One thing you need to know about waxed jackets?
They come in wide varieties.
Waxed cotton refers to the fabric and the properties of the fabric, so if you think about wax, what happens when water goes on wax or it goes on a duck or any type of animal or a piece of clothing which has a film on it?
It just rolls off – that's the idea behind the waxed cotton.
Waxed cotton jackets have been with us for a long time.
So let's go back and look at history.
We see the Egyptians and they had sails.
They were out sailing on the ocean or the Mediterranean or the Red Sea, and we would see them that they figured out that if they waxed the sails, if they took those paper sails and they wax them, they did a much better job of catching air and they were a lot faster.
They were lighter than the other alternatives out there and it worked for them.
Fast forward to a few hundred years ago,
we still saw sails that would use a film and put it into the actual sheets and it would do a better job of not letting the wind go through and it would catch the wind pull.
We also see a lot of fishermen and a lot of clothing that would come from old sails and it would still have most of the same properties of being waterproof, which is very good if you work out on the open water.
Hence, this was brought into menswear.
One of the famous examples is the trench coat.
The trench coat used waxed cotton and that was used successfully in very bad weather in the trenches during World War I and beyond.
Waxed jacket brands:
Waxed jackets play a big role in hunting.
You see I've got a hunting jacket. One of the most famous hunting jackets you see out there is made by an English company, Barbour.
In this case, I'm not wearing a Barbour. I'm wearing one made by Eddie Bauer. I like the style. It's pretty universal when it comes to hunting.
Timberland usually has this green drab color, which kind of just blends in to the natural environment. It's not really camouflage, but it's not sticking out either, as many hunters know.
You have a place where you can basically put your hands in here on this jacket. I've got it right here.
On this jacket, they do not have that button over, but they do the same placement at this level for the arms and for the hands.
It's higher so that if you have your rifle slung over, you can still comfortably put your hands in here.
They also have these large lower pockets.
And again, I see these on the Timberland and you're going to see those on the Barbour as well.
Can anybody guess what the large lower pockets are for, anyone?
Ammunition.
That's where you would actually open this up and you could put large amounts of ammunition or anything else you need when you're out hunting.
The inside of these jackets are insulated. There are more pockets but these are warm jackets.
The outside, which is waxed cotton, is water-resistant and not waterproof. Waterproof, you've got to have actual rubber, something that you could leave the water on there for a while. These are water-resistant so they will resist a high amount.
I mean, water is just going to roll off and you could be caught in a storm and you will remain dry underneath. It will absorb just a bit, but we're talking a minute amount because the waxed cotton, is actually woven with a type of cotton that already has the film on it.
Normally for these jackets, you're going to see that they used a good waxed cotton thread and afterwards, they treated it as well.
One of the things with waxed cotton why a lot of people want to avoid it and go with a modern equivalent or something different, is that they don't want to deal with the upkeep.
Depending on how much you wear the jacket, I would say maybe once every few years, you'll probably need to send it in or get a small kit in which you will apply a little bit of wax to this to reinforce what was originally put on these jackets.
But overall, I think they're very handsome jackets. I'm happy with this one made by Eddie Bauer. It's harder in United States to find Barbour. They don't make them easy to find.
You can occasionally find some in thrift stores or in the larger cities where they actually have stores but you can find a lot of companies like Eddie Bauer and Timberland.
So right now here in Wisconsin, it was just negative 20 the other day, and that's Fahrenheit, guys.
I know for you Canadians that's nothing and that you laugh at that but here in the United States, negative 20 is relatively pretty cold. This jacket I would not be wearing out there.
I would be wearing a parka which is a whole other style.
Alright, guys, hopefully you enjoyed this and that you learned something today.
I will see you in the comments!
