Most Barbour products are not made in England nowadays.
Most Barbour products are not made in England nowadays. Barbour make most of their classic waxed jackets in the UK. Everything else they make abroad nowadays. I checked with Barbour and they confirmed that ONLY their classic waxed cotton garments are manufactured in the UK. Despite them telling me this, it also seems that their hats or at least some of them are made in Scotland because I saw made in Scotland Barbour beanies in Liberty (on 7.11.12). Also, at least some of their scarves are made in Scotland and some of their socks are made in the UK (I saw some made in the UK Barbour cotton coolmax walking socks in John Lewis on 23rd November 2016; the other Barbour socks they were selling were foreign made). Look for the made in England (or made in Scotland) label – if something from Barbour does not have a made in England (or Scotland) label, then it is made abroad.
Remember it is only the classic Barbour waxed jackets that are made in England. Other waxed jackets are made abroad, for example the Millom Waxed Jacket is manufactured within Europe. Barbour tell me that they manufacture the vast majority of their waxed coats within the UK, however it seems that more and more Barbour wax jackets are now foreign made. Basically most the items Barbour sell are now foreign made, which is disappointing because I think most of their customers still assume all Barbour products are made in England which is simply no longer the case. If there is no made in England label on a Barbour waxed jacket, then it is foreign made. That said I could not find a single waxed Labour jacket in John Lewis on 23rd November 2016 that was labelled “Made in England” so I wonder whether Barbour may not be labelling their British made jackets with country of origin anymore (already they do not label their foreign made products with country of origin in an attempt to deceive customers into thinking everything by Barbour is made in England). As of June 2019 it seems Barbour no longer label any of their products with country of origin?
Quoting from the Barbour website (27/11/16) “The Barbour story began in 1894 in the Market Place in South Shields. Today the 5th generation family owned business remains in the North East, with Barbour’s headquarters located in Simonside, South Shields. Although it sources products from around the globe, Barbour’s classic wax jackets are still manufactured by hand in the factory in Simonside and each year over 100,000 jackets are processed via the central, subsidiary and local customer service operations.”
If the bit of Barbour kit you are thinking of getting is not labelled “made in England” (i.e. it is foreign made) there are plenty of great British made alternatives such as Campbell Cooper jackets (note their hats are foreign made), Peregrine, Lavenham Jackets, Lavenir, John Partridge and many more. Barbour make great kit but they need to go back to clearly labelling country of origin and they need to return more production back to the UK.
Below is the Border Waxed Jacket and some other British made Babours – great bits of kit – made in the UK.
http://www.barbour.com/
Barbour Border Waxed Jacket. Made in England.
A “vintage” (c.2009) Barbour Border, blue, clearly labelled made in England. Photograph by author 12 July 2019. The seperate hood is also clearly labelled made in England.
A “vintage” (c.2009) Barbour detachable hood in blue, clearly labelled made in England. Photograph by author 12 July 2019.
Vintage Barbour Durham hooded waxed jacket, Made in England. Size 44/XL, olive green.
Vintage Barbour L2272 Flyweight Wax Utility UK size 14, brown, made in England.
Vintage Barbour Liddlesdale padded jacket, blue, made in England. Photograph by author 6 July 2019
Vintage Barbour Liddlesdale padded jacket, blue, made in England. Photograph by author 6 July 2019. Label detail.
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