The best suede jackets for men have to power to completely upend your wardrobe. They can revive other items in the back of your closet that you thought you were finished with. Something about that buttery softness, rich texture, light fading just has a halo effect.
Not to mention the fact that this remains a leather jacket—and therefore ultra-warm, and ultra-tough. And we mean tough: The effects of what a bit of weather can do to suede are greatly exaggerated. Sure, you don’t want to be out in a snowstorm, but if you get caught in a drizzle or a light mist, or you brush up against a bit of snow on your car, it will be fine. Basically, you don’t need to keep it under glass. The jacket is meant to be worn, so wear the damn jacket! Because, to borrow from Seinfeld, when you step outside in suede, you step out with a whole different kind of confidence.
Really, caring for suede isn’t all that complicated. Most jackets are made of more refined leather—like say, goatskin or calfskin suede—so all they need is a regular once-over with a suede brush (or the palm of your hand) and an annual all-over spritz with a good-quality protective spray. On the other hand, roughout suede—the toughest and heaviest form of cowhide suede—can be treated much the same as you would a denim jacket, letting the fabric take on its own patina as it molds to your body over time.
Now that's taken care of, you’re free to discover the distinctively luxurious yet easygoing vibe that only a great suede jacket can impart. Whatever your taste—clean minimalist, Western-leaning, military—there’s a suede jacket below ready to rewrite your entire wardrobe. Here are 15 of the best.
The Best Men's Suede Jackets, According to GQ
Best Suede Jacket Overall: J.Crew Wallace & Barnes Italian Suede Work Jacket
ICYMI, J.Crew’s beloved sub-label Wallace & Barnes is back, baby! First launched at the height of the #menswear era in 2011—with references reaching all the way back to the 1920s—it’s been smartly refocused under new Creative Director Brendon Babenzien. The scope is narrower now, zeroing in on truly wearable mid-century staples, but it’s still a prime destination for vintage-inspired gems, like this soft suede work jacket that you’ll likely want to preserve for leisure hours. And because it’s J.Crew, the price is more than palpable for quality leather.
Best Budget Suede Jacket: Quince Suede Café Racer Jacket
A 100% goat leather jacket for under $300 is pretty hard to argue with, but Quince—yes, the sheets and sweater folks—has entered the outerwear villa. And goat leather? Glad you asked. It’s soft, it’s light, it shrugs off water, it’s basically the ideal jacket material. (Cow leather is tougher, sure, but that’s why it’s ideal for boots and belts.) This one’s fully lined for a little extra warmth and comes loaded with storage: interior zip pockets, exterior zips, and enough room for whatever else you insist on carrying around.
Best Suede Jacket for Menswear Nerds: Valstar Valstarino Suede Jacket
- Unimpeachable pedigree
- Buttery, Italian-made goat suede
- Handsome ribbed cuffs by the collar, sleeve, and waistline
- We'd love to see this silhouette with a traditional fold-over collar, too
- May cause infighting among your grandkids unless you stipulate, in no uncertain terms, which one of them will inherit it
How many pieces in your wardrobe could be described as “museum-worthy”? Add a Valstarino to the lineup, and you’ll have at least one. The Valstarino was created in 1935 as a civilian version of the leather A1 flight jackets worn by American Air Force pilots, and has since become an important part of the Italian menswear canon, even being featured alongside Italian icons like the Arco lamp and the Fiat 500 in a Milanese design retrospective. But the Valstarino remains fully in the streets, too: Savvy fans of classic menswear have long sworn by the style for its heritage, its meticulous, heirloom-quality construction, and sheer good looks. With its buttery cognac goatskin suede and unmistakable ribbed and buttoned collar, this is the suede jacket to buy if you can.
Best Suede Aviator Jacket: J. Mueser Suede Jacket
Aviator jackets are, ahem, taking off right now, and J. Mueser is one of the pilots. The West Village tailoring house has built its reputation dressing in-the-know guys who care about fit, fabric, and a little flourish, and is now putting that magic into a few more ready-to-wear pieces. Mueser's sensibilities show up in releases like this suede bomber: soft, elegant, finished with a plush shearling collar, and very much the kind of elegance that makes everything else in your closet stand up a little straighter.
Best Harrington-Style Suede Jacket: Baracuta G9 Suede Harrington Jacket
Another major entry in the menswear canon, the iconic Baracuta G9 was first designed as a golf jacket, before later being adopted by mods and punks. Swapping its traditional cotton-poly shell for this sumptuous goat suede gives the iconic silhouette a whole new depth, and I'd even say the signature tartan lining pops even harder against it. You probably won’t wear it golfing, but you will look incredible.
More Suede Jackets We Love
Herill
Lamb Suede Jacket Brown
Japan’s Herill takes the classic trucker and gives it the kind of upgrade only a brand this obsessive could manage. They’ve cut it from a ridiculously soft lamb suede in a rich brown with all the Type 3 trucker hallmarks—those pointed V-seams, the chest flap pockets, the cinch tabs—now rendered in a leather so supple you won’t want to take it off.
