Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Barbour jacket

If you live in cold weather or travel a lot to cold weather, I would highly reccommend the Barbour Quilted Jacket with moleskin trim (I've only be able to find it in the United States at Orvis, but if you know another place that I can get them, I would be happy to post the store).  The jacket is well insulated for cold weather -- I've been wearing today in Colorado where it's been snowing and in the 20s with a thin sweater underneath and it has kept me plenty warm.  The pockets are well insulated and actually keep you hands warm.  Unlike other quilted barn coats, this coat has both a zipper and snaps, so it is very effective at keeping the wind out.  There is a nice internal zip pocket for anything that you might be worried about falling out and the external pockets zip as well.  As it says in the name of the coat, the collar is moleskin and is very comfortable against the neck.  The coat is cut to fall well below the waist and has snaps on the back that allow you to open up the bottom of the coat if you need to fit it around items you may have on your belt.

Although I have not yet had to wash it, the jacket can be cleaned in a normal washing machine and does not really have any special care instructions.  In the picture the jacket looks somewhat bulky, but it is actually well tailored in the shoulders and sleeves and does not feel bulky at all.

The jacket seems to work as well with jeans and a sweater as it does with dress pants and a button-up shirt.  Though I have not had a chance to wear the jacket in warmer weather, I think that the jacket would be fine with a long-sleeved t-shirt up to 40 or 50 degrees.

I certainly wouldn't reccommend the jacket as something that you would pack in a carry-on as a just-in-case-it-snows jacket, but it is not so heavy that you couldn't carry it to cold weather on a one to three day trip.

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