Bluffworks Telex Blazer Review
My first look at a “tech blazer”. Not sure what that may be? Take a gander at the review below.
Bluffworks Telex Blazer Review Introduction
Bluffworks - the travel clothing company for adults. For business travelers. Those that need something much less technichal looking and a little more formal - but secretly being tech clothing for travel. They are one of the originators of travel clothing in general, and this is their niche. Always travel friendly materials. Always a hidden pocket or two, but usually not too many to over do it. Options for casual business work and more formal work. It’s what they do.
They were also one of my very first reviews on the website. Back then I took a look at both a Threshold T-shirt review and an Ascender Five Pocket review. Both great quality. While they’ve always had some blazer or sport coat choices, I’ve never really needed one that was travel friendly. But this year, I saw that they released a much more casual, but still good looking blazer with tech and travel friendly fabric, that’s just being a bit more ‘person about town’ than ‘close a deal with the big banking client’ in terms of its formality. It’s called the Telex blazer. So for personal travel where I might want to wear a jacket at dinner or for work travel to see clients (this is a thing again, thankfully), I was certainly intrigued.
This is my Bluffworks Telex Blazer review. As I alluded to above, I was able to use this in a number of travel scenarios. One non-travel work meeting, and a travel work meeting where I wore it both on the 6hr cross country flight and the day itself. Then, I also took it with me on a trip to England just to try while jaunting around London for a long weekend to see some old friends.
As always for full transparency, I purchased this Telex Blazer with my own money. I do use affiliate links which help to support the site if you decide to use them to make a purchase, but you’re under no obligation to do so and there’s no additional cost to you. Thanks for stopping by!
-Need travel insurance? As an American, our health care system is complicated and your regular insurance might not cover you abroad. For international travel, I’ve been using World Nomads for years. They have adventure packages that cover most hiking and even ice hockey. Be sure to read all the coverage information (it’s laid out very well on the site) to make sure it’s right for you, but be sure to give them a look. I find their rates quite competitive and the quotes are free! -
Bluffworks Telex Overview
Fabric macro for the fabric nerds.
The Telex Blazer fits into an interesting slot in your travel lineup. Admittedly not everyone needs a blazer but for many folks, they do like to level up at times. In certain bigger cities, there are plenty of places where it’s certainly appropriate to wear - either to fit in with the crowd or just to look a little nicer without looking out of place. Those places exist, you know. Leave your travel mandals at home though for those. (Cue the Reddit pitchforks for that blasphemy)
This is a lightweight blazer at only 14oz and therefore is geared towards being something that can help you lighten your load if you need to pack it. It’s got some other great travel friendly features that we’ll go over in a minute but it’s fairly well rounded.
So ideally, it’s meant to be lightweight, wrinkle resistant, easy to wear, and like most of their clothing - easy to wash. This can be washed in the normal washing machine as needed! Try that with your silk-wool jacket.
The Telex is a half-lined blazer, it’s worth noting.
Stats from the site:
85% Polyester, 15% Elastane
Lightweight: (4.25 oz per yard)
It retails for $280.00 USD as of Nov 2024. The Telex blazer comes in colors of digital blue, carbon gray, and black. The three basic colors you’re gonna need and I have the digital blue.
Bluffworks Telex Blazer Fit
Let’s jump into a quick fit section for a minute. A note on my size choice - I purchased both a Size 38 Short in Classic and a Size 30 Short in Slim. This way I didn’t have to wait while I returned or exchanged one if it didn’t fit. When I tried on the Classic my wife and I were surprised how well it fit right off the rack. Then, I tried the Slim and was even more surprised how well that fit. I’m 5’6” and I will tell you - fitting well off the rack is not something I’m used to in a LOT of types of clothes. Now the sleeves were not QUITE as fit as a tailored or bespoke suit - but this is not, in fact, a tailored and bespoke suit. Once I’d tried the Slim, I put the Classic back on and decided that it was just a bit too loose on me and wasn’t the look I wanted. But, subjective and I like that there are both options.
Pictures of the Slim. I was happy with the tightness, the sleeve length, and the jacket length. Keep in mind these pictures were taken AFTER wear as well as travel. So while not the crispest possible, it’s an accurate representation of a real life look. Plus an on-location shot at Tonkatsu in London.
For my work meetings, I wore this with a tucked in navy-Gingham shirt, black jeans, and English brogues for shoes. Worked nicely.
Here you can see it hanging in the closet in my hotel in London - this is after an overnight flight and an hour in a cab (with a seatbelt on) to get there.
Bluffworks Telex Blazer Features
For a sports jacket, this thing actually comes with a lot of features.
The fabric itself is a feature and many of those features overall just belong to the fabric. This fabric is very lightweight as we mentioned, but it’s also 4-way stretch. That was a surprising feel to me when I got it in hand. The fabric itself is also ripstop, something we’ll discuss later in the opinion sections. This fabric is also meant to be more wrinkle resistant than usual, and it’s also breathable which is why it was designed for warmer weather.
