Packable K-way rain jacket review: is it truly waterproof?

The K-way packable rain jacket is properly waterproof rather than shower-resistant, and mine kept me dry through a full day of heavy rain in Barcelona. K-Way rates the current version of this jacket at a 10,000 mm water column and builds it with heat-taped seams, which matches what I felt wearing it: no seeping at the shoulders, no wet patches at the cuffs, and a dry head at the end of the day.

When I was a kid and we took a field trip with school, my mom would always tell me to take my K-Way rain jacket with me. Looking at all the kids wearing that jacket which folds into a pouch, my mom clearly wasn’t the only K-Way fan on the playground.

It’s been a while since I fitted into that item of clothing, but one of those rainy Belgian days reminded me about my old K-Way coat and I wondered how the brand had been doing since.

Not so bad, I see after a search for the latest products on their website. While I associated K-Way with the basic pull-over or zip-up rain jacket everyone knows, K-Way actually has a wide range of jackets in every color. You can even customize your own. And if that wasn’t enough, they also have waterproof pants and accessories. I was getting all excited but decided to stick to what I came for: the plain women’s raincoat.

One thing to know before you shop, because it trips people up: the model names have moved on. The jacket a lot of us grew up calling the Claudette Klassic is now sold as the Le Vrai Claudette for women and the Le Vrai Claude for men, and K-Way is currently on the 4.0 generation of both. If you are searching an old catalogue name and getting nothing back, that is why.

K-way waterproof jacket review

This K-way waterproof jacket review covers the plain zip-up raincoat that packs into its own pocket, worn over a city trip to Barcelona in mixed spring weather. K-Way was so kind as to offer me a complimentary jacket to test, so I left with the famous zippered, lightweight raincoat in my carry-on suitcase. I chose a black one because I wanted it to go with everything (and I simply wear a lot of black), but this K-Way women’s jacket comes in a wide range of colors.

The build is worth knowing, because it explains most of what follows. K-Way makes the current Claudette from 100% recycled micro ripstop nylon and publishes a 10,000 mm waterproof rating alongside 10,000 g/sqm/24h breathability. The seams are heat-taped, the hood has an adjustable drawcord, the cuffs are elasticated, and there is an internal wind flap behind the zip plus a back ventilation opening. Sizes run XS to 3XL, and the whole thing folds into its own integrated pocket.

Was the K-way rain jacket as great as I remembered it to be?

The K-way rain jacket turned out better than I remembered, and I got to find that out the hard way. On our third day in Barcelona, it rained the entire time. It started with a few drops in the morning but then it just kept pouring harder and harder.

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about my K-way jacket before using it. Would such a light and foldable jacket be able to keep me dry for an entire day? Childhood memory is a generous editor, and a jacket that weighs almost nothing does not look like it will hold up against six hours of steady rain.

Are K-way jackets waterproof?

K-way jackets are waterproof, and mine sure was. The classic K-Way jacket gets narrower at the bottom, at the end of the sleeves and at the edges of the hood, so it stops water seeping in at exactly the places where cheap raincoats fail.

The part that surprised me most was the hood, because it fitted me perfectly. Hoods on jackets or sweaters are often either too small, so the front of your head gets wet after all, or too big, so the wind blows them off. Neither of those problems occurred with the K-Way jacket I was wearing. The hood stayed on and kept my head dry throughout the day.

There is a technical reason this jacket outperforms a supermarket rain shell, and it is worth understanding if you are comparing options. A water column rating measures how tall a column of water the fabric can hold before it starts to leak, so the 10,000 mm K-Way quotes is a fabric measurement, not a marketing word. Seams matter just as much, because a needle makes holes even in waterproof fabric. Heat-taping seals those holes from the inside, which is why my shoulders stayed dry while the rain was running straight off them.

Was my K-way raincoat windproof?

My K-way raincoat kept the wind out and, more surprisingly, didn’t make me sweaty. Jackets like this usually prevent any sort of breathing and I was afraid I’d get sticky rushing around with the zipper pulled up high and my hood on. None of that happened.

Two design details do that work. An internal wind flap sits behind the zip so wind can’t push through the teeth, and a ventilation opening across the back lets warm air escape without letting rain in. On top of that, the Claudette rain jacket dries really easily. After a day of walking in the rain, I just hung it up in our hostel room in the evening and when we got back from dinner (luckily it had stopped raining by then) it was already dry and I could fold it back into the pouch.

How to fold a K-way jacket

To fold a K-way jacket, pack it back into its own front pocket in five steps, listed below in order.

1. Lay the jacket flat, face down, and smooth the back panel out with your hand.
2. Fold each sleeve in across the back so the jacket becomes a rectangle.
3. Fold the rectangle into thirds lengthwise, keeping the pocket on the outside.
4. Roll the bundle tightly from the hem up towards the pocket.
5. Turn the pocket inside out over the roll and zip it shut.

One downside is worth pointing out. The jacket wrinkles pretty hard when you keep it in the pouch, and I never wondered how to fold a K-way jacket properly, so I always just stuffed it in. That showed when I pulled it back out. Rolling it the way described above is the fix, because the creases end up running with the fabric instead of across it. Looking ironed was the least of my worries as we were standing in line in the rain to enter Casa Batlló, but on a trip where you want to wear it to dinner, the two extra minutes are worth spending.

What about K-way jacket sizing?

K-way jacket sizing is accurate, so order your usual size. The one I tried was a size small and it fitted me nicely, without being too loose or too tight. I normally have a small or medium in jackets, depending on the brand and how many layers I plan on wearing underneath.

That layering point is the only reason to go up a size. The women’s Claudette is cut with a regular fit across XS to 3XL, so it takes a t-shirt and a thin long-sleeve underneath without pulling. Take the next size up if you plan to wear a fleece under it on cold coastal days, rather than sizing up permanently.

Want to order your own K-Way jacket? K-Way sells the women’s Claudette directly through its own store, in the current 4.0 version and a long list of colors. The listing that stays in stock on Amazon’s US store is the men’s cut of the same windbreaker, so if you are shopping there, look for the K-Way Le Vrai Claude jacket rather than the women’s name. For more of what I actually travel with, there are other travel gear reviews on the blog.

K-Way offered me a free rain jacket to test. What I think of it is entirely based on my experience wearing the jacket.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 3 tips below come from wearing this jacket through a full day of rain in Barcelona and from checking what K-Way and Amazon actually sell today.

1. Buy the women’s cut from K-Way’s own store rather than from Amazon. A search of Amazon’s US store returns no Claudette listing at all, in the main catalogue or under women’s fashion, so the jacket that stays in stock there is the men’s Le Vrai Claude. It is the same windbreaker in a men’s cut, which is fine if you want the roomier fit and wrong if you were expecting the women’s one.
2. Search “Le Vrai”, not “Klassic”. K-Way no longer uses the Klassic name on its own store, and the current generation of both jackets is 4.0, in sizes XS to 3XL. Searching the name you remember from the playground returns nothing, which is what sends most people looking for this jacket to the wrong listings.
3. Hang it up wet instead of packing it away. After a full day of rain I hung mine in the hostel room, went out to dinner, and it was dry enough to fold back into its own pocket by the time we got back. That turnaround is what lets one packable jacket cover consecutive wet days, and stuffing a damp one into its pouch is what stops it.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her rainy spring days in Barcelona wearing the K-Way packable raincoat. The team covers travel gear for independent travellers, including the jackets, shoes and packing kit worth buying, and updates this page when models, sizes and prices change.