The Four Coats I Actually Wear As a Dad

I recently purchased a used-but-great-condition Eidos coat in a glorious, flowy belted silhouette. It hits just below the knee. It has no buttons. It has dropped shoulders. It has turn-back cuffs and an inverted pleat on the back. It’s amazing. I ordered it from an eBay seller about a week after my third child was born. She’s a lovely little creature with the best little baby squeaks you’ve ever heard. And of course the diapers, spit-up and other various fluids that babies are so well known for.

So we’ll see how it goes, but I’m not quite sure how much wear this incredible Eidos coat will get this coming fall and winter. 

After all, what is most stylish isn’t always the most practical, for any number of reasons. 

So as a dad with three kids under age 10, I thought I’d share what pieces of outerwear I have reached for time and again. Here are the top 4, and why I reach for them time and again. And I give links at the bottom to shop similar jackets.

(Links below may be affiliate links that earn commission when you make a purchase.)

Be sure to see the member-only companion piece: How I Dress Well and Stay Stain-Free as a Dad

The coats

1. Chore / utility jacket in cotton twill
2. Barbour jacket (Ashby / Bedale / Beaufort)
3. Boltey tweed worker jacket (a bit warmer than the cotton twill)
4. Gray wool herringbone balmacaan coat

Here are why I wear these more than the others in my closet.

Length and volume

The first 3 coats have shorter, more manageable lengths. Getting in and out of cars is easier. Kneeling down on the ground to help a kid tie his shoe means the coat isn’t falling down onto the ground.

The fourth, the balmacaan, is longer, but being single breasted means it has less fabric to flow about and get caught on things or get dirty in the course of life. Good, dramatic, draping cloth is indeed what I love most (and why that newly acquired belted coat is so exciting to me)—but for practicality’s sake when you have small kids, sometimes reducing that is what you need to do.

Washability and fabric care

The cotton chore coat is machine washable. The Barbour’s coated fabric resists liquid and stains by its nature (and looks a little better when it does get a little dirty). 

The wool coats do not have this going for them as much, but in this member-exclusive post, I talk about how I have managed life with small children wearing a wardrobe full of dry-clean-only tailoring. Join here.

Utilitarian values of storage and pockets

These all have excellent, usable pockets. The chore coats have open patch pockets (and on mine, custom made by Atelier Munro, I added an internal self-lining that allowed for internal breast pockets just like a blazer has). The Barbour, big bellows pockets (plus the internal breast pocket). The balmacaan I have has patch hip pockets as well plus internal breast pockets.

Here are shoppable links to the coats I list above

Chore coat: Atelier Munro [wrong fabric but you could choose a cotton twill] | Spier and Mackay | Drake’s | Campbell’s of Beauly | J.Crew | Todd Snyder | Sid Mashburn | Poszetka

Barbour / Waxed jackets: Ashby | Bedale | Beaufort | Campbell’s of Beauly Aigas field jacket | Private White VC x Permanent Style

Boltey: Boltey | Campbells of Beauly shacket | 

Balmacaan: Tons of links updated throughout the season here