Next up, there is a C0 DWR coating on the jacket. While this doesn’t make it waterproof, it does make it more resistant to wetting out, and in my experience DWR does a great job repelling light rain to help you get from the car to the building without too much of a soak. Remains to be seen how it fairs vs Super Soakers in BCN, however.
Additionally, there are a number of pockets on this one. 7 in total, 4 of those on the interior and 2 of those with zippers. You’ll have plenty of optionality on this.
Can be both machine washed AND machine dried on low. That is NOT a normal thing with techie fabric so it’s certainly a big feature to mention. To note, it can also be low-ironed as needed. We’ve lightly steamed it more than once.
The Good
Casual, comfortable, upleveling. I think the Telex sets out to do that and frankly, I think it succeeded. This is an easy jacket to throw on and style with a tucked in (or untucked) button up shirt. For meetings I went tucked, for travel I went untucked. I also paired it with a Western Rise StrongCore Merino shirt for my trip home and frankly, I like it. It’s a good “en route” look. (Regular readers will remember I am very against grown adults looking like college kids in their pajamas when they travel). So, full marks from me on accomplishing the look it set out to. I think this is also the kind of blazer you can wear with either tennis shoes or your oxfords. I certainly did.
I think the material is pretty cool. It has an awesome hand feel and because it’s light and has 4-way stretch, it’s incredibly comfortable. Movement is unreal in this thing if you compare it to a standard suit. It’s night and day and I really enjoyed that about the Telex. With a SLIGHT caveat I’ll mention in the next section.
The feature set for travel is “A” level here. Easily packed, washable, flexible, quick dry, plenty of pockets, etc. It’s stacked. Now I will note - use those pockets wisely and use the number to give you flexibility. Don’t go using all of them at once to put all of your tech and wallets and field notes and passport and Skittles and jaffa cakes in. You don’t want to make it look like a fishing vest. But, passport, some cash, some cards to leave the wallet behind, money clip, etc.
I’m going to put the fit here. I was shocked how well it fit. Plus, there are two options so if you don’t like the slimmer look, or can’t wear the slimmer look because of “how much ya bench” - there’s options. Plus Regular, Long, and Short. Hopefully, you can find yours.
The Bad
I’ll be up front here, I’ve loved this jacket so I know it’s a mostly positive review. But I do have a couple of niggles to mention that I think you should be aware of.
First, the ripstop fabric. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. On the Digital Blue, you can definitely notice if you look closely. I will say it does NOT look like outdoors gear or hiking fabric, don’t worry. But if you’re a discerning person, you’re going to notice that pattern. Only you can decide if that’s acceptable but it definitely keeps the Telex jacket squarely in the casual camp. I don’t know if the gray would hide this better, I’d imagine the black definitely would. If Bluffworks could figure out a way to keep the nature of this fabric without the obvious pattern, I think they’d please a lot more folks.
The buttons are functional on the cuffs. That said, I don’t know why. It’s noted in their descriptions/features but on a suit coat I don’t really think this is necessary. In fact, it presents a particular kind of problem - you can’t alter the sleeves, really. Now somewhere, someone might be willing to do this but it’s a tremendous amount of work and not really what a tailor signs up for. You’d most likely need to actually eliminate a button. With non-functional buttons, you just move them up. So, definitely presents a challenge if you think you might need to alter. Perhaps that’s why there’s a Regular and Short.
Final Thoughts On My Bluffworks Telex Blazer Review
I have to say I was more impressed with this than I was expecting. Not because I didn’t have faith in Bluffworks, but because I didn’t really know what to expect from a “tech blazer”. But hey, good thing I took the time to check.
The Telex Blazer is going to do very well in casual business meetings to look a little nicer but not like a banker (so maybe, tech meetings). But it’s also great to bring on your holiday if you expect to go to fancier dinners, events, or like to uplevel a little when you’re shopping or at museums. Or, parties. Without going full on suit mode.
It can also serve as a lightweight layer for outside, even if it’s not meant for warmth. The DWR can provide a little protection if you get stuck in a light rain.
So this gets a big recommendation from me. It’s very comfortable while in transit (i.e. work travel or plane in business class) or when wearing in general (around a city or to dinner).
It’s also MUCH easier from a packing and care perspective than a full suit jacket. Machine wash, it takes a low iron so the wrinkle care is easier etc., and if you want to pack it for a short time, it takes up MUCH less space in your bag.
Bluffworks also does a good job with having a couple of sales a year or so. That said, keep in mind they tend to do seasonal inventory so if you wait too long towards winter, they might not re-inventory it til Spring. For that, I’d say grab it when you need it.
As always with most brands, I’d suggest buying directly through their website for best service.
Wander more - and wander smarter everyone.
Like My Content? Feel Free To Buy Me A Coffee!
Head on over to our Travel Clothing Reviews page for more reviews like this or more travel friendly clothing like the Capilene Cool Daily T-shirt review or the Boardroom Merino Dress Socks Review.
Please be sure to subscribe below, and follow us on Instagram @alwayswanderofficial for photos from our wanderings, and updates for when we post new articles and reviews!