The Wax Walker: How Great Things Age

October 02, 2024BruceDayne

The Wax Walker: How Great Things Age

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Wednesday, October 2^nd 2024Tags:

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At the beginning of the year, I asked readers if they had a Wax Walker we could feature as part of our ‘Dry January’ project. We were focusing on how things age and become more beautiful with wear, and wax jackets are particularly nice in that respect.

A few got in touch, and I ended up borrowing reader Bart’s - his had been particularly heavily worn and he bought it in the very first batch, four years ago. We chatted, I photographed it, but by the time that done January had passed and it seemed a shame to write about it given we had no Wax Walkers to offer.

So this week, as we’ve finally restocked them, it’s finally time to talk about Bart’s jacket. (Note - the new batch have been shortened slightly, see bottom of the post for details.)

Bart works in London but is very much a country person, and wanted something that crossed both places stylistically. “Barbours never worked for me in that respect,” he says.

“I’ve worn this one so much. I remember during Covid, when you could only go out for one walk a day, this was hanging by the door and I’d put it on every day for that walk. Then after Covid it was the same - for a good while it was the only good coat I had and I wore it every day.

“It was my first step into building up a quality wardrobe, so there wasn’t much else that was close.”

“That thing has not been treated carefully. It’s been on the commute into London every day, on long walks in the countryside, dumped in the corner of the pub.

“It’s so soft now compared to when I first got it. I was really pleased to see how it was wearing in, as I’ve never worn a piece of clothing this much, or only rarely. It really shows the appeal of waxed cotton as a waterproof material - it’s so comfortable, reassuring.”

When I first saw Bart’s jacket, the thing I loved was the way the colour has changed. You can see that in the image above of the shoulder - the points that have had the most wear have gone a lighter, slightly tan shade of brown, with the folded over seams remaining dark.

“The colour has faded, softened and kind of gone more matte,” says Bart. “It’s a bit like suede, or better a washed linen like the Art du Lin that Solbiati do.”

One place you also see patina like this (on wax as on jeans) is on the seams and hems where the sewing makes the material slightly wavy - as shown above. Here the colour change is often the reverse - the top of the wave acquires dirt and dust and turns darker, while the troughs in between stay paler.

Over long periods of time, you’ll also start to get tiny nicks in the material where it rubs again and again - you can see that in the bottom of the hem above.

This can be repaired of course, but if the jacket is still functional, many people (including myself and Bart) love these signs of wear. They give the jacket character, making it yours and no one else’s. Again like jeans.

Even if you’re not into the way things age quite as much as this, I think you can appreciate how a jacket like this has more personality than a similar piece in Gore-Tex.

There is one stud on the Wax Walker that has come off - the third one down. “That stud is the first one I use, the one I always use. It has probably been snapped thousands of times,” says Bart. “Plus Private White have said it’s something they can easily repair, so I’ll do that when I get round to it.”

Wax jackets in general are easy to patch and repair, which has always been part of their charm. A long time ago I wrote an article about a vintage one of mine; I covered that process at the Barbour factory a few years later; and André covered the extensive repair of his wax jacket in a more recent piece.

Bart hasn’t rewaxed his jacket in the four years he’s had it, and hasn’t had any issues with it becoming less water-resistant. But that will be needed at some point, and while this can be done at home, it’s a fiddly job. I’d recommend Oily Jacks, whom André used, for that. They can take care of any little repairs if you want them at the same time.

The rewaxing does take away a little of this colour change, but not all of it, and all the nicks and scratches stay the same - as does the way the hardware naturally tarnishes.

“This is a size 5 and I should probably have sized up,” says Bart. “I’m only going in one direction! It still fits well without the liner, but I could have gone for a bigger size at the start. (In the images I am wearing the jacket though, not Bart, as he did not wish to be photographed. I normally wear a 4, medium, so it doesn’t look small on me.)

“And when I bought my second good raincoat in 2023 - the Rider’s Raincoat you did - you were very helpful giving advice on that over email. You encouraged me to size up if I was in any doubt, and that was definitely the right call.

“In fact it was generally the right advice, as I’m not getting any smaller and it is more elegant having that extra room, maybe just cinching it a bit more when needed.”

The Wax Walker has been fully restocked and is available on the Permanent Style shop. To read more about how it was designed, see the launch article here.

Please note that there has been one change to the design for this iteration: shortening the jacket by 3cm. This was based on seeing many readers try the jacket in the pop-up shops, and noting that it was a little long on lots of people, and never too short. I think this was largely down to me being the fit model and being above average height...

In general, the only care required for a waxed jacket is an occasional wipe down with a damp cloth to remove mud etc. Rewaxing can be done whenever required, but should be done lightly and ideally by someone with experience.

The Private White repair policy is:

Anything that is a fault with the product will be repaired free of charge. There is no time limit on this, but usually it's something that comes up quickly
They can repair pretty much anything, but there is a cost which includes sending it to the factory. Sometimes materials are sent to the customer in order for them to arrange a local repair, as it's cheaper
Rewaxing is something the recommend customers do themselves

Below: A recent shoot in Oxford with Manish for the Wax Walker and other PS x PWVC coats