By Manish Puri.

Next week, for the first time, we welcome Shanghai-based brand Ficus to the PS showroom on Harley Street.

Founded in 2016, Ficus draws inspiration from classic Western menswear styles, but often presents them with an Eastern sensibility. Simon and I had a chance to meet with the brand’s founders and try on some of their winter collection at the January edition of Pitti; that was a particularly interesting selection and Simon and I both took away their water-repellent ‘Altai’ down jacket.

As Ficus are only available online outside China, I suspect there will be many who won’t have had much exposure to the brand. And while the upcoming trunk show will give London readers the chance to try their spring/summer collection in person before ordering online – with all trunk show orders benefitting from free shipping – I personally find it helpful to know a little about products in advance, just to orientate myself in a brand’s world before arrival.

With that in mind, we thought readers would appreciate a brief overview of some of my picks from the current season.

At the trunk show there will be a range of warm-weather options that would complement most casual wardrobes: single-pleated trousers (£193), a lightweight western shirt (£223) and a vest with frog-closure buttons (£404).

The materials used are good for peak summer – light cotton, seersucker and lots of French linen – and are often pre-washed to give them a soft hand feel.

Ficus have a good eye for colour too. The rust red popover shirt (above, £223) and their blush pink baby-cord shirt jacket (£297) bring pops of colour without ever feeling too dominating or garish.

However, of all the Ficus clothing categories, it’s their outerwear and layering pieces that catch my eye: their offering running the gamut from faithful reproductions of staple pieces to more design-led, but still wearable, iterations.

I’ve highlighted my favourite three below – all paired with the same simple outfit of white tee and washed chinos (the former from PS and the latter the Big Chino from Buck Mason).

In the staples camp is Ficus’s version of a chore jacket: the Five-Pocket ‘Writer’ Jacket, made up in a 12oz washed ecru denim.

We’ve written extensively about chore coats on PS, so I sympathise with any readers who are struggling to choose between the vast array of options on the market. To those people I’d advise focusing on whichever details matter most to you – price, colour, material, style, brand – rather than searching endlessly for the ‘best’ one.

The elements of the ‘Writer’ jacket worthy of note are the patch-flap pocket on the chest (which provides a little more protection to any valuable items kept within it); the contrast corduroy colour (which helps the collar feel softer when popped against the face and adds texture to prevent the jacket from feeling too clinical); adjustable cuffs (for those with slim wrists or a preference for a snugger cuff); and the washed denim (which doesn’t have the ‘break-in’ period often required for more robust workwear versions).

The size I’m wearing here is 48, which – even though I’m more typically a 50 – fits me well for single-layer, summer outfits. On that basis, while your regular size is unlikely to be ill-fitting, I’d advise most readers to size down (something I very rarely suggest).

At £299, the ‘Writer’ jacket represents pretty good value, at a time when some brands are asking close to the £500 mark for a chore.

An adjacent piece, and one that most successfully demonstrates Ficus’s ambition to create a dialogue between Eastern and Western styles is the Shanghai jacket (£560) – complete with mandarin collar and frog buttons.

At first glance, I assumed the cloth was cotton denim. However, Ficus informed me that it’s actually made from a French linen which is woven into denim before being stone washed to give its aged, blueish-grey appearance.

And so, while the jacket looks like it might be heavy, it actually rests very lightly on the body. Similarly, even though it’s the same size (48) and broadly the same cut as the cotton denim ‘Writer’ jacket, the linen denim makes it that much more comfortable to wear as both an outdoor layer and against the skin as a shirt/overshirt replacement.

This jacket is one of my favourite items in the current collection, but I can fully appreciate it won’t be for everyone, not least due to cultural sensitivity. I spoke to the brand about this and while they acknowledged that concern, they added that: “Chinese dress has always evolved through exchange, adaptation and reinterpretation across time. We do not see thoughtful and respectful wear as appropriation in itself. On the contrary, we see it as a form of appreciation and cultural connection.”

If I may speak directly to appreciation and connection, I (to my discredit) knew little about Shanghai’s history, and hadn’t appreciated that the city had a French Concession for nearly a century between 1849 and 1943. No doubt that history informs the “exchange, adaptation and reinterpretation” of ideas that underpin this garment – which clearly blends Chinese tradition with French workwear style. 

As always, the PS reader is more than capable of deciding what’s right for them, but I know my cultural horizons have been expanded just a touch by learning a little more about the the history that suffuses this piece.

The last item I really like is the Paracel jacket, a design inspired by vintage fishing jackets with a name borrowed from the Paracel islands – a fishing region in the South China Sea.

The cut is cropped and boxy – a silhouette that would slot seamlessly into PS contributor Alex Natt’s wardrobe. The sleeve (and this seems to be true across a lot of the Ficus outerwear and jackets) is full in the armhole and through the bicep, but tapers neatly into the wrist. The result is a very comfortable fit with a great range of motion – ideal, I’m sure, if you actually wanted to fish in it – without ever being too sloppy or flappy by the hands.

The jacket’s visual impact is enhanced by two acidic-orange zip pouches that can be buttoned onto the sleeves. Much like the Stone Island patches, I can imagine this detail being a design-step too far for PS readers. However, again much like Stone Island, if you don’t like the pouches you can simply unbutton them and secure them inside the hip pockets – which is probably quite a nice way to organise smaller items that could otherwise get lost in the tardis-esque interior.

The cloth, a waterproof nylon in a rich forest green, is finished with a brown faux-suede trim. While I like the contrast offered by the latter, my only reservation is that faux-suede can feel a little cheap, and I wonder if a snuff corduroy trim might have made this jacket exceptional.

Helpfully I need not wonder for too long as this is one of a few items that Ficus is offering on an MTO basis with the option to customise fabric and trims. This service usually carries a 15% surcharge, but for the duration of the PS trunk show Ficus will be waiving that fee, so the jacket will be available for £560.

Full details of the trunk show are in the flyer below, and I hope to see some of you there next week.

Manish is @the_daily_mirror on Instagram