Bode
Suede Collage Jacket
This gloriously abstract patchwork jacket—built from patches of leftover suede—contains the signature blend of 20th-century nostalgia and 21st-century iron that has made Emily Adams Bode Aujla one of menswear’s most celebrated designers.
RRL
Roughout Suede Jacket
In true form for a brand steeped in the iconography of the American West, this RRL jacket is made from roughout suede—essentially full-grain leather flipped so the softer, fuzzy side faces out. The result is a jacket that’s actually more durable, more water-resistant, and easier to care for than standard suede.
What to Look for in a Great Suede Jacket
Most suede jackets are lined to make them easier to don and doff, and you’ll want make sure their hardware—the fastening and rivets—are rock-solid, too. Metal buttons and rivets are typically more durable than sewn-in buttons, but a really well-made jacket will boast sewn-in buttons with extra reinforcing on the inside.
While the ones favored by A-listers tend to trend expensive—Tom Ford's version goes for upwards of $12,000—there happen to be plenty of affordable and supremely hot suede jacket options out there for the taking. We’re talking velvety trucker jackets and buttery bombers, all ready to instantly transform you into your best and most paparazzi-worthy self. Pro tip? Grab one in a classic style that’s cropped right at the waist. It’ll lengthen your legs, accentuate the butt, and sync up oh-so-well with some of-the-moment high-waisted pants or a pair of classic Levi’s 501s.
How to Care for Suede
Leather might seem tough, but suede is a slightly more precious beast. Because smooth leather has a tighter grain and smaller pores, it’s much less porous and therefore somewhat resistant to moisture. Suede, on the other hand, is leather that’s been scraped away to reveal its very porous structure. If you’re not careful, that could mean water spots, not to mention a dried-out jacket (counterintuitive, we know).
Before you take your brand-new suede jacket out for a spin, you’ll want to spray it with suede protector. That’s rain or shine, FYI—the weather might be clear as a pair of reading glasses, but you’ll never see that A/C precipitation coming.
A suede brush will also help keep your jacket clean between wears by shooing away dirt and debris, and restore that gorgeous nappy texture.
Four Types of Suede You Should Know
Think of leather as a natural skin with several layers beneath it. The outermost layers are known as full-grain leather. Scrape beneath the surface and you’ll get to the next layer, top-grain leather. With even more buffing, you’ll reach the corium layer, a network of fleshy fibers that we recognize as suede.
Nubuck: Nubuck is similar to suede in that it’s made by buffing leather to its fleshy inner layers. Nubuck, though, tends to have a shorter nap than capital-S Suede. If suede is a beard, nubuck is a five-o-clock shadow.
Roughout: Unlike other suedes made by buffing the smooth side of a leather hide until reaching the corium layer, roughout is the fleshy underside of the leather. Roughout is also known as ‘flesh out’ or full-grain suede.
Shearling: Shearling is typically made from sheepskin and features a suede underside and a natural fleece layer on the outside. The result is a truly warm, truly over-the-top material reserved for the most baller of winter fits.
Faux suede: Most faux suedes are engineered using synthetic materials, often polyurethane and polyester, but natural materials like mycelium are a growing source of interest in the alternative leather space, too.
How We Test and Review Products
Style is subjective, we know—that’s the fun of it. But we’re serious about helping our audience get dressed. Whether it’s the best white sneakers, the flyest affordable suits, or the need-to-know menswear drops of the week, GQ Recommends’ perspective is built on years of hands-on experience, an insider awareness of what’s in and what’s next, and a mission to find the best version of everything out there, at every price point.
Our staffers aren’t able to try on every single piece of clothing you read about on GQ.com (fashion moves fast these days), but we have an intimate knowledge of each brand’s strengths and know the hallmarks of quality clothing—from materials and sourcing, to craftsmanship, to sustainability efforts that aren’t just greenwashing. GQ Recommends heavily emphasizes our own editorial experience with those brands, how they make their clothes, and how those clothes have been reviewed by customers. Bottom line: GQ wouldn’t tell you to wear it if we wouldn’t.
How We Make These Picks
We make every effort to cast as wide of a net as possible, with an eye on identifying the best options across three key categories: quality, fit, and price.
To kick off the process, we enlist the GQ Recommends braintrust to vote on our contenders. Some of the folks involved have worked in retail, slinging clothes to the masses; others have toiled for small-batch menswear labels; all spend way too much time thinking about what hangs in their closets.
We lean on that collective experience to guide our search, culling a mix of household names, indie favorites, and the artisanal imprints on the bleeding-edge of the genre. Then we narrow down the assortment to the picks that scored the highest across quality, fit, and price.
Across the majority of our buying guides, our team boasts firsthand experience with the bulk of our selects, but a handful are totally new to us. So after several months of intense debate, we tally the votes, collate the anecdotal evidence, and emerge with a list of what we believe to be the absolute best of the category right now, from the tried-and-true stalwarts to the modern disruptors, the affordable beaters to the wildly expensive (but wildly worth-it) designer riffs.
Whatever your preferences, whatever your style, there's bound to be a superlative version on this list for you. (Read more about GQ's testing process here.)