When it comes to buying outdoor gear, like coats and outerwear, there are two types of shoppers.
One shops the pages of catalogs of brands like Land’s End, Eddie Bauer, and LL Bean. The other knows workwear brands will last longer, protect better, and often cost less than it’s fancier counterparts winter after winter.
No offense intended to the aforementioned brands or the good people who work for those companies. It’s easy to imagine that they are all hard working people like you. The companies they work for make lovely products too.
But, when push comes to shove, we’d prefer to don the workwear brands that take daily punishment, year after year, and still come out smiling.
While there’s something to be appreciated in the higher-end fashion brands that too often make the cut above their workwear alternatives, working people know better.
They know that paying more doesn’t mean you get a better product, not in this case.
It means you get a more expensive product. In many cases, you not only spend more, but you get less.
So, what’s wrong with the barn coat from a brand like LL Bean?
Frankly, there’s nothing “wrong” with LL Bean’s gear nor with their coats, not in any catastrophic way.
They make a barn coat for the ladies, and what they call a field coat for the men. They’re basically the same coat, but for different body types.
Both come in a couple of trims, two to four pockets, and different liner options. For heavier weather, they offer quilted versions, and for less frigid climes they have flannel-lined versions.
The warmest versions claim to keep one toasty in temps as low as zero Fahrenheit, which is pretty good. All versions come in at least two color options, the sort one would expect from an outdoor apparel company, earth tones.
Here’s where the road splits. Their coats run somewhere between $100 and $200, features depending.
On LL Bean’s web page, these items do well, ranking 4-5 stars in each case. These reviews, however, are not from hard-working Americans working in actual barns or on frigid worksites.
They’re more a review of the style of the coats, and of their functionality as fashionable yet warm articles of clothing.
As such, if you’re only interested in warm and stylish as measures of quality, drop the extra money for the LL Bean coats. That’s nothing to say about how long they will last with repeated use.
You have one year with LL Bean to return any item without scrutiny.
Does Carhartt make a barn coat?
For Carhartt, they prefer to call their barn coat a chore coat, because marketing. Maybe it’s because everyone has chores. Only farmers have barns. I dunno.
It’s the same coat, a four-pocket version, but way better than the ones made by fashion brands. For starters, the Carhartt coat is 12 ounce, firm cotton duck.
If it was any tougher it could stop bullets, but never fear. It’s not stiff. Carhartt added a split in the back to allow for easy movement, a critical benefit for workwear.
The lining is basically a blanket, a quilt that covers more than just your body. It goes all the way down the sleeves too. Good luck getting cold in this coat.
Like the LL Bean coats, Carhartt’s comes in Earthy tones, but they have a black version which dresses up pretty well if you want to look a little more stylish.
Because bodies come in different shapes, Carhartt also makes two lengths, regular and long. If four exterior pockets aren’t enough, there are two more inside at chest level.
And, as you would expect from workwear, every seam is triple-stitched with powerful thread, reinforced with rivets where needed. Like I said, bullets. You’re not going to rip a seam working in these coats.
It doesn’t retail with a hood, but there are snaps to affix a Carhartt hood if you want to.
Oh yeah, and the Carhartt coat only looks expensive. It’s $79.99 as of this writing.
Carhartt's chore coat is more me
Does anyone make a women’s barn coat?
Yes, of course. The best barn coat for women we carry is from Berne, and it’s a winner in so many ways.
Berne made their women’s barn coat from 10-ounce duck, a little softer than the men’s version from Carhartt, but no weaker. Again, tough and mobile fabric. The construction is the same.
Just like Carhartt’s, the Berne version is triple-stitched, riveted, and quilt-lined. It has the same pocket layout but offers some nice features that the men’s versions don’t have.
Berne’s barn coat for the ladies retails with a matching hood that you can remove if you don’t like hoods. When the winds whip up, there is nothing more comforting than pulling a hood over your head.
Berne made this coat for movement, with what they call an “action back,” and side vents to prevent overheating when the temps fluctuate.
As far as workwear barn coats go, this one is darn fashionable. It’s so fashionable, it comes in a pomegranate color, and two different lengths.
The only problem with buying this coat is that you might as well love it because you’ll have no reason to replace it for a long time.
Berne makes quality workwear, have been since 1915.
Are there any other workwear barn coats for men?
Heck yeah. Walls makes a solid barn coat, some would consider better than the Carhartt version. They call their Redford barn coat.
Its tough to compete with Carhartt, but some folks prefer the Walls brand for the same reason people prefer any brand. Perhaps their parents always bought Walls or that was their first workwear brand, who knows?
Toe to toe with Carhartt, the Walls barn coat keeps the traditional name. It’s not a chore coat. That doesn’t mean you have to own a barn to wear it. In fact, for lighter work, you may prefer the Walls barn coat.
Whereas the Carhartt coat is an astonishing 12-ounce duck, Walls crafted their coat from 9.5-ounce duck, which is plenty heavy.
They’ve done you one better and beat the heck outta the duck before cutting the patterns so it moves even better than the Carhartt coat. They’ve also added corduroy to the collar so it doesn’t scratch your neck in the cold.
And, if you tend to generate more heat than other human beings, the Walls version comes with vents like the Berne barn coat for ladies.
What reviewers say of this coat is that they can do anything to it, only needing to replace it when you gain or lose too much weight.
It’s comfortably fitted in the shoulders, but it’s possible to lose or gain too much weight to keep this coat forever. No problem.
Add it to your final will and testament.
I'm definitely a Walls guy
What’s the barn coat verdict?
So, where is your money going with the more retail fashion brands versus workwear brands? You’re paying for marketing.
We live in a very competitive world where it gets harder and harder to get by on quality alone.
People pay for brands they recognize so the more they’re exposed to your brand, the more likely they are to buy it. What complicates this is the overwhelming number of platforms for marketing.
As one on the inside of this matter, I can tell you, it seems endless. No brand has enough money to use them all. Someone, somewhere, is not seeing your ads no matter what you spend.
Workwear brands advertise too, but not to the general public. You know these brands because they target you, and for good reason. You work.
You also work with others who wear workwear brands. As such, if you showed up in an LL Bean barn coat, you might get more than a raised eyebrow or two.
Wearing workwear brands is a kind of social signaling; an implication of your virtues. It’s like being part of a secret group of elite clothing specialists. You know something about someone when you see them wearing a Berne, Carhartt or Walls coat.
Don’t hate the fashionistas. They can’t know what they don’t know. This holiday seasons, be a pal and buy them a barn coat that will last longer than one year.
They’ll thank you for it.
Show me the Carhartt coat again
About the Author
Nick Warrick
Nick Warrick is the Sales Manager at All Seasons Uniforms. With over 15 years of experience in the work uniform business, he has worked with hundreds of clients across 20 different industries. Holding bachelor’s degrees in both Business Administration and Information Technology, Nick revamped the company’s online presence, offering its customers a new uniform shopping experience.