Barbour Fit Guide

The Mr. Derk Guide to Barbour Sizing

Barbour sizes a Bedale by your chest in inches, an Ashby by a letter, and a Transport a full size bigger than you expect. Here is how each jacket runs, what the number on the label means, and what we hold on the floor in Edmonton.

Start Here

One brand, three ways of sizing.

Numbers. The Classic Bedale and Beaufort, the Transport and the tailored blazers are sized by chest in inches, 34 to 50. A 40 is a 40 on the maker's label, no conversion. The R after a blazer size is regular length.

Letters. The Ashby, Modern Powell, Prestbury, Liddesdale, Lowerdale and everything soft, from shirts to knits to polos, run in our house letters SM, MM, LG, XL, 2XL, 3XL, which read S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL on the Barbour label. Same sizes, matched one for one.

Heads, hands and feet. Flat caps are sized SM to 2XL by head circumference, gloves SM to XL, and the Carty loafer is in UK sizing, roughly one number below a US size. The conversion tables are on the size conversion guide.

The catch is that the same man is a 42 in a Beaufort, an XL in an Ashby and a 40 in a Transport, and all three are right. The table below says why.

The Jackets

Eight blocks, and how each one runs.

The Classic Bedale wax jacket worn on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton, September 2026

Barbour Jacket Chart

How to read this

Find the jacket first, then read across. The number or letter you take depends on the block it is cut on, not on the brand. If you are between sizes anywhere, that is the moment to ask rather than order.

Jacket
The cut
How it is sized
How it runs
Hip length. The 1980 original, relaxed Classic block, cut to go over a country knit.
Numbers, 36 to 50, by chest in inches.
Take the number of your chest. The room for a sweater is already in the cut, so it does not need a size up. Between sizes, take the smaller one unless you layer heavily.
Classic Beaufort
Olive Classic Beaufort
Longer, covers the seat, with the game pocket across the back. Same Classic block as the Bedale.
Numbers, 34 to 50, by chest in inches.
Same rule as the Bedale: the number of your chest. The measured chart is below.
An oversized fit, dropped shoulder, cut big on purpose.
Numbers, 38 to 50. The number we list is the number on the maker's label.
Go down one size from your usual jacket for a relaxed fit, or two for a closer fit. This is the one jacket in the range where your chest number is the wrong answer.
Ashby and Icons Ashby
Grey Ashby, Sage Icons Ashby
Tailored fit. Longer through the body and closer than the Bedale, the 2011 take on the original.
Letters, SM to 3XL, which read S to XXXL on the label.
Your usual menswear letter for a shirt and a mid-weight knit underneath. Go up one if you plan to run a heavy sweater or zip in the liner.
Modern Powell
Sage Modern Powell
Modern fit, a cleaner, slimmer line than the Classic block.
Letters, SM to 3XL.
Same body measurements as the Ashby, so take the letter you take in the Ashby.
Prestbury
Olive Prestbury
Short and close to the body, with a quilted lining that takes up room.
Letters, SM to 2XL.
Your usual letter for a shirt and a light knit. Go up one to layer anything heavier.
Liddesdale, Lowerdale and Powell Quilted
Sage Icons Liddesdale, Dusty Olive Lowerdale Gilet, Black Powell Quilted
The layering pieces. Regular fit, built to sit flat under a wax jacket.
Letters, SM to 3XL.
True to size. They are cut to go under the Bedale or Beaufort without bunching, so they feel comfortable with a knit underneath, not oversized.
The tailored jackets: corduroy, check and melange blazers on a soft shoulder.
Numbers, 38R to 50R, like a sport coat.
Take the chest size you take in any sport coat. R is regular length. We tailor sleeves in house.
Letter Sizes

The body measurements behind SM to 3XL.

Barbour publishes one set of body measurements for the letter-sized jackets, and the Ashby, Icons Ashby, Modern Powell, Powell Quilted and Prestbury all share it. These are your measurements, around the fullest part of the chest and around the natural waist, not the garment's. The jacket is cut with room over them.

Sizing Notes

Toggle between inches and centimetres with the IN/CM buttons. A 40 inch chest sits at the top of MM and the bottom of LG: we send that customer to LG if he layers and MM if he does not.

