to be cut hide by hide, and it cannot be rushed through a sewing line. Add a waxed canvas shell, brass hardware, cuffs knitted in house, and a small American factory paying Portland wages, and the number is what it is. What you get in return is a jacket that will, with reasonable care, still be doing its job in twenty years. Spread over that, it is one of the least expensive winter jackets you can buy.
Caring for Waxed Canvas and Mouton
Both materials are long lived if you treat them the way they were meant to be treated, and both dislike a washing machine. Start with the maker's care guidance, always. Beyond that:
- Never machine wash or dry clean the N-1. Detergent strips the wax and the solvents used in dry cleaning can damage the sheepskin.
- For everyday dirt, let mud dry, then brush it off with a stiff clothes brush. For anything stubborn, sponge the shell with cold water only and let it air dry away from direct heat.
- Expect the wax to lighten at the creases and wear points over time. When the shell starts to feel dry and stops shedding water, rewax it with a proper wax dressing, worked in with your hands or a cloth and set with gentle warmth from a hair dryer.
- Keep the mouton dry where you can. If it does get wet, hang the jacket open in a cool room and let it dry slowly. Do not put it near a radiator.
- Brush the mouton occasionally with a soft brush to keep the pile lofted, especially at the collar where it takes the most contact.
- Store it on a broad wooden hanger in a cool, dry place, never in a plastic bag. Both wax and sheepskin need air.
- Waxed cotton can leave faint marks on light upholstery or a pale car seat when new. It settles down quickly, but it is worth knowing.
What We Are Carrying
This season we are bringing in the N-1 in three colourways, all built to the specification above and all cut and sewn in Portland. Two are ready to pre-order now; the third lands a little later in the season.
Black/Black: black waxed canvas over black mouton. The most tonal version Dehen make and the one that disappears into a winter wardrobe. The wax marbling shows more subtly on black, so this is the pick if you want the jacket to look composed for longer.
Fig/Brown: a deep fig canvas over brown mouton. Warmer in tone, and the one that develops the most character as the wax moves. It sits naturally with raw indigo, olive fatigues and brown leather boots.
Fossil Brown/Kodiak (coming soon): a fossil brown waxed cotton shell over Kodiak mouton, a lighter, warmer toned sheepskin than the black or brown. This is the closest of the three to the look of a worn khaki original, and the one that will show the wax marbling most openly. It is not yet listed online. It will appear in our Dehen 1920 collection as soon as it is available, or ask us in store and we will let you know when it lands.
Black/Black and Fig/Brown are available to pre-order now in Medium through XXL. Pre-order stock has not yet landed at the shop; orders ship the moment it arrives with us. If you would like to try one on before you commit, come by 83 East Pender Street in Vancouver and we will put one on you.
The Bottom Line
The N-1 deck jacket is one of the few pieces of military clothing that was so well resolved the first time that nobody has meaningfully improved the pattern since 1943. Dehen did not try to. They kept the closure, the hidden cuffs, the throat latch, the eyelets and the proportions, then built it out of a waxed shell that ages beautifully and a full sheepskin lining that turns a good winter jacket into a serious one. It is heavy, it is warm, it fits close, and it is made by a family that has been doing this in the same city for over a hundred years.
If you want one jacket for a Canadian winter, wet coast or dry prairie, and you would rather buy it once, this is the one we would point you to. Browse online at Dehen 1920 or the wider Outerwear collection, or come and feel the weight of it in person. Specifications change from one production run to the next, so the individual product pages are always the final word.
