Barbour Waxed Jacket: Bedale, Ashby or Reelin, Which to Choose
A new waxed jacket is stiff, weighs more than it looks, and smells of wax. The three we have hanging now—Bedale, Ashby, and Reelin—are the same waxed cotton cut three different ways, and the real difference isn’t visible on the hanger.
The short answer is that it’s not the length or the cut: it’s whether the jacket comes lined or if you buy the warmth separately. Almost everything else, including how many months a year you’ll wear it, follows from that.
What they have in common and what they’re not
All three are made of waxed cotton. The wax isn’t just a coating on top; the fabric is impregnated with it, which is why a waxed jacket weighs more than it looks, doesn’t rustle, and over the years gains an uneven sheen where the sleeve rubs.
What they’re not: waterproof. A waxed jacket repels rain as long as the wax is intact, and the wax wears off where the garment moves—the shoulders, elbows, and cuffs. Under a real downpour, after a couple of seasons without maintenance, water gets in. Anyone selling it to you as a rain jacket is only telling half the story.
And they’re not warm by themselves. Waxed cotton only blocks wind. The warmth in these garments is a separate choice, and that’s where the whole difference between the three models comes from.
Bedale: the classic and roomiest
It is the oldest of the three in terms of design, built specifically to carry things.
6-ounce waxed cotton. Size 38 measures 117 cm chest and 76.2 cm back length. Brass two-way zipper, double storm flap at the front, two large bellows pockets, two hand-warmer pockets, corduroy collar, ventilation at the back. The two-way zipper is more useful than it seems: unzipping from the bottom stops the jacket from pulling when you sit or drive.
The two large bellows pockets are the practical reason this model keeps circulating more than the others, even here. They hold real stuff, not just hands.
The ventilation at the back is another feature you notice when wearing it rather than on display: a waxed jacket doesn’t breathe, so when walking briskly the heat has to escape somewhere. If you know what damp feels like on your back inside a cheap waterproof jacket, those vents prevent that.
Ashby: the city jacket
The Ashby started as a rework of the Bedale, and you can tell: same family, cleaner lines.
Here’s a fact worth noting rather than trusting the reputation. The Ashby is described as slimmer than the Bedale, and it’s true about the waist. But in the stated measurements, size M has a 117 cm chest, exactly like the Bedale’s 38, and a back length of 77.8 cm, which is one and a half centimeters longer.
So the difference between the two isn’t size, it’s shape: same chest, cleaner line, slightly longer. If they told you it’s the shorter version of the Bedale, the numbers say otherwise.
The cotton is a 6-ounce Sylkoil, waxed with a matte finish instead of shiny. Low corduroy collar with throat strap, angled handwarmer pockets and two spacious lower pockets, tartan lining. The angled pockets are a city choice: they’re used standing up, not on horseback.
Reelin: the one that’s already lined
The Reelin is the only one of the three that comes finished for winter.
The quilted lining inside isn’t a minor detail, it’s what sets it apart from the other two: it’s designed as a finished winter jacket, while Bedale and Ashby start as shells to which you add warmth.
It has reinforcements on the shoulders, a heavy corduroy collar, and handwarmer pockets with zips. The zip pockets are the only ones among the three where you can run without losing your keys.
The piece that decides if you’ll wear it in January
Bedale and Ashby, with nothing underneath, are jackets for September to November and March to May. To wear them in winter you need the lining that buttons in with the zip, and this is where many people buy the jacket and then realize they’ve only bought half the garment.
We have two. The Polarquilt vest, diamond-quilted with a fleece interior, and the Warm Pile vest, fully fleece. The first can be worn alone over a shirt, the second works more as an inner layer.
On sizing, the official retailer recommends taking the same size as the jacket for the Bedale, and sizing down one if pairing it with the Ashby, which fits slimmer.
The Reelin is already lined, so this chapter doesn’t apply to it. And that’s exactly the crossroads: either you buy one garment that covers winter, or you buy two that together cover eight months.
Matching jacket and vest isn’t straightforward
If the choice depends on the lining, there’s a detail you only notice by placing the garments side by side. The Bedale uses numeric sizes, the Ashby and Reelin use letters. The same happens with the two vests: the Polarquilt uses letters, the Warm Pile uses numbers.
The practical result is that if you take a Bedale and want to wear the Polarquilt inside, you don’t get a one-to-one match: you have to switch systems, and it’s better to try rather than calculate. Bedale plus Warm Pile, both numeric, is the matching combo that adds up by itself.
What to do when it stops repelling water
It’s worth knowing beforehand, because a waxed jacket requires maintenance a regular coat doesn’t.
Eventually the wax wears off, and that’s normal: nothing breaks. The garment needs to be rewaxed, meaning warmed up and reapplied by hand with Barbour wax all over, paying extra attention to seams and areas where the fabric flexes.
How often you need to do it depends on how much you wear it and what you do with it, not on a schedule. The signal comes from the garment itself: when water stops beading up and starts darkening the fabric, the wax at that spot is gone. This often happens first on the shoulders and forearms before the rest, so you just re-wax those areas.
Meanwhile, follow the instructions on the label exactly. No washing machine—hot water and detergent will strip the wax in one go—and no dry cleaning for the same reason. Dirt and mud should be removed with a sponge and cold water, then hang it to dry away from radiators.
Here’s the less pleasant part: a waxed jacket smells of wax, especially when new and warm. Some people grow fond of it, others can’t stand it. You need to check this by wearing it before buying, not afterward.
Which of the three?
The first question isn't which one you like best, but whether you want one garment or two. If you want just one that will be enough on its own in winter, choose Reelin: it comes lined and that’s it. If you’re willing to buy two pieces, you get a jacket you can wear from September through May, swapping what you wear underneath, and then you choose between Bedale and Ashby.
Between those two, the deciding factor isn’t length—they’re nearly the same—but the type of pocket: bellows style on the Bedale, angled on the Ashby. Look at what you usually carry and you’ll know which is right.
If you want to try them on,
you can find them on the Barbour page, with prices and sizes always up to date.
We’re in Biella, at via Lamarmora 27. Fitting a waxed jacket matters more than usual because the fabric is stiff when new and looks misleading on a hanger: it needs to be zipped, tried sitting down, and worn with the clothes you’ll be layering in November. If you’re considering the vest too, bring it into the fitting room with the jacket—that’s the only way to know if the size combination works.
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