27 Wool Coats and Jackets Resellers Snap Up

Wool outerwear is one of the few categories that can be sorted by hand faster than by eye. Weight, the closeness of a milled edge, the way a shoulder holds its shape when the coat is lifted off the rail: those readings take a second each and eliminate most of a rack before a single label gets turned over.

What follows are the coats and jackets that reward that habit, along with the specific evidence that separates a resale piece from a donation. Labels confirm. Cloth decides.

Camel Hair Polo Coats with a Half Belt Across the Back

The polo coat reads tan from across the room: double-breasted, patch pockets set low on the hips, and a half belt stitched across the back above a deep center vent. Genuine camel hair feels warmer and lighter in the hand than wool of the same thickness, and the nap carries a faint golden cast under store lighting.

Check the content tag, since many postwar versions are camel and wool blends rather than pure hair. Most sell in the 80 to 300 dollar range, though condition drives the number far more than the label does.

Chesterfield Overcoats with a Velvet Collar

A Chesterfield is a long, clean-lined overcoat with a contrasting velvet collar, usually black or dark brown, set on a gray or navy body. The best of them are fly-front, with the button band concealed under a placket so nothing interrupts the vertical line.

The velvet deserves the first look, because crushed or rubbed nap at the back of the neck is the usual killer and replacing it costs more than most coats return. Side seam pockets still basted shut from the factory are a strong sign of very light wear.

Herringbone Tweed Topcoats Heavy Enough to Hold Their Shape

Weight per yard is the fastest sort available on a crowded rail. A prewar or midcentury herringbone topcoat in genuine coating cloth pulls the hanger down and keeps its own line when lifted by the shoulders.

Turn back the lining hem and look for Bemberg or rayon rather than acetate, since the older cupro linings feel cool and slick and rarely shred at the seat. A deep chevron of a quarter inch or more across also signals coating cloth rather than suiting weight pressed into service.

Harris Tweed Sport Jackets Carrying the Orb Label

The Orb mark is the point: a small woven label showing an orb and cross, certifying cloth handwoven by islanders in the Outer Hebrides from virgin wool. Older labels sit at the inner pocket or the back of the neck, and their wording shifted across eras, which helps place a jacket in time.

Full canvas construction, confirmed by pinching the front panel and feeling a third floating layer between shell and lining, separates the good jackets from fused ones. The 40 to 200 dollar spread is wide, with condition setting where a piece lands.

Donegal Tweed Jackets Flecked with Colored Slubs

Donegal cloth is recognizable at arm’s length by the confetti of colored slubs dropped into a plain or lightly figured ground: rust, ochre, a hit of green, sometimes a blue that only shows in daylight. Run a thumb across the surface and the nubs are palpable rather than printed.

The heavier Irish versions hold a structured shoulder well and age slowly, while lightweight modern blends drape softly and pill at the friction points. Check the elbows and the cuff edges, where thinning shows before anything else gives it away.

Estate Tweeds Cut for the Shooting Field

Scottish and Irish estate tweeds were woven in muted glen checks and windowpanes meant to disappear against heather and wet stone. The tell is the tailoring rather than the pattern: a bi-swing action back, bellows pockets with expanding side gussets, and often a matching cloth belt.

Many carry a fabric merchant label sewn beside the tailor’s label, naming the mill or the cloth house, and that second label is chased in its own right. Damp storage leaves a musty note that never fully lifts, so smell the lining before committing.

Loden Coats in That Particular Austrian Green

Loden is milled and felted until the surface closes on itself, which is why the cloth sheds light rain and blocks wind without any coating applied. The classic color sits between olive and forest, and the classic cut runs long with a deep inverted pleat at the back for walking.

Look for horn or stag buttons, a slot pocket set high toward the chest, and an Austrian or Bavarian maker’s label at the neck. The dense felted surface hides moth damage well, so hold the coat against a window and watch for pinpricks of light.

Boiled Wool Alpine Jackets with Horn Closures

Boiled wool cuts like felt and does not fray, so these jackets carry raw, unturned edges finished with contrast piping or a woven braid trim. The closures are usually antler or horn toggles, occasionally pewter clasps, and the front edges may carry embroidered alpine motifs in green or red.

Content tags almost always specify dry clean only, and for good reason: one pass through a home machine shrinks the body two sizes and turns the hand to cardboard. Original closures matter more here than in most categories, because replacements never quite match.

Duffle Coats with Toggles and a Check Lining

The duffle is defined by three things: a heavy napped cloth body, wood or horn toggles on rope or leather loops, and a hood deep enough to clear a cap. British-made vintage versions show a plaid or check lining through the body and hood, and the toggles are hung on jute rope rather than synthetic cord.

Split or missing toggles are the standard problem, since replacements are easy to spot at a glance. Most trade between 50 and 250 dollars, with the state of the toggle loops setting the top end.

