Why does the forearm area of my work coat always give out first?

Mason here, been laying block through probaly twenty winters now, and forearm wear is just part of the deal. You're abrading that spot against concrete and mortar every single course, all day. No jacket on the market is built for that, because most people wearing coats aren't doing it. The manufacturers make the whole shell the same weight, which means the forearms die first and the rest of the coat is still fine. That's not a defect, it's just mismatched wear.

Yeah that matches what I've seen too. I'm on the trowel side of things doing brick repointing and my jackets die in the exact same spot. What worked for me was buying two of the same cheap canvas coat and rotating them, then having a seamstress lady in town sew leather overlays on both forearms for like thirty bucks total. Lasted me three seasons before the elbows went, which is way better than the one winter I was getting before. The rest of the coat barely looks worn when the arms are done.

I stopped fighting it and just started wearing a cheap pair of oversleeves over my coat sleeves, the kind you can pull off in a second when you go inside. Mine are cut from an old pair of jeans with a strip of velcro at each end. Ugly as sin but they take the beating and I toss them in the wash when they get stiff with mortar. The coat underneath is going on its fourth winter now. Cheap fix if sewing leather on isn't your thing.

Not in the trade, just spent last fall building a retaining wall in the backyard, and my cheap winter jacket got one fuzzy hole on the forearm by the end of it. Only worked on it weekends, so I figured the guys doing it daily must shred them in weeks. The jeans-sleeve idea might be my fix. Weird question though, does the mortar itself eat the fabric too, like does it stiffen up and chew through it, or is it all just from rubbing on the blocks?