Barbour Jackets in Canada: Bedale, Beaufort, Ashby and How to Choose One

Barbour has made waxed jackets in South Shields since 1894. We fit them on Whyte Avenue and ship them across Canada. This page answers the questions we hear most in the shop: which jacket, what size, how warm, and what to do when the wax wears thin.

Where the jacket comes from

John Barbour started selling oilskins on the docks at South Shields in 1894, on the northeast coast of England, to sailors and dockworkers who stood outside in weather that does not negotiate. That is the whole origin. Not a fashion house that later discovered the outdoors, but a supplier to men whose jackets had to work or they went home wet.

The two jackets most people picture came much later. Dame Margaret Barbour drew the Bedale in 1980 as a riding jacket, short enough to sit a saddle. She followed it with the Beaufort in 1983, longer and cut for shooting, with a game pocket sewn across the back. Queen Elizabeth II wore hers for twenty-five years. Both are still cut and sewn on the production lines at Simonside in South Shields, and the same factory runs a repair workshop that takes in worn jackets by the tens of thousands every year. That number tells you what a Barbour is supposed to be: something you bring back, not something you replace.

What the wax actually does

Cotton on its own soaks. Wax fills the spaces between the woven threads so water beads and runs off instead of wicking through, while air still moves, which is why a waxed jacket does not clam up the way a rubberised shell does. Cotton also swells slightly when wet and closes the weave tighter, so the cloth gets more weatherproof in rain, not less.

The word thornproof is not marketing either. The original dressing was made for men pushing through hedgerows, and a thorn puncture in waxed cotton can be closed by rubbing it with your thumb. The wax flows back into the hole. Try that with a technical shell.

Our Bedale and Beaufort are cut from Barbour's 6oz Sylkoil, the drier, matte finish that looks a little weathered from the first day. Yes, there is a smell. It is the wax, everyone notices it, and it fades over a few weeks.

The wax jackets on our floor this fall

The Bedale. The original riding jacket and the one most people mean when they say Barbour. Relaxed through the body, with a two-way zip under a studded storm flap so you can open the bottom to sit down. Moleskin inside the handwarmer pockets, bellows pockets big enough to be useful, ribbed inner cuffs that stop wind running up your sleeve, the Original Classic Tartan lining, and a corduroy collar that sits flat or turns up. It takes a zip-in liner, which is what makes it work here past October. We hold the Olive Classic Bedale in a full run and the quieter Sage Bedale in a few sizes.

The Beaufort. The Bedale's longer brother. The extra length covers the seat in driving rain and makes it the better choice over a suit or a sport coat. Same 6oz Sylkoil, same corduroy collar, same tartan, plus the full-width game pocket across the back that opens from either side. The Olive Classic Beaufort is the one we mean when we tell a customer to expect twenty years out of one piece of outerwear.

The Ashby. For the man who tries on a Bedale and finds it a touch short and boxy. Barbour introduced it in 2011 as the longer, leaner take on the country original, and it is the easiest of the three to wear into an office. The Sage Icons Ashby adds tartan wax panels down the side body; the Grey Ashby is the city version that sits with navy and charcoal.

The Transport. The short one. It swings out a little at the hem and the raglan sleeve lets you reach for a steering wheel or a dog lead without the jacket riding up. One of Dame Margaret's early 1980s patterns, brought back recently. The Dark Brown Transport reads like old saddle leather; the Light Moss Transport is a softer countryside green.

The Modern Powell. A proper wax jacket without the bellows pockets, studs and shooting-field volume, cut trimmer and longer than the country jackets. The Sage Modern Powell is the answer when someone asks for Barbour without the Barbour silhouette.

And underneath, when it turns. The quilted Liddesdale is the other half of the system, light enough to wear on its own through September and October and cut to zip inside a waxed jacket when the temperature drops. The Tartan Liner Vest does the same job with no sleeves. Most men who own one Barbour eventually own both halves.

If the size you need is not showing, tell us. Send us the model and size and we will check what our distributor can get and give you a timeline before anything is ordered.

How to size a Barbour

The classic jackets are sized by chest in inches, so a 40 fits a 40 inch chest. Take your true menswear chest and you will have room for a shirt and a light knit underneath. The Bedale runs relaxed, the Beaufort runs generous, and both were drawn to layer over a thick country knit, so go up half a step only if you plan to live in heavy sweaters all winter.

The Ashby and the Modern Powell are letter sized and cut closer, so take your usual size and go up one for a heavy knit or a zip-in liner. The Transport is the exception: it is generous on purpose, and the maker's own advice is to go down one size from your usual jacket.

Sizing waxed cotton is worth doing in person, because how much room you want depends entirely on what you plan to layer. A size that is right for one cut is not automatically right for another. Book a fitting and we will put two of them on you back to back. It takes five minutes and it settles the question.

Wearing one in Edmonton

Honest version: a waxed jacket on its own is a spring and fall coat here, not a January one. Over a heavy knit it will take you comfortably into the minus single digits. With a quilted liner zipped in it goes further. Past about minus fifteen you want something else, and we will tell you so rather than sell you the wrong coat.

What it is very good at is the part of the year we actually get a lot of: four degrees and raining sideways, the week the leaves come down, the first warm days in April when the alley is mud. That is roughly five months of Edmonton.

The photographs on this page are the Olive Bedale the way we wear it in September: over a Waterville quilted vest and a white cotton and hemp shirt, with navy wool trousers and the Cheviot cap. Dark denim with a chunky knit and a boot is the easier version and it works every time. The Ashby over grey flannels and a shirt is the version that goes to work. None of it needs babying. Wear it hard and let the wax wear where it wants to.

Re-waxing it at your kitchen table

Water is the only test you need. Run the jacket under a tap. If the drops bead and roll off, leave it alone. If the cloth darkens and the water soaks in, it is due. The cuffs go first, then the elbows, the shoulders and the seat. Once a year is about right for regular wear, every second year if it mostly hangs by the door.

You need a tin of Thornproof Wax Dressing, a clean lint-free cloth, a hairdryer, an old towel and a warm room. Budget an hour of work and a night of hanging.

1. Clean it first, cold water only. Sponge the mud off. No soap, no detergent, no washing machine, no dry cleaner. Let it dry through.
2. Warm the tin in a bowl of hot water until the wax is the consistency of room temperature butter.
3. Warm the panel for a minute with the hairdryer so the wax draws in rather than sitting on top.
4. Seams and creases before anything else. Stitching, pocket edges, the collar join, the cuffs. This is where water gets in and it is the part everybody skips.
5. Then the flat panels, thin. Small circles, less than you think. Too much wax stays tacky and marks whatever you sit on.
6. Heat it in until the wax turns glossy and sinks into the cloth, wipe the excess back while it is warm, and hang it overnight with the towel underneath. Not against a radiator.

Leave the corduroy collar and the tartan lining alone. For the first few days the jacket will look darker and feel slightly tacky. That settles.

Five things that will ruin one: a washing machine, a dry cleaner, anything with detergent or solvent in it, storing it folded in plastic, and drying it on a radiator. Cold water and a sponge handle nearly everything else. If you would rather not do it yourself, bring it in and talk to us before you ship a coat across an ocean.

Questions we get asked