Union 22 has carried Herno since the beginning, and we remain one of the UK's most complete stockists of the brand. This is our guide to the AW26 pre-winter delivery, now live in full.
There is a moment every year, somewhere in the back half of September, when the wardrobe stops working. Mornings turn sharp. Afternoons stay warm. The overcoat is weeks away and the linen has had its run. Most brands have nothing to say about this stretch of the calendar. Herno has built an entire business on it.
The AW26 pre-winter delivery is the clearest expression of that idea we've had from the house in years. There is very little conventional outerwear here. What arrives instead is the connective tissue of a wardrobe: technical trousers cut like tailoring, T-shirts good enough to be the whole outfit, knitwear spliced with performance fabric, and the Legend blazer that made Herno's name among men who travel for a living.
It is also, notably, brown. Not the tentative brown of a hedged bet. Brown as the base colour of the season, running through tees, trousers, hybrid jackets and even the trainers.
Here is how we'd read it.
The Herno Legend blazer: the piece the brand is known for
The Herno Legend Microfibre Blazer with Chest Piece is the single most important garment in the AW26 delivery, and the one we're asked about most often. It costs £730 and arrives in two colours: Anthracite and New Blue.
The proposition is simple and slightly improbable. It is a genuine blazer, with a structured chest piece and a proper lapel, cut in a microfibre so light it barely registers on the shoulder. It travels folded and comes out wearable. It reads as tailoring in a room full of tailoring, and as a jacket everywhere else.
Legend is the line that separates Herno from the rest of the technical-luxury field. Plenty of brands make a good nylon jacket. Very few can make a blazer that behaves like one and packs like outerwear. If you buy one thing from this drop, and you own no other Herno, buy this.
- Herno Legend Microfibre Blazer With Chest Piece — Anthracite, £730
- Herno Legend Microfibre Blazer With Chest Piece — New Blue, £730
Anthracite is the workhorse. It sits over almost anything in this collection and takes a brown trouser particularly well. New Blue is the more expressive choice and the one that photographs better, if that matters to you.
The technical trouser: Herno's real continuing tradition
Ask us what Herno actually sells at Union 22, season after season, and the honest answer is trousers. The technical pant has been the spine of the collection here for years, and AW26 brings the widest range we've stocked.
There are four distinct families, and they are not interchangeable. Choosing correctly matters more than the colour does.
| Style | Price | Fabric | Waist | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stretch Woven Drawstring Tech Pants | £275 | Four-way stretch woven | Drawstring | The everyday default. Tailored leg, relaxed waist. |
| Adjustable Lightweight Packable Tech Pants | £265 | Lightweight packable | Adjustable | Travel. Packs down small, wears all day. |
| Stretch Modal Tech Pants | £295 | Modal-rich stretch | Fixed tailored | The dressiest of the four. Softest hand. |
| Nylon Stretch Cargo Pants | £295 | Technical stretch nylon | Fixed tailored | Utility detail, kept low-profile and clean. |
The Stretch Woven Drawstring is the one we'd point most men towards first, and it's the style carrying the season's colour range: Brown, Taupe, Black and Navy, all at £275. The drawstring waist does the heavy lifting: it gives you the comfort of a trackpant with a leg line that holds a crease and sits properly over a shoe.
The Stretch Modal Tech Pants in Black and Navy are the pair to reach for when the room is smarter. Modal gives them a drape closer to flannel than to nylon, and they finish an outfit rather than merely completing it.
For anyone who flies often, the Adjustable Lightweight Packable Tech Pants at £265 remain the quiet hero of the range. Navy, Black and Azzurro Blue are live.
Brown is the colour of the season
Menswear has been circling brown for two years. AW26 is where Herno commits, and we've bought into it deliberately.
The reason brown works so well against this particular collection is technical fabric. Nylon and stretch weaves in black can read cheap under bad light, and in navy they can read like a uniform. Brown gives a performance fabric warmth it doesn't naturally have, and it stops a head-to-toe technical outfit from looking like sportswear.
The brown run across AW26:
- Stretch Woven Drawstring Tech Pants in Brown — £275
- Stretch Woven Drawstring Tech Pants in Taupe — £275
- Superfine Cotton Stretch T-shirt in Anthracite Brown — £145
- Short Sleeve Knitted Wool T-shirt in Brown — £195
- Tri-Trim T-shirt in Dark Brown — £165
- Tech & Knitted Hooded Hybrid Jacket in Dark Brown — £625
- Stretch Full Zip Hooded Jacket in Dark Brown — £620
- Functional Knitted & Suede Trainers in Dark Brown — £395
A word on those trainers. Knitted sock upper, suede overlays, dark brown throughout. They are the piece that ties a tonal brown outfit together and the reason we'd argue this is the most complete single-colour story Herno has given us.
The T-shirt and trouser set
The most useful thing to understand about this collection is that the tees and the trousers are designed to be worn together, in tone, as a set. It is the way Herno shows them and the way our customers buy them.
