British made hats and British made scarves – Hats Made in the UK – Scarves made in the UK

“If you want to get ahead, get a hat”

I have heard it said that a hat worn well is part of a British gentleman’s heritage. For ladies it is said a hat for every occasion is required. These days it probably won’t be a bowler you choose, but perhaps it’s time to rediscover the hat?

Get ahead, get a British made hat!

British made watch caps, beanies, wooly hats, trapper hats, Jinnah caps, pork pie hats, flat caps, dress hats, trilby hats, fedoras, homburgs, bowlers, top hats, panama hats, tweed hats, military headwear, baseball caps, etc.

British Made Luggage and Travel Accessories – British Made Trunks – British Made Suitcases – British Made Rucksacks – British Made Wallets – British Made Bags – British Made Small Leather Goods and handbags

The modern traveller, hiker or person about town can still carry or ship the right bag or luggage; a British-made bag, rucksack, suitcase or trunk. In no particular order, here are some great British made bags, handbags, rucksacks, backpacks, suitcases, wallets, pouches and trunks.

A vintage made in England suitcase. You will find the choice of reasonably priced British made suitcases nowadays to be very small indeed, but there are still plenty of British made bags, overnight bags, luggage tags, trunks, wallets, rucksacks and travel accessories out there. Photograph by author.

Umbrellas made in Great Britain – Umbrellas Made in England – British Made Umbrellas, Walking Sticks and Shooting Sticks and Awnings

British Made Umbrellas, Walking Sticks and Shooting Sticks.  Umbrellas made in the UK.

An umbrella (or brolly) is used to keep off the rain or the sun. A parasol more often than not is a term used for an umbrella designed to shade people from the sun and unlike a rain umbrella may not be waterproof. Umbrellas are widely used in the UK, Japan and elsewhere. You can get full sized umbrellas, folding umbrellas, travel umbrellas and the larger golf umbrellas, plus work umbrellas and garden umbrellas.

It is generally recognised that London has been the home of the best umbrellas and walking sticks and to some extent that tradition is carried on today, although the majority of umbrellas sold in the UK are made in China nowadays.

It is sadly the case that to the best of my knowledge there are no umbrellas made entirely in the UK any longer.  There are companies like those below claiming to sell “Made in the UK” umbrellas, but actually all the umbrella frames (the key component of any umbrella) are manufactured in China.  One might take the view simply attaching a canopy or handle (neither of which are of UK origin in some cases) in the UK does not make it genuinely “Made in the UK”.

You might consider getting a vintage British umbrella from somewhere like eBay, a charity shop, an antiques shop or a car boot sale but these are often in need of rather lot of work before they might be presentable. There is a buoyant and sometimes expensive market in secondhand English umbrellas on eBay.

The following are the UK manufacturers and retailers of British made umbrellas that I know of: