Barbour, a high-end but ultra-low-key brand, is one of the three major windbreaker brands in the UK along with Burberry and Aquascutum.
It never does extensive publicity, but those who are willing to endorse it for free are celebrities and high-class people.
“Skyfall”, Daniel Clegg.
In the UK, there is a brand called “Royal Royal”, such as Land Rover.
The three major British windbreaker brands have all received royal medals, including two from Burberry and one from Jacobs.
Barbour, as for Barbour, has gathered three people from the British royal family who are still alive and have the power to award this medal. They are absolute nobility.
The British royal family, men and women of all ages, have a true love for Barbour that spans centuries!
Just looking at the clothes, do they look good? How did it allow a labor insurance brand to survive for more than a century, become popular for more than a century, and conquer the upper class society?
Work clothes designed for working people at the bottom
Barbour was founded in South Shields in northeastern England in 1894 by brand founder John Barbour.
John Barbour grew up on a ranch. It was windy, rainy, and wet. The changeable British weather caused headaches for farmers and fishermen.
People who engage in outdoor manual labor for a long time have a strong demand for waterproof and durable clothing.
He discovered that the sails were not made of ordinary canvas, but were coated with wax to make them waterproof and more durable.
So he opened a factory specializing in waxed cotton jackets.
How awesome are the clothes made this way?
Legend has it that a British fisherman struggled with strong winds at sea and floated in the water for more than ten hours. When he was finally found, the clothes inside Barbour’s coat were not even wet.
It is also said that someone left a Barbour jacket in the wild and was exposed to wind and rain for more than a year, but it did not affect normal wear at all after it was recovered.
In this way, it became the love of fishermen, farmers and other outdoor workers.
It has nothing to do with fashion, but it conquers the royal family and the upper class
Barbour conquered the British royal family not by fashion and design sense.
Rely on function and quality
Barbour’s classic waxed jacket is made of waterproof and wear-resistant material, and the craftsmanship is also very fine. Each jacket is completely handmade, with more than 200 processes and more than 15,000 stitches.
All brass hardware, large toothed metal zippers.
There is a dedicated person responsible for waxing the garments, and they use homemade wax. The solid wax is heated to 90 degrees Celsius for easy application, and even the wax-applied workbench is kept close to 40 degrees Celsius. The wax application process is very delicate, every stitch and every seam is not missed. The application process is like makeup for a beautiful woman.
The clothes made in this way are wear-resistant and waterproof, and are very suitable for various outdoor activities, such as fishing, hunting, hiking, etc.
In 1908, Barbour mailed a product catalog overseas for the first time, and soon received orders from overseas, reaching as far away as Chile and Hong Kong.
By 1912, with the addition of his two sons, John changed the company’s name to J Barbour & Sons Ltd.
There is no design department, only focusing on functionality
Barbour’s design department was established only by the fifth generation.
For all previous products, the design work was done by the company’s heirs and executives themselves to update the products.
Old John’s grandson, Duncan Barbour, is a motorcycle fanatic, and Barbour has led a generation of trends.
At the 1936 International Six-Day Motorcycle Trail Race (ISDT), Duncan specially launched a waxed jacket suit called Barbour International. The design was very special. The pocket on the upper left side of the jacket was slanted and was specially designed for placing maps, which is convenient. The driver draws with his right hand while driving.
Until 1977, almost every British motorcycle team used this piece of clothing as their team uniform, and many British patrol police wore this style for a long time.
During World War II, Barbour also made an Ursula for the British Navy, which became the standard equipment of the British Navy in World War II.
In 1974, 1982 and 1987, the Barbour brand received royal medals from the Duke of Edinburgh (husband), Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) respectively. Since then, it has become as popular a brand as Land Rover.
I have never looked at fashion, but I am admired by fashion
How is Barbour, which focuses on functionality, so highly regarded by celebrities and high street shoppers?
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Princess Diana fell in love with and married Prince Charles. She was praised by the British public as “a fashionably dressed traditional woman from the British upper class” and became a benchmark figure in the fashion industry at that time.
Barbour was made popular by Princess Diana, and its sales soared. But it is still limited to a small group of people.
British female singer Lily Al in 2007len really opened up the market when he wore a Barbour waxed jacket on stage at Glastonbury, the world’s largest open-air music festival.
Since then, more and more celebrities have brought Barbour into the camera. Natalie Portman wore Barbour in “Thor 2”.
The diagonal pocket on the left chest, Watson’s standard equipment in “Sherlock” is Barbour’s classic motorcycle model.
The same goes for Chen Bolin’s coat in “The End of Time”.
Fashion bloggers started talking about Barbour, and the elites of the upper class couldn’t resist.
The fifth-generation owner Helen Barbour (pictured left) and her mother Margaret Barbour (pictured right), who serves as chairman of the board of directors, were surprised because they had never thought of entering the fashion field.
So Barbour began to cooperate with well-known designers, and the 007 piece was a collaboration between Barbour and a Japanese designer.
Products are not limited to functional waxed waterproof jackets and windbreakers.
In terms of design, Barbour has its own concept. Although it adds popular elements, it does not chase trends too much.
Nobles are not expensive and come with lifetime after-sales maintenance
Compared with Burberry, the price of Barbour is much lower, usually only about three to four thousand, and it is never produced in limited quantities.
But it is still one of the tickets for the upper class according to fashion critics.
Another great thing about Barbour is that it provides customers with a lifetime after-sales service. Once a jacket is sold, no matter how long it takes, it can be sent back for repair, maintenance, hardware replacement, and re-waxing. Many Barbour wax coats from forty or fifty years ago are often sent back for repair.
Every year, Barbour’s after-sales maintenance factories process more than 100,000 Barbour jackets that are sent back for maintenance.
So, a Barbour waxed jacket can be worn as long as you want.
Today, Barbour has more than 1,000 employees worldwide and more than a dozen self-operated stores in the UK. Its products are exported to more than 40 countries around the world, and 2,000 items are launched every year.
Factories have opened all over the world, but the waxed jackets are still handmade in South Shields, with about 3,000 waxed jackets made every week.
Its expansion process is also very cautious. Steve Buck, Barbour’s general manager, said: “We have no fixed goals, nor do we have a fixed and rapid store opening plan. All we have to do is ensure the brand’s continued upward momentum.”
Annual sales continue to grow. In the fiscal year ending April 30, 2016, revenue was 205 million pounds (approximately RMB 1.75 billion). Although compared with the annual sales of billions of pounds of luxury goods such as Buberry, It’s a lot different, but because of its persistence, the brand has endured and has not fallen victim to fashion trends.
Buck said: “We are not a fast fashion brand like Topshop or H&M, and we do not chase consumer trends.”
People who know Barbour believe that the older the waxed jacket is, the more aristocratic it is.
Extended reading: https://www.alltextile.cn/product/product-33-542 .html
Extended reading: https://www.china-fire-retardant. com/post/9653.html
Extended reading: https://www.alltextile .cn/product/product-51-811.html
Extended reading: https: //www.china-fire-retardant.com/post/9576.html
Extended reading:https://www.yingjietex.com/product/20D-TRICOT-laminate-fabric.html
Extended reading:https://www.brandfabric.net/full-dull-nylon-taslon-oxford-breathable-fabric/
Extended reading ：https://www.china-fire-retardant.com/post/9398.html
Extended reading: https://www.brandfabric.net/pu-mirror-light-leather -fabric/
Extended reading: https://www.yingjietex.com /product/polyester-UV-CUT-Fabric.html
Extended reading: https: //www.china-fire-retardant.com/post/9386.htm
