Barbour, where made?

[tjchung]

OK, so I have 2 Barbour wax cotton coats and love them both. One is a Barbour Lumely that I bought at a local Orvis shop. The other is a Sapper that I got on sale at the local Macys.

However, the Lumely, which is the more expensive of the 2 has no origin of manufacture written on the lable. The Sapper has "Made in England" written on its label.

So this got me thinking, does Barbour sub-con out its more recent contemporary line, such as the Lumley to other countries, while keeping its more classic line of coats such as the Sapper for manufacture in its UK factories? Or are there gray-market Barbours floating around that I'm not aware of?

Another interesting this is that my wife was looking at Barbour quilted jackets at the Barbour store, and some had the triple crown classic label, while others didn't. Can anyone explain what is going with all these wildly different labels?

 

[BareSolid]

Britain still has industry? I could have sworn that Mrs Thatcher saw to it that it didn't! Things still being made in England? Praise the Lord!

 

[lee_44106]

Originally Posted by BareSolid

Britain still has industry? I could have sworn that Mrs Thatcher saw to it that it didn't! Things still being made in England? Praise the Lord!

Little English babies?

 

[acidboy]

fwiw, a Barbour (and a Harrington) I got from last year were still made in the good ol' United States of Britain.

 

[mr.loverman]

depends on the model. the wax cotton stuff, yes. the lightweight breathable stuff, no.

 

[Shikar]

Damn, you just asked the million dollar Q.
The wax cotton stuff is mostly Made in England...the rest can be made in Bulgara, Croatia, Lituania, Indonesia, India (for leather jackets)....and on and on....

Regards.
PS. Interesting as I just unboxed my 3 new Barbours that arrived today!

 

[Material Boy]

OK, so I have 2 Barbour wax cotton coats and love them both. One is a Barbour Lumely that I bought at a local Orvis shop. The other is a Sapper that I got on sale at the local Macys.

Which Macys carry Barbour?

 

[JensenH]

Originally Posted by tjchung

However, the Lumely, which is the more expensive of the 2 has no origin of manufacture written on the lable. The Sapper has "Made in England" written on its label.

So this got me thinking, does Barbour sub-con out its more recent contemporary line, such as the Lumley to other countries, while keeping its more classic line of coats such as the Sapper for manufacture in its UK factories? Or are there gray-market Barbours floating around that I'm not aware of?

All clothing sold in the U.S. must have a tag showing the country in which it was made. Look into the inside pockets and you will find a tag with the country of origin. In addition to those countries mentioned by another poster, Barbours are also made in New Zealand and Portugal.

Originally Posted by BareSolid

Britain still has industry? I could have sworn that Mrs Thatcher saw to it that it didn't! Things still being made in England? Praise the Lord!

Yes, and that is why England is again competitive globally.

 

[tjchung]

Originally Posted by tjchung

OK, so I have 2 Barbour wax cotton coats and love them both. One is a Barbour Lumely that I bought at a local Orvis shop. The other is a Sapper that I got on sale at the local Macys.

Which Macys carry Barbour?

The Flagship Macy's store at Herald Square in Manhattan, NYC.

 

[intent]

My overcoat is made in Bulgaria (or was it Romania)? I thought it was crazy considering the asking price. I got it an an outlet.

 

[emakris]

Originally Posted by BareSolid

Britain still has industry? I could have sworn that Mrs Thatcher saw to it that it didn't! Things still being made in England? Praise the Lord!
One could argue that Mrs Thatcher is the reason why the UK is not in deeper recession and, coincidentally, one could argue that the British industry has never suffered more than under the current Labour government. But never mind that; the point is that quite a fair bit of British labels still make some of their clothing in England. I only have one pair of shoes that is not made in England, most of my Pink shirts are made in the UK as are most of my Dunhill accessories and so on. Barbour is one of the companies that make some of their stuff here and, unfortunately, a lot of their stuff elsewhere.

Nevertheless, it is true that the British industry is disappearing.

 

[BareSolid]

Originally Posted by emakris

One could argue that Mrs Thatcher is the reason why the UK is not in deeper recession and, coincidentally, one could argue that the British industry has never suffered more than under the current Labour government. But never mind that; the point is that quite a fair bit of British labels still make some of their clothing in England. I only have one pair of shoes that is not made in England, most of my Pink shirts are made in the UK as are most of my Dunhill accessories and so on. Barbour is one of the companies that make some of their stuff here and, unfortunately, a lot of their stuff elsewhere. Nevertheless, it is true that the British industry is disappearing.
An attack on the 80s government was certainly not intended to be a defence of the present one. I'm quite sick of revolutionary governments in Britain.

 

[razl]

I just bought a Barbour Challenger online from a British store and surprisingly, I can't find a "Made In" tag anywhere on it. I think I've checked everywhere but if someone knows where on the garment they might usually hide such a thing, I'd look again.

That said, construction seems above par though I haven't had the chance to truly wear it in the elements yet.

 

[Beetleything]

I just bought a beautiful Barbour jacket brand new of a supplier in the UK.
They ship it for free and you get 1 free shipping if you want to change it for a different size.

Anyway the tag with it has a history of Barbour and they are still made in the UK in .......

Barbour's headquarters are still 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.

That's from there VERY informative website....with history etc....
check it out....

http://www.barbour.com/index.cfm

I also got a free Barbour scarf with the jacket which was wool and was made in Scotland which was nice as i am Scottish!!

 

[Expat Simon]

I am writing this tardy response, because I feel that this is an essential part of using the internet.

Unfortunately several of the responses above are incorrect. Not all Barbour wax jackets are 'Made in England'. As I have just found out to my disgust.

I bought a Barbour wax jacket from their own factory shop, built onto their HQ in Jarrow, South Shields.

I asked their own shop staff about where their wax jackets were made:
Barbour shop staff "All of our wax jackets are made in the UK, but some other items are imported"
I found the jacket I wanted, it contained no 'Made in...this country' label, so I asked about the specific jacket:
Barbour shop staff "It is made here, all of our wax jackets are made in the UK"
I took it to the cash register, feeling slightly dubious and for reassurance asked one last time:
Barbour shop staff "Made here. All of our wax jackets are made in the UK"

I bought it, but always felt suspicious about the lack of a 'Made in England' label. So I risked the deflated feeling which might follow, and e-mailed their customer service dept asking why it had no Made in England label.
I got a cut & pasted response which went on at length about their pride in UK manufacturing, but they didn't answer my very simple question.
I asked again, more forcefully.
I was told to provide the code number from the inner label, which I did.
They replied explaining that that particular wax jacket "was made overseas"
I expressed my disgust at being deceived by their own staff, and by their own deceitful labeling.
I received a reply basically saying "thanks for bringing that to our attention".

And that's the last I heard from them.

I am not writing this to taint Barbours name, but to warn other SF members. Yes, I kept the e-mail thread so I can prove this. I also gave them sufficient opportunity to fix it before writing this post.

A decent company would have immediately said 'sorry', and also 'let us refund you / or replace for an English jacket'. They've done nothing, so this post is entirely justifiable.