Barbour

• Very popular with the Royal Family of England especially Kate Middleton all love Barbour!
• The Barbour story began in 1894 in the Market Place in South Shields.  The company has remained in South Shields ever since, moving into its’ existing location in 1981.

• Barbour is a 5^th generation family owned business.  Dame Margaret Barbour is Chairman and her daughter Helen Barbour is Vice Chairman.

• Barbour has developed and extended its product range and now brings out two seasonal ranges with around 500 styles on the books and is a leading country and casual clothing brand.  The wax jacket for which Barbour is renowned has seen a recent renaissance and is now produced in a variety of fashionable styles for both men and women.

• Womenswear was re-introduced into the collection in 2003. 

• Barbour is one of a small number of companies to have 3 Royal Warrants – 1974 the Duke of Edinburgh, 1982, HM the Queen and 1987, Prince Charles.

• In 2014, Barbour and Barbour International became 2 separate stand along brands to enable our country and motorcycle heritages to be more defined.

• Turnover for 2014 (latest published accounts) is £167.4m.

• Barbour is represented in 40 countries worldwide including Germany, Spain, Italy the USA and Japan.  Barbour has 31 stores worldwide:

10 in the UK – Beverley, Edinburgh, South Shields, London – Covent Garden, London – Spitalfields, London – Carnaby Street,  London – Leadenhall, London Piccadilly, Windsor and Manchester. 

9 stores in Germany (Berlin x 2, Hamburg x 2, Cologne, Sylt, Scharbeutz, Dortmund and Münster) and 11 in the US (New York – Soho/Madison Avenue), Boston, Ardmore, Philadelphia, Georgetown, Washington, Chicago x 2, Princetown and Woodcliff Lake) and 1 in Tokyo, Japan.

• Barbour has a workforce of 989 employees, 181 of whom are part of the factory production team.  It is one of the largest employers in the South Shields area.  549 of our employees are based in the North East.

• The South Shields factory produces approximately 3,000 classic wax jackets each week based on over 50 style ranges.  Annually they make between 110 – 120,000.

• Each machinist makes the equivalent of 25 jackets each week.

• Each jacket takes approximately 60 – 95 minutes to make, depending on the style and detail.

• 36 people in total make a Barbour jacket from start to finish in the factory:

• Cutting    6
• Prep        4
• On line   20
• Finishing  4
• Team Leader
• Quality Control

• Many parts make up a Barbour jacket.  Below are three examples of a men’s women’s and childrens jacket:

Bedale Jacket

There are a total of 160 parts in a Bedale Jacket.  This is broken down into:

• Fabric 49 cut parts

-    Trims 103 which include binding, thread, zips & studs etc

-    Packaging 8 items inclusive of care leaflets, ticketing, badges & poly           bag

Children’s Beaufort

·                 There are a total of 149 parts in a Children’s Beaufort. This is broken down into:

-     Fabric 44 cut parts

-    Trims 97 which include binding, thread, zips & studs etc

-    Packaging 8 items inclusive of care leaflets, ticketing, badges & poly bag

Beadnell jacket

·                There are a total of 166 parts in a Ladies Beadnell. This is broken down into:

-    Fabric 60 cut parts

-    Trims 99 which include binding, thread, zips & studs etc

-    Packaging 8 items inclusive of care leaflets, ticketing, badges & poly bag

• 90% of the production workforce has been with Barbour for over a year with many employees having over ten years service.

• The machinists work is highly skilled – stitching on wax jackets cannot be reworked as it means that the garment will not be waterproof so accuracy is essential.

• Barbour’s customer service is unique - wax jackets can be returned and repaired, reproofed or altered at any time.

• It takes approximately 15-20 minutes to rewax one jacket.

• The most unusual items found in Barbour jackets that have been returned to customer service, include keys from St James Palace, sheep’s tails, foxes teeth, a glass phial of monkeys blood, love letters and £120 in cash!

• Barbour has customer services departments in the UK, USA, Spain, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia for customers to send their jackets back for rewax and repair.  There is a smaller customer service department in France, Greece and Switzerland.

• Approximately 25,000 jackets are returned to customer services worldwide of which 14,000 come through South Shields, each year to be repaired, reproofed or altered.