# Barbour Beaufort Jacket: Trim vs. Generous Fit



## Thrift Store Preppy (Apr 20, 2012)

*Is Barbour be steering people in urban areas toward a certain "trim look" for the Beaufort? If so, it is a look that has less to do with the jacket being a functional item of clothing and more to do with making a trendy fashion statement. Has anyone on the forum had similar thoughts?
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Here's my story:

I recently got the Beaufort jacket in olive as a birthday present from my wife. We live just north of Manhattan and went to the Barbour store at Madison and 80th.

The salesperson, guessing my size, said that I would take a 42 even though my normal jacket size is a 46 (chest). She explained that Beaufort is roomy, and I tried it on over a suit jacket. It seemed fine then and, deferring to her judgment, I took the 42.

After getting home and trying the Beaufort on with a heavier tweed jacket, I was less sure about the fit. It just seemed to be slightly more snug about the shoulders than I prefer. Going through a range of movements, I found there to be a definite tension in the back - just slightly constricting. I also noticed that the Beaufort was a bit too short to cover my jacket completely. Even worn with just a button down and heavy wool sweater, the Baufort's sleeves landed slightly above my wrist, which is too short for my taste.

Going online, I saw images of urban hipsters wearing the Beaufort, and in almost every instance, they sported a snug fit with sleeves that looked way too short. Then I saw images of people wearing the Beaufort in the country, and the fit was completely different, _much more generous_, accommodating several layers of clothing underneath. My mind was made up. Being as polite as possible, I explained to the original salesperson that the 42 was too snug, though she did not seem pleased to have her judgment overturned. I exchanged it for a size 44. I couldn't be happier with the fit. Just perfect. The jacket got its first use yesterday morning during a terrific downpour, after which I walked on the back trails of a park near where we live, unseen by anyone. I had attached the hood, and that was very handy! 
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Side Note: I also went by J. Press, which carries the Beaufort, for a second opinion. The salesman there said the 44 looked like a better fit for me.

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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

I wear a 48L. I bought a 46 Beaufort and the fit is good, though could be an inch longer in the body. I can wear a heavy sweater or sportcoat under it just fine and it doesn't look too billowy with just a t-shirt or polo on. A friend of mine wears a 44R and bought a 40. He comments (very frequently) how mine is too large and his is the perfect fit, but can't begin to fit a thick sweater or SC under it. I think it depends on your purpose. I wear mine dove and pheasant hunting as often as I wear it to work. He wears his to barbecues on coolish fall evenings and between the cab and the bar. I wear a coat (and sometimes a sweater under a coat) everyday to work, he wears jeans and polos to work.


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## arkirshner (May 10, 2005)

Tilton said:


> I wear a 48L. I bought a 46 Beaufort and the fit is good, though could be an inch longer in the body. I can wear a heavy sweater or sportcoat under it just fine and it doesn't look too billowy with just a t-shirt or polo on. A friend of mine wears a 44R and bought a 40. He comments (very frequently) how mine is too large and his is the perfect fit, but can't begin to fit a thick sweater or SC under it. I think it depends on your purpose. I wear mine dove and pheasant hunting as often as I wear it to work. He wears his to barbecues on coolish fall evenings and between the cab and the bar. I wear a coat (and sometimes a sweater under a coat) everyday to work, he wears jeans and polos to work.


As between you, sir, and your friend, it is clear that you are the better man.


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## Thrift Store Preppy (Apr 20, 2012)

Tilton said:


> I wear a 48L. I bought a 46 Beaufort and the fit is good, though could be an inch longer in the body. I can wear a heavy sweater or sportcoat under it just fine and it doesn't look too billowy with just a t-shirt or polo on.


In the end, just as you did, I got a size smaller than my normal jacket size. I think this is the correct fit for me. As for use, I have several. I will definitely be wearing it in the mountains, where it rains there a good bit and can be chilly even in the summer. So it's good that I can throw the Beaufort on over a thick sweater or sport coat with no problem. I can wear it to work with just a button down, and it's not baggy. But I'm mainly an outdoors person, and want the jacket to be comfortable with layers.

If you'd gotten two sizes smaller than normal - like your friend - I guess you would have had problems with movement when hunting -- especially in the shooting stance. The frequency of his jacket comparison leads me to believe that he might be trying to persuade himself that he made the right choice with the 40.


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## Bjorn (May 2, 2010)

A Barbour sized down two sizes would get really clammy. And they don't look right tight, on guys. 

There's the Asian guys wearing Barbour pictorial around somewhere. Case in point.


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## hardline_42 (Jan 20, 2010)

All of my Barbours are the same as my jacket size. I don't see a need to size down at all. As a result, I can wear my Barbours in all types of weather with proper layers underneath and the Beaufort can be worn over a sport coat without it peeking out from beneath. The sleeves are still a bit short, but that can easily be remedied if it ever bothers me enough.


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

Bjorn said:


> A Barbour sized down two sizes would get really clammy. And they don't look right tight, on guys.


They don't look right tight on girls, either. SWMBO wears hers with the exact fit I wear mine (albeit about half the size). As for my friend, even if he could wear a coat under it, it would hang out the bottom. He has sized down such that it is now about the length of a Bedale. What blows my mind is he has complained that he cannot take in the sides to make it more trim and less boxy in the body because "the ridiculous and useless game pocket gets in the way." My game pocket has stored everything from an iPad to a limit of teal and everything in between.