Pea Coats in Melton Dense Enough to Blunt Wind

A real pea coat is cut from melton milled so tightly that a raw edge barely frays, and the cloth is thick enough that the double-breasted front feels like armor. Military contract versions carry a stamped size block inside along with a contract number, and the anchor-stamped buttons should look the same age as the coat around them.

The slash pockets are set at an angle and lined in muslin that usually wears through first. Look hard at the underarm seams, since that is where dense melton finally gives out.

Mackinaw Cruiser Jackets in Buffalo Plaid

The cruiser pattern is a short, square wool jacket built for timber work: four front pockets and a full-width game pocket across the back that opens from either side. The red and black buffalo plaid is the recognizable version, though green and black, gray and solid earth tones were made too.

The cloth runs very heavy by design, since these were meant to be worn as the outer layer with nothing over them. Sun fading along one shoulder from years on a window-side hook is common and takes a serious bite out of the value.

Pendleton Wool Shirt Jackets Worn Over a Shirt

These sit between a shirt and a jacket: full wool construction, a button placket down the front, flap chest pockets, and a loop closure at the throat on the older board shirt patterns. The woven neck label changed wording and shape across decades, which is the quickest way to place one in its era. Made in USA on the tag is worth a pause.

Feel the shoulder seams and the elbow area, where thinning happens first and where a break in the weave hides easily against a busy plaid.

Blanket Coats Cut from Striped Point Blankets

These are built from heavy striped wool blankets, usually a cream ground banded in green, red, yellow and indigo, cut into a hooded capote or a belted coat. The short indigo lines woven into the selvedge are point marks, an old sizing convention for the blanket itself, and a coat that preserves them somewhere visible sells better for it.

Hand-sewn examples with blanket-stitched edges generally predate the commercial ones. Study the pieced seams, because the maker had to work around the stripe layout and shortcuts show immediately.

Varsity Letter Jackets with Leather Sleeves

The body is melton wool, the sleeves are leather, and the value sits mostly in the trim: knit striped collar, cuffs and waistband, plus a chenille letter and any embroidered patches. School and year detailing on the sleeve helps date a piece, and midcentury examples carry heavier, drier leather than modern reproductions do.

Cracked leather at the elbows cannot be fixed cheaply, so that check comes first. Prices run from 40 dollars to several hundred, depending entirely on condition and on how good the patches look.

Military Greatcoats and Officer Overcoats

Greatcoats were built to specification, which means the labels tell most of the story: contract stampings, sizing blocks, and broad arrow or national marks inked inside the lining. Officer versions are better tailored than enlisted issue, often with a half belt, a deep vent and a lining of noticeably higher grade.

The shell wool is usually so dense that moth damage is confined to the softer facings and the underside of the collar. Insignia and original buttons drive the price, and replacement buttons are the most common substitution to catch.

Cashmere and Cashmere-Blend Overcoats

The content tag settles the argument: pure cashmere, a cashmere and wool blend, or wool carrying a token percentage for marketing purposes. Pure cashmere feels cool at first touch and then warms fast, and the surface shows no wiry guard hairs under a raking light.

Hand-felled linings, where small slip stitches attach the lining by hand instead of by machine, generally indicate a serious coat underneath. Pilling at the seat and under the arms is the usual defect, and a careful pass with a comb recovers pieces that looked finished.

Swing Coats with a Flared Midcentury Line

A swing coat hangs free from the shoulders and widens sharply toward the hem, often paired with a three-quarter sleeve and oversized covered buttons. Postwar examples use a great deal of cloth, which is both the appeal and the reason they feel heavier than they look.

Union labels inside the lining help with dating, since the garment workers’ union labels changed design across decades and those changes are widely documented. Check the shoulder line for original padding, because removed pads collapse the exact silhouette the coat depends on.

Princess-Line Coats Seamed from Shoulder to Hem

The princess line has no waist seam at all. Shaping comes from long vertical seams that run from the shoulder or the armscye down through the hem, producing a fitted body with no horizontal break anywhere.

Midcentury versions in fine wool are cleanly cut and usually fully lined in rayon. These sell on fit above everything, so measure carefully and note that the seaming leaves very little room for alteration.

Inspect those seams at waist level, where strain shows first as puckering or short splits.

Wrap Coats That Close with a Self Belt

A wrap coat has no front fastening beyond the overlap and a belt cut from the same cloth as the body. Missing belts are the standard problem in this category, and a coat without its original is worth a fraction of a complete one.

Check the carriers at the side seams for strain and look inside for the hidden tie that anchors the under layer. Midcentury and 1970s examples in soft wool or camel-toned blends move at 60 to 200 dollars, with the belt and the collar setting where a piece lands.

