Bonobos Jetsetter Travel Blazer Review: A Style Director’s Honest Opinion After Two Years of Testing

4 min readBY THE TIME I hit my 30s, there were a few things I knew I needed to figure out. My Roth IRA was one. Installing a window AC was another. And because of my job, I needed a blazer I could wear without waiting for an occasion. Growing up, blazers meant First Communions and weddings. Now I wear them to meetings, dinners, and work events. A good one works with today’s increasingly vague dress codes—what does “smart casual” even mean anymore? It keeps you warm. Sometimes it even makes people take you more seriously.SHOP BONOBOS’ JETSETTER BLAZERI wanted the jacket equivalent of a daily beater watch. Something I could wear to meetings or a nice dinner, then shove into an overhead bin without worrying about wrinkles. It had to handle packed subway cars and long flights. Most important, I wanted to roll into the office without looking like my jacket had spent the night crammed inside a carry-on—the sartorial walk of shame. I found it in the Bonobos Jetsetter Blazer, the brand’s signature jacket. I now own three versions and have spent the past two years traveling with them.Bonobos launched the Jetsetter in 2014, after making its name with better-fitting chinos. The brand’s OG travel blazer mixed wool and cotton with a touch of elastane for give. More than a decade later, the Jetsetter has become a fleet. New colors arrive throughout the year, along with versions made from wool, cotton, linen, knit fabrics, and all sorts of blends. Each fabric has its trade-offs. Linen breathes but wrinkles. Knit stretches. Wool holds its shape. All share the same soft construction, with just enough structure to help you look like a grown-up.ProsSoft, flexible constructionTravels with minimal wrinklingLooks like proper tailoringConsMay need a quick steam after packingThe FitI’m 5'8" and hover around 140 pounds. I also have broad shoulders and a 28-inch waist. Yes, that is a flex. The downside to that flex: off-the-rack blazers are tricky. Jackets that fit my shoulders billow like a skirt at the waist. Size down, and I look like a stuffed sausage. The Jetsetter skips the heavy padding, so its soft shoulders settle naturally over my frame. I wear a 38R and usually only need to shorten the sleeves because I wear a 33-inch shirt sleeve. I’ve taken in the waist on a couple for a closer fit, but they worked right off the rack.The cut lands somewhere between slim and boxy. Menswear trends swing from shrunken suits to oversized, 1980s Wall Street jackets and back again. This blazer should survive all of them.The Motion Some travel blazers feel like someone stretched a gym shirt and cut it into a suit jacket. Yes, you can do biceps curls in them. They also look and feel cheap. The Jetsetter has give, but it still looks unmistakably like a proper blazer. My knit version stretches the most. The cotton and linen ones feel crisper. I wear all three through spring, summer, and fall.A few wrinkles are inevitable. I’ve rolled mine up inside my luggage and pulled them out with only a few creases. Hang one in the hotel bathroom while you shower and the steam works out most of them. If I need it right away, I use a steamer. Otherwise, I let it hang overnight.How I Wear ItThe Jetsetter lives up to its name. Wearing it, I feel like the well-traveled, almost-middle-aged man my Catholic-school-boy self aspired to become. In Paris, I wore one with a dress shirt and tie for afternoon tea at Le Dalí inside Le Meurice. I felt like le gentleman. Some styles come with matching pants. Technically, that makes them suits, but who cares? In the Hamptons, I wore the set with a white tank top, dress sneakers, and a fake (I mean, lab-grown) tennis necklace to a fundraiser filled with people who looked like they had money. I fit right in. I did not have their money.I’ve also paired one with jeans and an Oxford shirt for drinks at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, then a nightclub in Shinjuku, doing my best impression of a hip salaryman. Few jackets can cover that much ground. This one can.Is It Worth It?I still wear my made-to-measure suits. Black tie calls for my Proper Cloth tuxedo. And when I feel like overdressing, I go full Tom Wolfe in one of my Alan David Custom suits. But I (regrettably) don’t live at galas. Most days call for a blazer I can wear to work, sit in for hours, fold into a bag, and pull on again for dinner. That’s the Jetsetter. At around $400, it isn’t cheap. After two years with mine, I’d buy a fourth.SHOP BONOBOS’ JETSETTER BLAZERMore of the Best Travel BlazersRelwen Flyweight Flex BlazerUniqlo AirSense BlazerCharles Tyrwhitt Linen Cotton JacketNow 40% OffBuck Mason Capitola Carry-On JacketRhone Commuter BlazerSuitsupply Perennial Havana Suit JacketShop More of Our Favorite MenswearBest Polo Shirts for Men | Best Jeans for Men | Best T-Shirts for Men | Best Underwear for Men | Best Joggers for Men | Best Tank Tops for Men | Best Sweaters | Best Hoodies | Best Swim Trunks for Men | Best Shorts for Men | Best Socks for Men | Best Travel PantsChristian is the Style and Reviews Director at Men's Health and Women’s Health, where he oversees shopping and style content for both brands. He started his magazine career as an accessories assistant at Vogue, and has since held editorial roles at Tatler Asia and The Manual. When he’s not online shopping, you can find him on long walks with his two corgis.