My new Barbour International jacket.

[Doctor Damage]

^ Thanks for those very interesting comments, Tony. I had given up on the company several years ago when I went to replace my old Liddesdale quilted jacket and found the new Liddesdales were significantly inferior in cut and details. About the same time I tossed an old Beaufort jacket, assuming Barbour's customer service had gone downhill along with some of their products, but according to you their customer service is still excellent, so now I'm sorry I tossed that coat - darn it!

 

[Aerojoe]

Just a funny fact about Barbour around here. In my town Barbours are the official outfit of "preppy"/snobbish people. Not any Barbour, it must be on of those coats with corduroy collar in dark green color. Like this one;

 

[wdw]

That's interesting to hear, Aerojoe. I don't know where you are, but round these parts, Edinburgh Scotland, Barbour has very definite chav/ned connotations, with Belstaff being seen as the snob's preferred brand.

I confess to having a few Belstaffs, with my favourite being the Che Guevara, which is a thicker and more worn version of the International.

Having said that, I've now seen the light and await delivery of my first Aero and will probably order another soon. They knock Belstaff into a cocked hat.

 

[Grayland]

That's interesting to hear, Aerojoe. I don't know where you are, but round these parts, Edinburgh Scotland, Barbour has very definite chav/ned connotations, with Belstaff being seen as the snob's preferred brand.

I confess to having a few Belstaffs, with my favourite being the Che Guevara, which is a thicker and more worn version of the International.

Having said that, I've now seen the light and await delivery of my first Aero and will probably order another soon. They knock Belstaff into a cocked hat.

What does chav/ned mean?

 

[wdw]

Grayland, in Scotland "ned" and in England "chav" are both derogatory terms for hoody-wearing wannabee gangsters who roam the streets drinking cheap wine, clutching a pack of 20 cigarettes, spitting every 5 paces and trying to scare old ladies.

I'm not judging, but if you're young and wear an International around here you would get lumped into that category. Other Barbours don't have that stigma, just the Internationals. If you're over 30 you'd probably get away with it, though.

 

[Aerojoe]

Grayland, in Scotland "ned" and in England "chav" are both derogatory terms for hoody-wearing wannabee gangsters who roam the streets drinking cheap wine, clutching a pack of 20 cigarettes, spitting every 5 paces and trying to scare old ladies.

I'm not judging, but if you're young and wear an International around here you would get lumped into that category. Other Barbours don't have that stigma, just the Internationals. If you're over 30 you'd probably get away with it, though.

All the way around here You wear a corduroy collar Barbour and you are officially in preppy uniform. It doesn't matter your age, you can see moms with their kids all dressed in Barbours with corduroy collar :eusa_doh:

 

[Grayland]

Grayland, in Scotland "ned" and in England "chav" are both derogatory terms for hoody-wearing wannabee gangsters who roam the streets drinking cheap wine, clutching a pack of 20 cigarettes, spitting every 5 paces and trying to scare old ladies.

I'm not judging, but if you're young and wear an International around here you would get lumped into that category. Other Barbours don't have that stigma, just the Internationals. If you're over 30 you'd probably get away with it, though.

Thanks

All the way around here You wear a corduroy collar Barbour and you are officially in preppy uniform. It doesn't matter your age, you can see moms with their kids all dressed in Barbours with corduroy collar :eusa_doh:

I seem to see more Moms wearing the quilted Barbours.

 

[wdw]

It's interesting to see how perceptions differ. I'd say that in the UK the cord collar Barbours tend to be worn by senior citizens or well-to-do country types and are seen as solid and reliable, if somewhat stuffy.

With Burberry of a few years ago, when celebrity chavs started wearing the trademark checks in an OTT fashion, the neds and chavs here picked up on it big style, probably mostly through fake goods. This made what had been an upmarket brand become a laughing stock, with people actually being ridiculed for wearing it, expensive as it was.

Don't get me wrong, I like Barbour and have come close to buying one a few times, but then I'm old enough to get away with it here.

The strange thing here is that it's mostly young females that have the International, but the variants of that seem to make up 90% of the sales and it's by far the most common on the streets, possibly even the single most common branded jacket. That's why it's seen by some as being devalued, a victim of its own success.

 

[Edward]

This is the image that single-handedly killed Burberry's good name for some time in the UK:

Daniella Westbrook was a one-time star of soap opera Eastenders, later became a coke fiend, famously losing her septum(? The dividing bit between the nostrils) to the drug. It's certainly true that a lot of the products that hit Burberry's image hard, giving rise to the so-called "Burberry Scum" type - were actually neveer made by Burberry, most notably the Burberry check baseball caps. They've clawed it back now, but it was hard for them.

FWIW, the mainstream fashion tribes I see in Barbour here in London all seem to be wear cheap and nasty nylon Internationals, not waxed cotton. Not sure if they are legit product?

 

[Stearmen]

It used to be on this side of the pond, Belstaff was what real bikers wore and Barbour was what the Queen wore. Then a few years back the Italians bought Belstaff and Paris Hilton started wearing them, plus the price went through the roof. Now I wear Barbour!

 

[Tony B]

I must admit My whole family lives in cord collar barbours most of the time , but we all live in the sticks now so it is just not an issue, but if I went back to london I would feel a bit of a nob wearing one as I remember the types that wore them there..people who didn't like getting them wet or dirty ???