Capes and Cloaks Cut in Heavy Wool

Capes have no sleeves, which removes the two areas where wool coats usually fail, so the survival rate in this group is unusually high. The neck closure carries the identification: a chain and clasp, a frog fastening, or a single covered button under a collar that stands up on its own.

Arm slits cut into the front panel indicate a later and more practical piece, while a plain circular cut generally reads older. The hem deserves a close look, since the sheer weight of cloth pulls stitching loose over the decades.

Lambswool Car Coats Cut to the Thigh

The car coat ends around mid-thigh, short enough to sit in comfortably, which is precisely why the length exists. Lambswool versions are softer and lighter than melton and tend toward oatmeal, camel or fawn shades with plain patch pockets and a three or four button front.

Many have spent decades in a cedar closet, and that smell of stored wool is reassuring rather than a warning. Softer cloth grazes easily, so run a hand over the nap at the cuffs and around the pocket mouths before pricing.

Coats Where the Fur Is Only the Collar

A wool coat with a mink, fox or Persian lamb collar and no other pelt sells differently from a fur coat, and it usually sells faster. The collar is often removable, fixed with hooks or a concealed zip, and intact fittings raise the price meaningfully.

Dried, cracking skin on the reverse is the defect that ends the deal, so fold the collar back and flex it gently before going further. The wool body then gets the same treatment as any coat, with close attention to grazing on the nap at the facings.

Cowichan-Style Outer Jackets with a Shawl Collar

These are heavy outer jackets with a deep shawl collar, a front zip, and geometric or animal motifs worked in natural cream, gray and dark brown. Authentic Coast Salish pieces use undyed, minimally processed wool that retains some natural oil and gives off a distinct sheep smell when damp.

Commercial imitations rely on dyed, processed yarn and feel uniform, dry and lighter in the hand. Zips are frequently replaced, and an original heavy metal zip adds real money, while the collar edge shows wear first because it takes the most handling.

Hunting Jackets in Dense Wool with Game Pockets

The identifying feature is a large pocket across the back or set low at the front, often lined in rubberized or coated cloth so it could be wiped out after a day in the field. Buttoned cuffs, a half belt, and shell loops sewn inside a flap pocket all point to field use rather than town wear. The cloth is generally dense enough to take brush without snagging or pulling.

Check the back pocket lining closely, because the rubberized layer goes brittle and flakes long before the wool gives out.

Guard and Doorman Coats with Rows of Brass Buttons

These are institutional garments: long, structured, usually navy, dark green or charcoal, with double rows of brass buttons and sometimes shoulder straps or corded trim at the cuff. They were made to a standard by uniform outfitters, and many carry an outfitter label with a hand-inked name and date inside a pocket, which is worth reading before anything else.

Limited wear means side seam pockets are frequently still sewn shut from the factory. Marked buttons carry value on their own, and the collar facing sets the rest.

Quilted-Lined Field Coats in Wool

A wool field coat with a quilted lining was built for cold standing work: a wool outer shell, a diamond-quilted lining either sewn in or buttoned in, and generous patch pockets at the hips. The removable linings are more useful and sell better, so look for the button or zip attachment points along the front facing and at the cuffs.

Quilting that has shifted or bunched means the batting has migrated inside its channels and will not recover. The collar facing, whether corduroy or wool, frays before any other part.

Opera Coats Cut Wide Across the Shoulders

An opera coat is cut generously through body and sleeve so it can go over evening dress without crushing it, which is why the shoulders look oversized on the hanger. Wool versions from the interwar and postwar years often pair a plain outer cloth with an extravagant lining in silk or figured rayon, and that lining accounts for half the appeal.

Look for a wide shawl or portrait collar and a single fastening at the throat rather than a full front. Damage almost always appears in the thin old lining rather than the shell.

What the Cloth Admits Before the Label Does

Almost every decision in this category gets made by hand before it gets made by eye. The pull of the hanger, the cool slick of a cupro lining, the closed face of a milled edge, the resistance of melton between two fingers: each reading takes a second, and together they clear a rail faster than reading tags ever will.

The label arrives afterward to confirm what the cloth already said.

The failure patterns are just as predictable. Good wool survives storage, light and decades of indifference, while linings, leather, toggles, belts and pelt do not.

A coat earns a pull when the cloth is sound and the damage sits in the parts that can be replaced, and it earns a pass when the shell itself has been grazed thin or nibbled through in a place that shows.

More from Home As We Make It

• 18 Affordable Places to Retire in the U.S.
• Antique Glassware That’s Worth Collecting
• Stay-At-Home Jobs That Actually Pay
• 18 Forgotten Snacks from the ’80s and ’90s
• 20 Things That Make a House Look Cleaner Than It Is

Like Home As We Make It‘s content? Follow us on MSN.