Barbour x Paul Smith Clothing

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Barbour x Paul Smith Collection

Barbour – “A family company that has spanned 118 years and five generations of British quality, Barbour regularly looks to the past to create the future.”

Think of a brand that is rich in heritage, oozes quality and durability, is iconic and authentic and epitomises the British countryside. Add this to a brand that has been demonstrating these traits for 100 years and counting, and you will be faced with a brand called Barbour.

A family company that has spanned 118 years and five generations of British quality, Barbour regularly looks to the past to create the future. You will be hard pushed to go for a walk in the country without bumping into a Barbour quilted jacket emerging from the horizon or a waxed cotton jacket, with its infamous tartan lining, negotiating a wooden gate on a Sunday afternoon jaunt. However, as Barbour forge into the 21st Century, it’s not only the countryside where Barbour is being worn.

Based in the North-Eastern English coastal town of South Shields, Barbour continue to utilise over 150 machinists, who construct up to 3,000 of its classic wax jacket styles each week by hand. Whilst many brands with such steep heritage would become complacent and rely on history and branding to continue its growth, Barbour is embracing the ever changing menswear collection and has recently undertaken a number of exciting collaborations.

The Paul Smith collection delivers a capsule of jackets, shirts and trousers inspired by land and sea. This limited edition range contains various types of outerwear, most notably a wax jacket that focuses on layers and colours of wax to represent reinforcement and construction from the farming archives. This jacket offers a unique take on the usual waxed cotton jacket we have seen many times before from Barbour.

Barbour and Paul Smith have also collaborated to produce a soft washed cotton shirt with tailored corduroy elbow patches that would look great teamed with a dark pair of jeans or dark brown trousers.

As well as once again working with Japanese designer Tokihito Yoshida on the Beacon Heritage range (as featured here on FashionBeans), Barbour continues to demonstrate its versatility by collaborating with another international brand in America’s Jack Spade. This collection of limited edition jackets and bags is available in Barbour’s Covent Garden store.

As Barbour continues to flourish – be it through its own heritage lines for the classic customer or its collaborations around the globe – you can rest assured that the products produced will be interesting, sometimes ground breaking, but least of all, of the high quality that we have come to know and love at Barbour.

The Paul Smith Jeans & Barbour collection is available from September 2012 in selected Paul Smith and Barbour shops.