Barbour is one of the new brands in our second store. We really wanted to get to know the old British label and together with Ina from Barbour Germany and a handful of journalists, we visited their factory and get a look at the making of Barbour items.
The well-known British heritage brand (which is also proved by the calenders in the factory) has quite a history: it was founded 1894 in the Market Place in South Shields and by now, 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 and each year over 100,000 jackets are processed via the central, subsidiary and local customer service operations. Each of those jackets goes through 140 hands until it's finished!Fun fact of the trip: there are mostly only women working at the factory... the pics of the few men were lucky shots - it must be like being in paradise for them!
We really enjoyed our trip - check out all of our jackets in the store now!