Measurement
SM
MM
LG
XL
2XL
3XL
Barbour label
S
M
L
XL
XXL
XXXL
Chest to fit, from
91
96
102
107
112
117
Chest to fit, to
96
102
107
112
117
122
Waist to fit, from
76
81
86
91
96
101
Waist to fit, to
81
86
91
96
101
106
Numbered Sizes

The Classic block, measured.

The Classic Beaufort chart below is the garment on the table: chest to fit is your body, the rest is the jacket. The Bedale is cut on the same block and takes the same number, with a shorter back length, since it stops at the hip. Sizes 46 to 50 follow the same steps and we hold them on the floor.

Classic Beaufort

Numeric sizes are the chest measurement in inches. Size 40 fits a 40 inch chest. The Classic block is designed to layer over a country knit, so take your true chest size.

Measurement
34
36
38
40
42
44
Chest to fit
86
91
97
102
107
112
Garment chest, laid flat
55
58
61
64
66
69
Back length
72
73
74
75
76
77
Sleeve length
61
62
63
64
65
66

The Transport is the exception. It is an oversized block, so the garment chest below is far bigger than the label number suggests. Go down one size from your usual jacket for a relaxed fit, two for a closer one.

Transport

Pit to pit is half the chest, measured flat across the jacket just under the arms. Double it and compare it with a jacket you own and like the room of.

Measurement
38R
40R
42R
44R
46R
Maker's label
38
40
42
44
46
EU equivalent
48
50
52
54
56
Chest, pit to pit
66
69
71
74
76
Front length
67
70
71
74
76
Sleeve from collar
77
80
81
84
86
Flat Caps

Sized by the head, not the hat.

The corduroy collar, brass zip and tartan lining of a Classic Bedale
Ashby and Cheviot flat caps

Measure around your head with a soft tape just above the ears and across the brow, then take the size whose up-to number matches or sits just above yours. The wax finish does not stretch and there is no adjustable strap, so between sizes, go up.

Measurement
SM
MM
LG
XL
Head circumference, from
54
56
58
60
Head circumference, up to
55
57
59
61
US hat size
6 3/4 to 6 7/8
7 to 7 1/8
7 1/4 to 7 3/8
7 1/2 to 7 5/8
Label inside the cap
S
M
L
XL

The Renford, Preston and Ashby wax caps with a one size label are elasticated at the back and fit most heads. Gloves run SM to XL by hand width; take your usual.

How We Actually Fit You

What goes under it decides the size.

In the shop we size a wax jacket over what you will actually wear under it, which is usually a shirt and a knit from October to April in Edmonton. A Bedale that fits over a T-shirt in September is the wrong Bedale.

You do not have to be here for that. Tell us the jacket, your chest measurement in inches, and what you plan to layer, and we will give you the size. If you own a Barbour already, tell us which one and the size, and we will convert from it.

If It Is Not Right

Fourteen days, either way.

Order it and try it at home for fourteen days. Leave the tags on, keep it unworn, and if it is not right we will arrange the return or the exchange for the size that is. Sale pieces are the exception.

If the size you want is not showing on the site, ask before you give up on it. Barbour restocks the Classic jackets through the season and we can often bring a size in.

Now That You Know Your Size

What is on the floor in Edmonton right now.

Stock moves, so the Barbour collection page is always the live list with sizes. These are the pieces we hold in depth as the season opens, each marked numbered or lettered so the chart above matches what you are looking at.

Wax jackets

Quilted, wool and weatherproof

Tailoring

Shirts and knits

Caps and gloves

If the size you need is not showing online, send us the piece and your size and we will check the floor and the next delivery before you buy anything. The wax itself is covered in our Barbour guide, including when a jacket needs the Thornproof Dressing.

Further Reading

The full Barbour guide.

Which jacket, how warm, and what to do when the wax wears thin: our complete guide covers the Bedale, Beaufort, Ashby and the rest, with every jacket we carry linked through it: read the Barbour guide.

For UK, EU and US conversions across every brand we carry, see the size conversion guide. Barbour jackets are ordered by the number or letter above, with no conversion.