The Regatta Blazer: Why Every Crew Needs a Club Blazers Original

Henley Royal Regatta. Henley Women's Regatta. The Head of the River. Marlow. Reading. The names alone are enough to send a shiver down the spine of anyone who has ever picked up an oar. These are the events where British rowing puts on its finest — not just on the water, but on the riverbank, the clubhouse balcony, and the enclosures. And at every one of them, the blazer is the uniform.

Club Blazers is proud to be a supplier to crews and clubs competing at Henley, and our rowing blazers have been worn on the banks of the Thames for over a decade. Here is why a bespoke blazer is the most important thing you will pack for regatta season.

Rowing is a sport built on tradition. The first regatta was held in 1775, and the culture of the sport — the enclosures, the dress codes, the socialising between races — has changed remarkably little since. When you arrive at a regatta, you are not just representing yourself. You are representing your club, your crew, and the legacy of everyone who rowed before you.

A well-made blazer is the single most powerful piece in that equation. It tells everyone watching that you belong, that your club takes itself seriously, and that you understand the occasion. The right blazer — correctly striped, properly fitted, with your club crest hand-embroidered on the chest — is the difference between blending in and standing out for the right reasons.

We have been supplying bespoke blazers to clubs competing at Henley Royal Regatta and Henley Women's Regatta for years. From the Temple Challenge Cup to the Remenham Challenge Cup, our blazers have been on the backs of crews striding through the Stewards' Enclosure and celebrating on the barges after a win.

Henley sets the standard for regatta dress. The Stewards' Enclosure has a strict dress code — jackets and ties for gentlemen, dresses or skirts of appropriate length for ladies — and our blazers are designed to meet that standard and exceed it. Every jacket is cut to your measurements, your stripes are aligned across every seam, and your crest is hand-stitched to the exact specification of your club's original blazer.

Unlike many suppliers, we do not impose a rigid minimum order. Whether your club needs 40 blazers for the entire squad or a single jacket for a new coxswain who joined last week, we can accommodate it. This is one of the things that makes us different.

We hold your club's design on file — the fabric, the stripe configuration, the colours, the crest, the buttons, the lining — so that every blazer we make for your club is identical, whether it is ordered in a batch of thirty or one at a time over several years. A new member joining mid-season gets the same blazer as the captain who ordered the original set. The colours match. The stripes align. The crest is identical.

That flexibility extends to design as well. You choose the base colour, the stripe colours, the stripe thickness and spacing, the button style (brass, silver, horn), the lining colour, and optional extras like monogramming or contrast piping. Double-breasted or single-breasted. Notched, peak, or shawl lapel. Every detail is yours to specify, and we will reproduce it exactly — this year, next year, and the year after that.

This is the detail that matters most to clubs. A new rower joins. An old blazer is lost in a move. Someone needs a replacement in a different size. With most suppliers, this means a minimum reorder of ten or more — and the new batch rarely matches the old one because the dye lot has changed.

With Club Blazers, you simply email us. We pull up your design, cut the fabric, and make exactly one blazer to the original specification. No minimum. No batch. No compromise. The new jacket arrives at your door indistinguishable from the ones ordered three years ago.

While Henley is our flagship, our rowing blazers are worn at regattas across the UK and beyond — from the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake to the National Championships, from regional head races to international masters events. Wherever rowers gather, a Club Blazers jacket is never far away.

Every blazer is hand-tailored in our Thailand atelier by the same small team that has been with us since 2012. You receive personal emails at every stage of production — when your fabric is cut, when stitching begins, and when your order is shipped with tracking. The person writing to you is the person making your blazer.

Ready to kit out your crew? Visit our Group Orders page to tell us about your club, or head to the Bespoke Studio to start designing your stripe configuration. From a single replacement to a full squad set, we are ready when you are.