Rogue Territory Supply Jacket – Black Ridgeline

I call this my James Bond jacket as it is selected to be worn in the upcoming-but-seemingly-never-to-be-released Daniel Craig James Bond film. He wore tan, here I am talking about the Supply Jacket in Ridgeline Black. This is a really cool jacket, and I picked one up this past winter and immediately fell in love with it.

It’s hard to find useful jackets when you live in weather that is touching 110°F Heat Index as I write this post here in mid-June. But in the ‘winter’ months I often need something to cut the chill that my humidity-oven-baked body is far from acclimated to — this is that jacket. It’s amazing.

Material

The simplest explanation of this jacket is that it is waxed canvas. A little more panache: it’s the best waxed canvas I’ve felt. But the technical side is that this is 8.25oz shelter tent American waxed canvas. It’s not super thick, feeling thinner than most pairs of jeans. But it’s not light either as the weave has incredible density to it. And the wax finish is smooth across the surface, but noticeable to your hands when you touch it.

The end result is a fabric that feels smooth and stiff, which slowly breaks in over time, forming to the wearer of the garment.

Fit and Style

The supply jacket style is classic and on trend right now — but because of the classic nature of the cut, it will be appropriate for the life of the jacket, which might be your lifetime as well. It’s cut slim, and thus tailored well against your body — unlike most supply jackets which wear boxier or looser to accommodate more work and clothing layers. You can wear this anywhere you might were a trucker jacket, work jacket, or light layer.

It dresses up your t-shirt with the smart styling, but dresses down your button-up/down shirts. For that reason it’s date not appropriate for most people in the United States, but a stretch for a stuffier office. This is workwear made by someone who didn’t want to be swimming in a garment.

I ordered mine in XL, which is larger than I would normally order, but in measuring according to Rogue Territory’s guidelines that’s where I came out to, and thus what I ordered. It fits really well, exactly how I wanted it to.

The only other style note on this jacket is that white button hole, which doesn’t actually have a button for it — as far as I can tell, that’s a style choice and nothing else. I won’t pretend to understand it, but it’s less pronounced when you are wearing the jacket.

Performance

Alright, this is old-school performance here, but it still holds up well. Part of what we look at in clothing is the ability for us to blend in. Yes something nylon or Gore-Tex is going to do some/all/most of this better, but the cost of that is style. It is not blending in, it’s not showing off your personality. You should not only be comfortable because of your clothing, but be comfortable wearing your clothing. That’s how I look at the performance on something like this.

To that end, this unlined, seemingly simple jacket is quite impressive. I was able to wear it on cool (high—40s) to warmer (low-60s) nights with a slight breeze with only an Outlier Merino T under it. I stayed plenty warm because this jacket is a fantastic wind breaker. This is both in part because of the dense weave of the fabric, but mostly the waxed finish.

Because of this the jacket doesn’t breathe as well, it has yet to build moisture for me, but it’s going to wear warm and should be treated accordingly. I can’t see it getting wear above 70°F for me.

The wax will also repel rain, though how much rain I am unsure of as the rain we get in this part of the country is binary: it’s either not raining, or the heavens have opened up and no one ventures outside. In theory, it should be fine, and my experience with past items like this confirms that.

And then we get to durability, and this is one of those items which should only get better with age. Most of the patina will happen to the wax layer, and can be renovated as needed bringing back the original (or close to it) look. Because this is a black jacket, that should hold more true than the tan version. The tight weave also means it won’t be prone to snagging from outdoor brush should you find yourselves needing to wear it through such a thing — likewise it should survive your backpack and a trip to Starbucks just fine, certainly your Instagram posts.

The caveat to all this, and there always is one: it’s not washable. Like at all, here’s the warning on the product page: Spot clean only. DO NOT put this jacket in water. DO NOT dry clean.

This is par for the course with waxed goods, a damp rag should clean anything up. From there you just need to worry about odors, which can be mitigated if you can stick it in the freezer for a day.

Overall

I love this jacket, and the only real downside for me (other than the climate I live in) is that it’s hard to pack this jacket. It’s dense, and it doesn’t pack down at all. So if you want to take it with you somewhere, it’s best to plan on wearing it there and back. It’s not at all easy to pack. The fit and finish on the entire jacket is outstanding. This is very easy for me to recommend.

Find it here.