Barbour
Some things do not need reinventing. Barbour has been waxing cotton in South Shields since 1894, and a good wax jacket still does what nothing else quite manages: it keeps the weather off, it softens with age, and it looks better in year five than it did in year one.
Our edit is womenswear only and focused on the wax, from the short Arlene and Cottingham through to the longline Kirklees, alongside the waxed bucket hats and caps. Sizes run 8 to 16. You will find them with the rest of our coats and jackets.
Barbour wax jackets for women
Every wax jacket in our edit is made in 6oz Sylkoil waxed cotton, which is the drier, more matte of Barbour's two classic finishes. It has less of a sheen than the traditional Thornproof wax and a softer handle from the first wear, so it does not go through the stiff breaking-in period people sometimes expect. All four styles carry the details that make a Barbour a Barbour: a corduroy collar, bright brass hardware and a jacket built to be repaired rather than replaced.
What differs between them is length, shape and how much shelter you want. Here is how we would think about choosing.
Arlene checked wax jacket
The shortest of the four at 58.5cm in the back, cut in a check print with raglan sleeves, ribbed cuffs and a brass zip. There is a chest pocket and two hand-warmer pockets, and a fixed throat tab for when the wind turns. It is the easiest of our Barbours to wear over a jumper without feeling like you have put on a coat, and the one we would suggest if you want something that reads more jacket than countrywear.
Cottingham wax jacket
A classic short wax jacket at 61cm, with a cord collar, side entry welt pockets, a stud fastening placket, underarm eyelets and two back vents. The vents and eyelets are the giveaway that this is a proper working shape rather than a fashion interpretation of one. If you want the traditional Barbour silhouette in its most straightforward form, this is it.
Carville wax jacket
Similar in length to the Cottingham at 63.5cm, but with bellow pockets, a back stud tab and, crucially, a detachable hood. That hood is the reason most people choose it. If you walk a dog, live somewhere with real weather, or simply resent carrying an umbrella, the Carville is the sensible one.
Checked Kirklees wax jacket
The longline option at 104cm, which is a genuinely different proposition from the other three. Cut with a front yoke, bellow pockets with side entry and a back stud tab, it covers to below the knee and works over trousers and dresses alike. It is the one to look at if you want a wax coat rather than a wax jacket, and the check keeps it from feeling severe.
Barbour waxed hats and caps
The accessories are the low-commitment way into waxed cotton. The Brackley is a waxed bucket hat with an oversized brim, cord trim and a tartan lining, cut in contrasting colour-blocked panels and available in three head sizes. The Beauly is a waxed cap with an adjustable back strap, the same tartan lining and a gold-tone logo, in one size. Both are water resistant and both improve with weather rather than suffering from it. They sit with our other hats, scarves and gloves.
Barbour sizing and fit
Barbour womenswear uses standard UK dress sizing and we stock these jackets in 8 to 16. The cut is generous by design, because these are jackets meant to go over knitwear rather than a t-shirt. If you plan to wear yours over a chunky jumper, your usual size will be right. If you want a closer, more tailored line and you tend to layer lightly, it is worth considering the size below.
Back lengths vary considerably across the four styles, from 58.5cm on the Arlene to 104cm on the Kirklees, and that is the measurement worth checking before you choose. The hats come in small, medium and large by head circumference, and the cap is one size with an adjustable strap.
Looking after a wax jacket
Waxed cotton asks for very little, but what it asks for is specific. Do not machine wash a wax jacket and do not dry clean it, because both strip the wax that makes the fabric work. Sponge clean with cold water only, no detergent, and let it dry naturally away from direct heat. Mud is best left to dry and then brushed off.
Every few seasons, usually once a year if you wear it hard, the jacket will want rewaxing. You can do this at home with a tin of Barbour wax and a hairdryer, working the wax in warm and evenly, or you can send it to Barbour, which repairs and rewaxes over 60,000 jackets a year at its South Shields factory. Either way, a rewaxed jacket comes back close to new, which is the whole argument for buying one.
On water: waxed cotton is highly water resistant and sheds rain well, but it is not a taped-seam waterproof shell. How much weather it turns depends on how recently it was waxed.
A short history worth knowing
John Barbour started the business in South Shields in 1894, supplying oilskins to sailors, dockers and fishermen on the Tyne. The company has stayed in the family ever since, now into its fifth generation, and it still makes its classic waxed cotton jackets at its factory in Simonside, South Shields. It has held royal warrants for waterproof and protective clothing since the 1970s, including one from King Charles.
The reason all of this matters is not heritage for its own sake. It is that a company which has been making the same thing for well over a century has had a long time to stop getting it wrong.
Buying Barbour in Cardiff and the UK
We are an independent boutique in Cardiff and we buy Barbour in small numbers each season, choosing the women's wax styles we would wear ourselves rather than carrying the full range. You can try them on with us in Cardiff or order online. When a size goes, it goes, because we do not restock.
If you like the idea of outerwear with some character to it, our Bellerose edit sits well beside the Barbours, with trench-style jackets and bombers in the same easy, wear-it-everywhere register. New arrivals across every brand land in new in first.