After having wax cotton in the late seventies-early eighties when we were kids (went fishing a lot when we lived in london) I went over to the breathable waterproofs and the barbour was left in the cupboard for years untill one too many expensive snags on barbed wire with expensive fragile goretex jackets while arsing about doing stuff. Once back in the barbours I just realised I preffered them to the artificial fiber stuff.

The reason for sticking to barbour was simple , you knew you were getting the best quality for your money, unfortunatly my recent mail order border jacket has shown this is no longer the case so i went strait onto ebay and got a late eighties one on ebay in almost unworn condition for £47 which as far better quality than the one I had just spent nearly £200 for the only issue was that the jacket had been stored somwhere warm and the wax had gone off it a bit so the fella had bought a new tin of wax but ended up not bothering to re do it so I had a jacket that had been worn a couple of times 20 years ago and stored well since and a tin of wax to get is as good as new (and better then my factory fresh new one) for a quarter of the price of a new one, and the benefit that after it had been waxed it looked like I had had it for years.

For any non UK people who want barbour I would recommend looking at ebay.co.uk as even with international shipping you could end up with a older better made jacket for less than half the price of a new one and as someone has already pointed out wax jackets, like leather, look better with a few miles on the clock
.
I have all the barbours I want, for now. I have a stash of wax cotton fabric and will be having a go at making my perfect wax jackets , once I get another camera i will stick some pics up for you lot to have a laugh at.

 

[wintergreen]

This is my Barbour Beaufort after 20+ years of hunting with terriers and longdogs. Over the years dozens of different Barbour jackets have passed through my hands but I have always stuck with my "smelly" old one. Its looking at bit dry at the moment after winter but will get a good coat of wax and be good fo another 20 years.
As has already been said the new stuff isnt worth bothering with, I just hope that once it drops out of fashion Barbour will return to making quality jackets once more.

 

[Doctor Damage]

^ That photo makes me wish I still had mine, even though it had stains from motor oil spills !
.

For any non UK people who want barbour I would recommend looking at ebay.co.uk as even with international shipping you could end up with a older better made jacket for less than half the price of a new one and as someone has already pointed out wax jackets, like leather, look better with a few miles on the clock.

It's worth noting that when importing a low priced and used jacket customs duties usually aren't charged, which is typically the killer with buying new stuff. I shall have to start monitoring eBay and see what comes up; maybe someday I'll find a nearly new Solway Zipper in size 44R...

 

[Tony B]

If you are trying make sure it is marked used secondhand clothing and it shouldn't be taxable, at least i think that is the way it works coming to this side of the pond.

Look at your local ebay, along the lefthand side of the screen click the worldwide option and you should get all the results of sellers that will ship to your country and generally with a postage quote and in your own currency.

 

[wintergreen]

^ That photo makes me wish I still had mine, even though it had stains from motor oil spills !

I tend to think Barbours get better looking with age, much like a leather jacket. The stains and general wear add character. Although I could live without the rabbit smell mine has aquired

 

[Doctor Damage]

Not to highjack this thread, but I just posted some pics of the old Barbour Trench Coat here. It's another one of the few belted Barbours - along with the Solway Zipper and the International - which have always appealed to me more than the un-belted Barbours.

 

[Doctor Damage]

This isn't a Barbour, but it's along the same lines. I'm assuming Belstaff.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Belstaff or Barbour, I guess there's not a huge difference these days.

 

[Edward]

If you look closely, both those jackets shoe the hint of a logo on the upperf left arm, where Belstaff put theirs now. Also, Belstaff long go abandoned the slanted upper breast pocket on the left hand side, instead having four vertical pockets on thed front of their Trialmaster jackets. Given these are both famous celebritis that can affordprciey stuff, I'd put money on them being Belstaff (and not as good as the Barbour Internationals, while being significantly more expensive).

Since this thread last came round, I see Barbour have cut its Internatyional range back significantly - if you look at the website, while they apply the International brand to aboutg a dozen jackets, now only three of them are true International jackets in the four pocket, belted style. There is only one Original International model, which I like the look of, but it comes only in black, which is a shame. (That said, I've also found it in Sandstone, a sort of dark tan, on other websites, so...?). I quite like the look of the Washington model, which seems to be the Stve Macqueen model stripped of a lot of the more obvious branding. It still has that tacky flag-design lining (nice to see that particularly naff idea has been abandoned elsewhere in the range), but that won't be seen when it is being worn.

Here's another alternative that is, imo, just as good:

http://www.speedwear.co.uk/brown-continental-wax-cotton-motorcycle-jacket-p-181.html

I've known a coupel of people bought this and wore it as a bike jacket, with good experiences.

 

[Big J]

This is the image that single-handedly killed Burberry's good name for some time in the UK:

Daniella Westbrook was a one-time star of soap opera Eastenders, later became a coke fiend, famously losing her septum(? The dividing bit between the nostrils) to the drug. It's certainly true that a lot of the products that hit Burberry's image hard, giving rise to the so-called "Burberry Scum" type - were actually neveer made by Burberry, most notably the Burberry check baseball caps. They've clawed it back now, but it was hard for them.

FWIW, the mainstream fashion tribes I see in Barbour here in London all seem to be wear cheap and nasty nylon Internationals, not waxed cotton. Not sure if they are legit product?

Very late to this party, but Burberry laid off all it's UK workers and closed its factories a couple of years back. Now the entire range is manufactured in China only. There's nothing wrong inherently with Chinese products, but for an alleged 'high class English heritage' brand, it's a massive fail.