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## Thrift Store Preppy (Apr 20, 2012)

My wife took this shot of me in the Barbour Beaufort yesterday while we were walking the dogs. I like the 44 much better than the size 42. How does the fit look to you?










In winter, a tweed jacket will fit nicely underneath without sticking out, and the sleeves seem just right to me. Still can't understand why the Barbour salesperson tried to put me in the 42.


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## Buffalo (Nov 19, 2003)

the fit looks great, nice jacket; and your dogs are adorable


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

Looks just right to me. Is that a Boykin?


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

Tilton said:


> What blows my mind is he has complained that he cannot take in the sides to make it more trim and less boxy in the body because "the ridiculous and useless game pocket gets in the way."


LOL! I'm surprised he didn't complain about the color and the waxy finish, since those are the other inherent attributes. It's like me complaining that my 9-iron doesn't make cappuccino... if that's what I wanted the object to do, I had *no GD business* buying a 9-iron! Such a complaint would only reveal my idiocy.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

Looks good, TSP. Now beat the hell out of it for 4 or 5 years and you'll be in business.


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## hardline_42 (Jan 20, 2010)

CuffDaddy said:


> Looks good, TSP. Now beat the hell out of it for 4 or 5 years and you'll be in business.


I've been trying that with my Beaufort since '88 and my Bedale since '93. They still come back looking new every time they get reproofed.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

In the unlikely event that we're the same size, you can lend me yours for a season... I promise I'll get a pocket seam or two ripped for you. Also, reproof it yourself for that uneven, mottled look!


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

CuffDaddy said:


> LOL! I'm surprised he didn't complain about the color and the waxy finish, since those are the other inherent attributes. It's like me complaining that my 9-iron doesn't make cappuccino... if that's what I wanted the object to do, I had *no GD business* buying a 9-iron! Such a complaint would only reveal my idiocy.


Yes lots has changed since we roomed together in college a whole three years ago. We recently went to the bar with some friends and he wore fancy-man jeans, a dark blue and white gingham shirt with a cutaway collar and a navy blue tie with a tie bar (no coat)... and told me I needed to "up my style game" from my advantage chinos, cigar lhs, VV uni-stripe ocbd. :icon_headagainstwal I guess I can't win 'em all.

Long story short, buy your Beaufort in your regular size or maybe one size down or risk looking like a hipster/buffoon.


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## Thrift Store Preppy (Apr 20, 2012)

Tilton said:


> Is that a Boykin?


The brown dog (Peanut) looks a lot like a Boykin, but as far as I know he's a pure cocker spaniel.

@ CuffDaddy - I'm already at work beating the Beaufort up in the woods. :smile: But I know I've got my work cut out for me.

@ Buffalo - Thanks much!


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## Thrift Store Preppy (Apr 20, 2012)

*Hipster Fit for Barbour Beaufort: *This is the look I wanted to _avoid_, and the reason I exchanged my 42 for a 44. The sleeves here are way too short. This guy is rather thin and might be able to get a light sweater under the jacket. However, I think even he might have problems wearing it over several layers (i.e. heavy wool shetland, button down and turtleneck). Any jacket underneath would likely not fit well and might stick out all around. Yet, hipsters seem to love the snug fit. Why? He doesn't even look comfortable!


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

Thrift Store Preppy said:


> Yet, hipsters seem to love the snug fit. Why?


You can't be a trendy vegan if you're fat, so the hipster is just removing any doubt from the general public that the hipster is indeed a trendy vegan.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

Tilton said:


> You can't be a trendy vegan if you're fat, so the hipster is just removing any doubt from the general public that the hipster is indeed a trendy vegan.


Exactly. In a society where the average person is overweight, the whole slim fad is about demonstrating one's non-conformity/independence/superiority by exaggerating one's thinness. Like many expressions of supposed non-conformity, it is, in fact, highly conformist, with lots of encouragement and even enforcement from those multi-national corporations that are otherwise deemed to be so bad.


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

CuffDaddy said:


> Exactly. In a society where the average person is overweight, the whole slim fad is about demonstrating one's non-conformity/independence/superiority by exaggerating one's thinness. Like many expressions of supposed non-conformity, it is, in fact, highly conformist, *with lots of encouragement and even enforcement from those multi-national corporations that are otherwise deemed to be so bad.*


That was an allusion to American Apparel, right?

/joke


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## Thrift Store Preppy (Apr 20, 2012)

CuffDaddy said:


> ...the whole slim fad is about demonstrating one's non-conformity/independence/superiority by exaggerating one's thinness.


I suppose this has led to the recent trend in more fitted suits and, of course, to the Thom Browne shrunken suit, which looks as though it was made for a jockey. In fact, Browne looks like a jockey himself. Maybe he's showing us that he's thin, while also trying to create the illusion - with the flood pants - that he's taller than 4 ft. :biggrin:


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## 4dgt90 (Dec 2, 2009)

i wear a 38s suit and have owned a 38 in both bedale and beaufort. its not comfortable trying to fit a jacket underneath but i can easily wear thick sweaters.


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