Barbour Clothing Profile

Barbour is a British based and originated clothing company founded in 1894 by John Barbour. Barbour was born in the Scottish town of Galloway, but left Scotland at the age of 20 to move to South Shields in the North of England. Always interested in the art of clothing and tailoring he opened up his first shop in 1894.

His first shop predominantly sold work clothing such as boiler suits and painters jackets and it was very popular amongst the rapidly growing town of South Shields. At the start of the 20th century, two of Barbours' sons, Jack and Malcolm, joined the company as equal partners with their father as the clothing business went from strength to strength. One of the company's best ideas was to create a clothing catalogue which they distributed worldwide, and by 1917 international orders were accounting for over 75% of their turnover, with orders coming in from as far as South America and Asia.

In 1918 John Barbour died and was succeeded as chairman of the company by Jack. The first world was was to prove beneficial to the company as their was a massive demand for their oil skin products. For the next 60 to 70 years Barbour continued to grow its niche as a work wear clothing company but also for the landed gentry and farmers who liked both the quality and practicality of the company's products.

In the last decade Barbour has started to focus more on the design and fashion markets which has seen its popularity and brand awareness grow, and it is now stocked in many fashion led independent stores. Today Barbour produce collections for men, women and children, with over 2,000 different garments, and have their own retail outlets in over 40 countries, including 11 shops in the UK alone.