Leading heritage and lifestyle brand Barbour celebrates its 129 anniversary in 2019, a significant milestone in the company’s history. A fifth generation family owned brand, the 129′ anniversary celebrates the Barbour family who have nurtured, guided and led the company from its small beginnings in 1894 when John Barbour set up his first store in South Shields in the North East of England supplying mariners with oilskins, to the global lifestyle brand it is today.
To celebrate the 125th anniversary, Barbour has launched the Icons Re-Engineered collection, a limited edition range of iconic jackets for men and women that have featured large in the history of Barbour. The collection will be displayed for the first time at Barbour’s presentation during London Fashion Week Men’s (LFWM) in the beautiful setting of Lancaster House on Monday 7th January 2019. Each Icons Re-Engineered piece is inspired by a legendary jacket from the archive that reflects a significant period in the company’s history, updated into a contemporary style steeped in Barbour heritage, relevant for today. All of the jackets take the distinctive Dress Gordon lining, popular in Barbour jackets in the 1980s and each comes with a collectable 125-anniversary pin.
In support of Barbour’s 125th Anniversary, a five minute brand film has been created by the Ridley Scott Creative Group and previewed at this seasonal presentation. To coincide with the brand film and the 125th Anniversary, Barbour has also collaborated with South Shields born legendary film director and producer on a Director’s jacket for men and women. The women’s version of the Director’s Jacket was developed with Sir Ridley and his daughter Jordan Scott who is a filmmaker and photographer.
Featuring detailed finishes requested by Sir Ridley himself, together with input from his son, Luke Scott, CEO of the Ridley Scott Creative Group, the Director’s Jacket has a military style collar and roll away hood. In true Barbour style, this jacket has hand warmer pockets with additional features such as offset pockets to hold keys and a signature script lower pocket to accommodate an A4 script. Key details on the jacket include anti-glare zips and studs designed to avoid attracting attention on film sets. An inner detachable quilt for extra warmth gives the option for the jacket to be worn across all seasons. The back label on all of the jackets features a bird illustration drawn personally by Sir Ridley and two of the studs on the jacket feature this unique bird design. Both the men’s and women’s jackets are being shown at the LFWM presentation.
Paul Wilkinson, Global Marketing and Commercial Director, Barbour said: “2019 is a very important year for us as we celebrate our 125° anniversary and five generations of the Barbour family. We are proud to launch our Icons Re-Engineered collection at LFWM – it offers an authentic contemporary take on design classics from the archives. We are thrilled to be working with Sir Ridley Scott on this exciting brand film and director’s jacket to mark our anniversary. Barbour and Sir Ridley are probably two of the most well-known names to come out of South Shields and in our 125th year, we are delighted that we have been able to collaborate together and to celebrate our shared birthplace.”