Why Barbour’s Most Interesting Jackets Are the Ultimate Forbidden Fruit

Every man who has ever walked into a Barbour store has likely noticed that the women’s collection dominates the sales floor.

Men’s jackets are typically relegated to one wall or a back corner, and the variety pales compared to women’s options.

Barbour

The brand’s lack of variety isn’t limited to store merchandising. Barbour is one of the most respected men’s outerwear brands, but that reputation is built on a handful of models, most of which feature identical design elements.

The Bedale, Ashby, Spey and Beaufort are fundamentally the same jacket with minor adjustments. Of the brand’s well-known jackets, only the International — a foundational example of the British moto jacket — has a completely unique look.

Barbour

The other issue with Barbour’s men’s collection is color. Almost every jacket is olive, navy, black or khaki. By contrast, the women’s jackets offer vibrant colors like hunter orange and burgundy, alongside rich textures like tartan plaids and color block waxed canvas.

To clarify, these criticisms only apply to Barbour’s standard men’s line. The British outfitter consistently offers captivating collaborations that draw from its archive and get adventurous with materials and colors.

Barbour

Barbour appears dependent on outside designers to make the most of its rich archive. But the brand’s collaborations are often substantially more expensive than its standard collection and limited editions sell out quickly.

Detail oriented

Barbour’s recently revived Spey jacket encapsulates the divide between the two gendered lines. Several options have come out for men, but they mostly stick to core colors and the original design.

This isn’t a bad thing. The Spey is one of Barbour’s finest creations. Originally geared for fishing in the 1980s, it is remarkably fashionable today. A couple more interesting variations have come out as collaborations and under Barbour’s Re-Engineered label, but (again) those are overpriced and scarce.

Barbour

Barbour’s women’s design team got creative with the Spey jacket in 2025. A retro-inspired look matching the men’s collection is available, but another, more interesting twist, the Reighton Spey, features color blocking, an oversized cord collar and a detachable hood.

The only men’s Spey jacket with a detachable hood is a Re-Engineered version with massive pockets on the front that looks more futuristic than vintage.

End

The coolest Spey jacket in Barbour’s 2025 catalog is a women’s version in black waxed canvas with an oversized collar. The corduroy lining on the collar and inner sleeve cuffs is hunter orange. It is a small but impactful tweak that references Barbour’s heritage.

The black and orange contrast reminds me of US military surplus bomber jackets with black, navy or olive exteriors and neon orange interiors designed to be flipped inside-out during an emergency.

Barbour

An older example of this divide is the Barbour International Jacket. The men’s version has remained unchanged since the 1960s, which is part of the appeal. Aside from some faux-vintage models in the Steve McQueen collection, it is only offered in solid black or brown.

Meanwhile, the women’s International Jacket added epaulets and a sleeve pocket. Yes, the chest pockets were tiny, but that relates to a larger issue across women’s clothing.

There was even a sherpa-lined version of the women’s International Jacket called the Matlock. A men’s equivalent would have been a hit.

Digging through the archives

Barbour’s success over the past twenty years has been built on the brand’s rich heritage from the 1930s through the 1980s. That has meant relying heavily on a few key designs for the men’s line.

Core jackets like the Ashby, Beaufort and International are the brand’s foundation, but the British outfitter has a lot more waxed canvas in its archive.

Barbour

Barbour makes much better use of its archive in the women’s collection. An example from the Spring 2025 collection is the Mildra Waxed Trench Coat (pictured above in the first image).

It is a variation on the full-length barn coats Barbour created in the 1970s and 1980s for British farmers. J.Crew currently offers a reproduction called the Burghley, but it doesn’t have the belt and bellow pockets featured on the Mildra.

J.Crew

This long rant was to say that I wish Barbour would be as creative with its men’s line as it has been with its women’s line for years. I understand protecting the legacy that is the brand’s foundation, but the women’s line manages to balance both creativity and heritage.

Hopefully, Barbour will stop depending on collaborations for its coolest men’s jackets, but I’m not holding my breath.

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