There are four tees, and they occupy genuinely different positions:
Superfine Cotton Stretch Short Sleeve T-shirt — £145
The foundation. A precise crew neck in superfine stretch cotton that holds its shape through a full day. Live in Anthracite Brown, Pearl Grey, Black, Navy, Pop Green and White. If you're building a set, start here.
Tri-Trim Short Sleeve T-shirt — £165
The same essential silhouette with Herno's tri-colour trim detail at the neck. Quiet enough for the office, distinctive enough that people notice. Navy, Dark Brown, Black and White.
Tech Arm Detail Short Sleeve T-shirt — £170
A tonal technical panel at the arm. The most overtly Herno of the four, and the one that pairs most naturally with the tech pants because it speaks the same material language. Black, Navy, Dark Brown and White.
Short Sleeve Knitted Wool T-shirt — £195
The upgrade. Fine knitted wool instead of cotton, which changes the register entirely: it dresses up under the Legend blazer in a way a cotton tee cannot. Brown, Beige and Navy. There's a matching Knitted Wool Jersey Polo in Navy at £270 if you'd rather have a collar.
Three sets we'd actually put together:
- The brown set. Knitted Wool T-shirt in Brown, Stretch Woven Drawstring Tech Pants in Brown, Functional Knitted & Suede Trainers in Dark Brown. Tonal, warm, and considerably harder to pull off badly than it sounds.
- The travel set. Tech Arm Detail T-shirt in Navy, Adjustable Lightweight Packable Tech Pants in Navy, Legend Blazer in Anthracite over the top. Airport to meeting without a change.
- The evening set. Superfine Cotton Stretch T-shirt in Black, Stretch Modal Tech Pants in Black, Tech & Knitted Hooded Hybrid Jacket in Dark Brown. The brown jacket is what stops it reading as a uniform.
Hybrid knitwear: the layer that makes pre-winter work
The category Herno does better than anyone is the piece that isn't quite knitwear and isn't quite outerwear. AW26 leans into it hard.
The Tech & Knitted Hooded Hybrid Jacket at £625 (Dark Brown and Navy) puts a knitted body against technical hooded construction. It layers like a cardigan and shrugs off weather like a jacket, which is precisely the problem this time of year presents.
Alongside it: the Tech & Knitted Button Jacket in Navy at £490, which splices fine knit panels into a technical woven body; the Wool & Silk Mandarin Collar Knitted Cardigan at £425, the most understated thing in the delivery; and the Faux Fur Full Zip Knitted Cardigan at £670 for anyone who wants the drop to make a statement.
If you do want something closer to a jacket, the Stretch Full Zip Hooded Jacket at £620 is the lightweight technical layer that will carry you through to the coats arriving later in the season. It's live in Black, Navy, Azzurro Blue and Dark Brown.
Where to start
If you're new to Herno, buy a tee and a trouser in the same tone and wear them as a set for a week. It is the fastest way to understand what the brand is for.
If you already own Herno, this is a Legend season. The blazer at £730 is the piece that will still be in rotation in five years.
And if you're buying one colour, buy brown.
Shop the full Herno AW26 collection at Union 22 →
Frequently asked questions
What is in the Herno AW26 pre-winter collection?
The Herno AW26 pre-winter collection at Union 22 covers technical trousers, short-sleeve T-shirts, hybrid knitwear, lightweight hooded jackets, the Legend microfibre blazer and knitted suede trainers. It is deliberately light on heavy outerwear, which arrives later in the season.
What is a Herno Legend jacket?
Legend is Herno's signature line of ultra-lightweight microfibre tailoring. The AW26 Legend Microfibre Blazer With Chest Piece is a fully structured blazer cut in a featherweight microfibre, built to travel packed and be worn immediately. It costs £730 at Union 22 and comes in Anthracite and New Blue.
Which Herno technical trousers should I buy?
For everyday wear, choose the Stretch Woven Drawstring Tech Pants at £275. For travel, choose the Adjustable Lightweight Packable Tech Pants at £265. For smarter occasions, choose the Stretch Modal Tech Pants at £295. For utility detailing, choose the Nylon Stretch Cargo Pants at £295.
Do Herno T-shirts and trousers come as matching sets?
Herno designs its AW26 T-shirts and technical trousers in shared colourways so they can be worn as tonal sets. Union 22 stocks matching tones across brown, navy and black in both categories.
Where can I buy Herno in the UK?
Union 22 is one of the UK's leading Herno stockists, carrying the collection across menswear, technical trousers, knitwear and outerwear with UK sizing, free UK delivery and expert fit advice. The full Herno range is available at union22.co.uk.
How does Herno sizing work?
Herno uses Italian sizing. EU 46 corresponds to a UK small, EU 48 to a medium, EU 50 to a large, EU 52 to an extra large and EU 54 to a double extra large. Trousers are listed in both UK and EU waist sizes. If you're between sizes, contact the Union 22 team before ordering.