If you’re just looking for a warm, well-made barn coat with classic style, look no further than Orvis’ classic, athlete-approved barn coat. The body is lined in toasted flannel for extra warmth and the sleeves are polyester lined for easy on and off, 7.8 oz. Cotton canvas is the ideal weight for all three seasons. Still on the fence? Browsing through some of the field reviews shows that veterans and contractors alike rave about its quality.
The Best Barn Jacket for Fashionistas: Auralee Washed Organic Canvas Hunting Jacket
Material: Cotton, Leather | size: 3, 4, 5 (SL) | color: one
Just as Rick Rubin pared down records to only the elements they really needed, Japan’s Auralee pared classic styles down to the essential essentials and then finished them off with all the best material available. This jacket’s durable organic cotton shell and (removable!) leather collar will only get better with age, while the relaxed, oversized fit makes it perfect for layering over a sweater or jacket on colder days. Six pockets on the outer front of the down jacket allow you to carry just about anything, while still leaving room to keep your hands permanently hidden, just like Bob Dylan did in the 1960s.
The Best Barn Jacket for Menswear Fans: FrizmWORKS 003 Royal Hunting Jacket
Material: Cotton, polyester, nylon | size: S-XL | color: one
South Korea’s FrizmWORKS has unexpectedly launched the perfect workwear and military-inspired silhouette, with its Royal Hunting Jacket that pays homage to the traditional British MK3 hunting jackets of the 50s and 60s. It’s lightweight, perfect for layering, and has some thoughtful extra details that set it apart, like four strategically placed front pockets, an adjustable drawstring waist, and pretty corduroy-lined cuffs.
More Barn Coats We Love
Buck Mason Dry Waxed Canvas Highland Jacket
Alex Mill Frontier Jacket
sunflower waxed casual jacket
LLBean original field jacket
Miles Leon Barn corduroy-trimmed cotton canvas jacket
Knickerbocker Catskills canvas jacket
How we test and review products
We know that style is subjective – that’s the fun of it. But we are serious about helping our audience get dressed. Whether it’s the best white sneakers, the most affordable suits, or the menswear pieces you need to know this week, GQ Recommends opinion is built on years of hands-on experience, an inside look at what’s trending and what’s to come, And our mission is to find the best versions of all products at every price point.
Our staff can’t try on every piece of clothing you read about on GQ.com (fashion moves so fast these days), but we have a deep understanding of each brand’s strengths and understand the hallmarks of quality clothing—from the materials and procurement, processes, and sustainability efforts are more than just greenwashing. GQ Recommendations places a heavy emphasis on our own editorial experience with these brands, how they make their clothes, and what customers say about them. Bottom line: If we didn’t, GQ wouldn’t tell you to wear it.
We make every effort to cast the widest possible net and look to identify the best options in three key categories: quality, fitand price.
To kick off the process, we asked the GQ Recommendations Think Tank to vote on our contenders. Some of those involved work in retail, selling clothes to the masses; others work for small-batch menswear brands; all spend too much time thinking about what’s hanging in their closets.
We relied on our collective experience to guide our search, curating household names, indie favorites, and handcrafted imprints at the forefront of the genre. We then narrowed it down to the options that scored the best for quality, fit, and price.
As with most of our buying guides, our team has first-hand experience with most of the ones we choose, but there are a few that are completely new to us. So, after months of heated debate, we’ve tallied the votes, compiled the anecdotal evidence, and compiled a list of what we think are the absolute best in the category right now, from tried-and-true stalwarts to modern-day disruptors, From affordable drummers to insanely expensive (but well worth it) designer riffs.
Whatever your preference, whatever your style, there’s bound to be a superlative version for you on this list. (Read more about GQ’s testing process here.)
Why buy a barn coat today in the year 2024 of our Lord?
Maybe it’s just us, but fall seems to get shorter every year. Objectively speaking, this new reality is absolutely terrible for the planet and harrowing for the menswear fans who occupy it. But it also presents an opportunity: Invest in a barn coat that’s durable enough to double as a parka replacement, with a thick cable-knit interior, but light enough to wear with a shabby-chic coat when the spring thaw comes. retro t-shirts to rock. Few other jackets boast this level of season-independent versatility (trust us: we’ve checked), which is why you should buy one now.
