How the quintessentially British Barbour became a fashion must-have
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There can’t be many brands which appeal as much to a farmer in rural Devon as a fashion obsessive in London. But then there also aren’t many labels which have endured since 1894, by remaining true to their founding principles whilst also evolving with the times.
This week, South Shields-based Barbour reported record high sales of £343 million. On the one hand, for those of us who lived in our wax jackets during the wet and windy festive period, this will come as no surprise. But a globally relevant company isn’t built on a couple of weatherproof coat styles alone – especially when it prides itself on those items lasting for years and encourages owners to get theirs repaired and re-waxed rather than purchasing a new one.
Barbour is unarguably a great British success story. For years it evolved conservatively, providing waterproof clothing to the military and those working outdoors as well as creating a motorcycling range in the 1930s which was later worn by Steve McQueen. Now in its sixth generation as a family business, it’s a trio of women – Dame Margaret Barbour, Queen Elizabeth and Alexa Chung – who epitomise how it has become what it is today.
Dame Margaret, the company’s 84-year-old chairman, is what Barbour’s young “Hackney farmer” fans might call “a bit of a legend”. In 1964, she married John Barbour, the great-grandson of the brand’s founder who had started out in South Shields’ Market Place selling oilskins sourced from Scotland. She believed she might have a quiet-ish life as a school teacher and mother to their young daughter, Helen, But when John died suddenly in 1968, Margaret was thrust into his family business, working alongside his mother Nancy “Granny” Barbour, to make a success of it.
From this somewhat unlikely foundation, she has done just that and transformed the family firm. Which is where the late Queen Elizabeth comes in. She remains the poster woman for the core Barbour look – rural, fuss-free and defined by rigorous practicality, this demographic of Barbour wearers is accidentally elegant rather than choosing theirs as a genuine fashion statement.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the late Queen got her first Barbour but there are dozens of images of her at Windsor and Balmoral from the 1970s onwards wearing one with a kilt, stout walking shoes and one of her beloved Hermes head scarves. She famously refused offers from Barbour to have her jacket (so old, that her style had long gone out of production) replaced, preferring a re-wax spruce-up instead.
“Barbour’s main source of appeal is its link to tradition,” confirms Dr Benjamin Wild, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Narratives at Manchester Metropolitan University. “As a family-run company established in the 19th century, with three royal warrants and an enviable list of royal customers, Barbour can be readily associated with the British aristocracy and countryside leisure pursuits.”
Dame Margaret, who now works closely with managing director Steve Buck and her daughter Helen, who is vice chairman, has kept this contingent happy, gently updating the signature styles and ensuring high standards of manufacturing are maintained (the wax jackets are still made in the North East while other products are manufactured globally).
But for every Queen-like customer, you need an Alexa Chung (or two). The Hampshire-born It girl, who grew up wearing Barbour while tending to her ponies, repurposed the coats as a fashion item, leading the trend for wearing them with party gear at Glastonbury and in the city, where the closest you come to a speck of mud is as a garnish in the latest concept restaurant. After years of wearing her Beaufort wax jacket, Chung launched a collaboration with the brand in 2019 which ran for several seasons – the Princess of Wales even added one of the designs to her collection of at least five Barbour coats.
The age of Alexa made Barbour appeal to a new generation. Sienna Miller, Dominic Cooper and Fearne Cotton are among its celebrity fans and it has featured on screen everywhere from The Crown and Succession to James Bond films. The label has harnessed the cool factor and run with it, launching collaborations with labels from French fashion house Chloé to luxury interiors label House of Hackney, which act as glamorous accompaniments to the solid weatherproof jackets. It credited its recent collaborations with Scandi label Ganni and Gucci as part of the reason it has reached dizzying sales this year.
These collaborations have also attracted a new contingent of fans who might not have invested in a classic olive green style. “I always thought Barbour was the preserve of the outdoorsy set – with their classic wax jackets and a pair of wellies,” says fashion editor Erica Davies, who recently bought a Barbour jacket from another collaboration with Roksanda Ilincic.
“Since I moved to the countryside myself, I can completely see the appeal [of Barbour] but it was their Roksanda collection that I completely fell for – her signature brights mixed with their weatherproof practicality,” Davies continues.
“I bought the maroon and neon yellow IDA coat when it first came out, then sent it back because I felt guilty about the price. But it was the piece I couldn’t stop thinking about, even adding it as an alert on multiple pre-loved platforms. Then a year later, it was reduced to 30 per cent of its original price and I bought it back! I have been stopped so many times wearing it, by men and women. The colour and style is eye-catching, but it’s honestly like wearing a hug.”
The next Barbour fashion must-have is set to be the collaboration with London Fashion Week designer Erdem, inspired by Deborah Mitford, the former Duchess of Devonshire, and the ornate fabrics in the archives of the ducal seat, Chatsworth House. It will land in stores from the end of next month. “The SS24 Erdem show was one of my favourite collections from the brand, and the ‘Debo’ theme played beautifully into what fashion is always aiming to do, look back whilst shifting momentum forward,” says fashion consultant Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey, who remembers having her first Barbour aged six (“possibly the one and only time I did ‘father/daughter dressing’– my siblings had them too”).
We shouldn’t dismiss how much power the classic Barbour aesthetic which this collaboration speaks to still holds. Chadwyck-Healey pinpoints how Barbour being synonymous with all things British gives it heft on the world stage. “A Barbour is what any American aspires to own for that ‘cute English country look’, and it’s what the Asian market is also crazy about. That’s a lot of audience types to cater for but the brand has done it.” Little wonder Rishi Sunak chose to give what the Duke of Edinburgh once called one of “those smelly, sweaty, sticky old jackets” to Joe Biden on a visit to the US last summer.
Prada also emulated Barbour in its SS24 collection – though its version will undoubtedly cost far more than the £200-£300 Barbour charges for a classic wax jacket. For anyone who doesn’t want to wait 20 winters to achieve the battered, lived-in look which is so desirable now, you can snap up a vintage style Barbour on eBay, Depop or Vestiaire Collective for around £100.
Wild sums up the business success of Barbour thus: “In an increasingly crowded market, Barbour’s pursuit of a product design and philosophy that is straightforward and resolute helps it to cut through the noise of many newer outerwear brands.”
But emotion is everything. And nobody puts it better than supermodel Yasmin Le Bon, another recent collaborator. “Barbour jackets have always been there in the background, always something you can rely on. I can’t imagine life without one.”
Which Barbour is right for you?
Jacquard Beaufort jacket, £1,970, Gucci x Barbour Re-Loved; Burghley quilted jacket, £395, Barbour x Ganni
Ennis quilted jacket, £229, Barbour; Explorer wax jacket, £649, Barbour x C.P.
Marie showerproof trench, £259, Barbour; Barbour Border jacket, £70, Depop
Beaufort wax jacket, £289, Barbour
More Barbour looks
