The best waxed canvas jacket is fit for royalty and ruffians alike

According to US GQ writer Gerald Ortiz, who’s had this same jacket since 2013, the fabric is an ideal mid-weight and the wax wears down beautifully. Additionally, the metal snaps and brass zippers patina just as well as the shell, too. In the decade since he’s had it, the fabric’s barely had any fraying. As for the silhouette, go with your usual size for a boxy silhouette or size down one size for a slightly more tailored fit.

The Best New-School Waxed Canvas Jacket

Icons like the Barbour Bedale are hard to beat and while, on the surface of it, this option can look like any other waxed cotton jacket out there, where Arket has switched things up comes in a much more modern silhouette. Boxier, slightly more cropped than a traditional style (an incredibly flattering shape on most people) and with cleaner finishes throughout, like the buttonless placket and pockets, this is a waxed jacket that feels distinctly new as opposed to something heritage. Fully lined and finished with a wax finish, Arket also delivers on the practicality front, too, though this jacket might be stylistically more suited to your morning commute than the morning shoot.

The Best Budget Wax Jacket

The long lasting nature of a waxed jacket often gets the style compared to leathers, due to the lifespan you expect from them. While that’s true, it doesn’t mean you should always have to expect to pay the same price point. Enter M&S, a go-to for an affordable version of pretty much any staple menswear item you could want, with its sub-£150 waxed jacket option that doesn’t sacrifice any of the vibe for the saving. All the hallmarks of the style are here; the cord collar, the large flap pockets and double popper-plus-zip closure, and while you’re not getting the classic Barbour lining, M&S’s version that is easily 50 percent of the cost has a diamond quilted inner face that will keep you even more protected against the elements.

The Best Road-Ready Waxed Canvas Jacket

Favoured by motorcyclists around the world, the Belstaff Trialmaster is the quintessential British racing jacket. Celebs like Daniel Day-Lewis and Ewan McGregor are big fans, but you don’t have to have an Emmy or an Oscar to look like a high-wattage star wearing one. (You don’t have to know anything about motorcycles, either.) That angled chest pocket sure makes it easy to whip out your road map, though.

The Best Movie-Star Waxed Canvas Jacket

Waxed canvas jackets tend to appeal to the scruffy-faced, hard-wearing types (the type that’s a close relative of those stoic seafarers and their fish oil-soaked jackets). Valstar’s trench coat does not. Like all great trench coats, it’s got volume and a beautiful drape. It’s louche and elegant, like an Old Hollywood movie star. But just because it’s so handsome doesn’t mean it’s delicate. The cotton-blend fabric is lightweight but durable and the wool lining will keep you plenty warm when the rain isn’t the only thing you have to worry about. It’s dashing over a suit, rakish over a knit polo and jeans, or just plain cool with a worn-in hoodie and a pair of shorts.

The Best Winterproof Waxed Jacket

This is possibly about as far away from a traditional-looking waxed jacket as you could get. The North Face is famed for its iconic puffer jacket, the Nupse, that gives Michelin man levels of insulation for the toughest of cold days. This parka goes a step even beyond that. Inspired by expeditions on Everest, this waxed ripstop jacket is about as ready for anything as they come. It’s got function in the form of a 600 fill, responsibly sourced down, along with an adjustable hood and ‘dual-entry’, sleek and hidden pockets. The waxed ripstop may be far cry from the cotton-canvas you might be used to, but it’s a technical fabric focussed on keeping out the harshest of elements that will be equally as effective as your Barbour jacket, just in a more mountain-appropriate guise.

The Best Tough-As-Nails Waxed Jacket

Filson is kind of like the Land Rover of clothing – ultra-durable and ready for the toughest jobs. Its Cruiser Jacket even features the workwear stalwart’s iconic Tin Cloth fabric which weighs in at a hefty 14-ounces (that’s just a touch heavier than your average pair of jeans). It’s stiff as a board and can actually stand on its own straight off the rack, but with some time and elbow grease, it’ll soften up and age like a fine wine. Like the Land Rover, the Cruiser also happens to come with plenty of cargo space, including a couple of chest pockets and pencil slots.

Plus 10 More Waxed Canvas Jackets We Love

Your Waxed Jacket FAQs, Answered

Waxed jackets make for a great rain jacket. Their waxy fabrics aren’t only water-resistant, but they’re also really durable, age well, and are a more natural, earth-friendly material compared to synthetic jackets which use polyester and DWR-coatings to achieve their waterproofness.

As for the downsides, waxed canvas needs to be reapplied over time as the wax will eventually rub off. Re-waxing your jacket requires time and patience, which can get annoying, we recommend sending your jacket into be professionally re-waxed so you’re confident that the resistant layer has been properly applied. Additionally, waxed jackets tend to be heavier than modern rain jackets and less water-resistant.

For any clothing category, you can reliably look to the stalwarts and inventors of the genre. In this case, Barbour, Belstaff, and Filson are some of the best to do it. But don’t mistake these brands as the best waxed canvas jacket for you. Each jacket has its own unique characteristics and what works for a lot of people doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right option for everyone.

You can also lean on storied waxed fabric makers as a good indicator of quality. Though many of the high priests of waxed jackets don’t necessarily call out their fabric suppliers, a good deal of them use waxed fabrics from British Millerain and Halley Stevensons, both mills with generations of expertise with the unique material.