Barbour Celebrate 120 Fantastic Years

That Dapper Chap takes us on a tour of British heritage brand Barbour and joins in with their 120 year celebrations.

A Heritage Brand

With three Royal Warrants under its belt and Brand Ambassadors such as Lord James Percy, The Household Cavalry Polo Team and the E. J. Churchill Shooting range, Barbour is a British institution with an incredible heritage.

While they sell a wide range of clothing and accessories for men, women and children, and now offer over 2,000 products, they are best known for their waxed jackets. So well-known in fact that more frequently than not, any waxed jacket is referred to as a ‘Barbour’ jacket regardless of who made it. When your name acts as a cover all for an entire product, you know you've made your mark.

The History of Barbour

Founded in 1894 in South Shields in the UK, Barbour still make new jackets at their factory and also repair existing ones. They handle an incredible 100,000 jackets every year, with all work still being completed by hand.

With 11 of its own stores across the UK, Barbour also sell their products via other well-known stores and some smaller boutiques. The larger stores include Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Harrods in the UK and Bloomingdales and Saks in the USA.

Celebrating 120 years

With 120 years of unrivalled success behind them Barbour rightly feel that now is the time to look back and share some of their heritage with a new generation, and in turn I’d like to share it with you. Pour yourself a cup of Earl Grey, grab a Garibaldi and enjoy the videos below.

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A weekend in Racing Green Menswear

That Dapper Chap takes us on a weekend away to the British coast and shows us his outfit created entirely from the latest range from British brand racing Green.

A very British weekend

So off I went to the coast to put my feet up and enjoy the British Autumn by the sea with my two best friends Victoria Sponge and Earl Grey. All week the forecast had promised a dry day, and it was for approximately 30 minutes! I literally just had time to photograph a few items from my outfit before we had to take cover in our beach hut.

Heritage Headwear

That Dapper Chap introduces us to CTH Ericson, a Swedish hat and cap store with an established heritage and a great range.

The History of CTH Ericson

Founded in 1885 by Carl Theodor Ericson who opened their very first store selling hats, CTH Ericson is now a well established hat and cap manufacturer selling its pieces across the globe to men, women and children.

Businessman and founder Carl Theodor Ericson

In the early 1900s the company expanded its business from a single store selling other peoples hats and began making his own. The business grew and in the 1950s the number of employees reached 230 people. At the time, CTH Ericson was the largest workplace for women in Borlänge. Even today, they hear many stories of Grandmothers and Aunts who have been involved and contributed to CTH's history.

The CTH Workforce, at the factory in Sweden

Until the late 90th century CTH Ericson produced all of their hats and caps in their factory in central Borlänge. Today they produce a small number of selected special models in the Borlänge factory.

Quality is key and they strive to use fabrics and other supplies which originate in Europe, in order to offer a product which is as locally produced as possible.

Today, more than 125 years later, they continue to deliver caps and hats to the Swedish people. The difference now is that CTH's hats are now also found in the major parts of Europe, Australia, Asia and the United States. I am sure that Carl Theodor would be proud!

The Range

CTH Ericson offer a very wide range of hats and caps and has something to suit every head and face shape. With some very heritage style hats there are classic examples to choose from but they also offer items with a modern edge.

I now have a few hats by the company and I'll take you through them.

The first is:

The Baker Sr

In multi coloured Plaid wool the cap is 100% wool and is available is various sizes. I am wearing size 57. It fits very well and is very comfortable. This cap also has fold our ear flaps (Pic 2)to help keep your ears warm on cold days. when not in use they are folded very neatly inside the hat and you wouldn't know they were there.

With its colourful design and contract peak its a very nice cap and can be worn with more casual outfits.

The Baker Sr is priced at £45.00

Phillip Sr

Next up we have Phillips Sr in bright blue 100% cotton corduroy. The cap itself is totally traditional but the colour makes it stand out from the crowd.

The Phillip Sr is priced at £43.00

William Sr

My favourite hat is this one, the 'William' It as a very vintage look to it and reminds be of steam train drivers. Again, made from 100 wool its quality is unmistakable. 

The William Sr is priced at £51.00

Alan Sr

Another of my favourite hats due to its vintage feel and look, call it a Bakerboy or Newsboy hat its essentially the same thing. in black and grey herringbone it's made from 45% wool, 35% acrylic and 15% polyester.

Wear it with a suit and overcoat or with jeans and shirt or create a full heritage look as I have done here.

Alan Sr is priced at £50.00

Summary

All of the hats and caps are very good quality and you can buy with confidence knowing that you are getting a piece that will last you years.

As well as hats and caps for men CTH Ericson sell hats for women and children too so the entire family can have great headwear over the coming winter months.

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Break up the suit

I've written a couple of articles about how to wear a suit and split up the various elements, showing you how to wear them with different items to achieve as many different looks as possible. Doing this  makes your suit more versatile. Today's look shows that I do practice what I preach.

The trousers are a simple pair of navy chinos but the blazer is part of a wool three piece suit that I decided to wear. I've already worn the full suit this week but thought nothing of taking and wearing the jacket and nobody commented that it was the same jacket as the look is totally different.

I went with a bit of a red and blue theme and you can see that I used accessories to create a cohesive look. The nato watch strap, club tie and patterned socks all retain the colour story.

In addition to the watch strap, tie and socks I wore coloured bracelets, pocket square and an apple lapel pin to complete the look. The button down denim shirt making for a less formal but still smart look.

The braces may surprise you as they are a hybrid of new and vintage. They were a gift from a well known brand after I attended their recent press day but they had clip ends which I am really not a fan off. So, I rooted through my collection of vintage braces and found a pair which were a bit tatty. I removed the leather ends and swapped them over to the new pair, disposing of the clips I the process.

Black Leather Tassle Loafers: Monk

Socks: Topman

Chinos: Next

Denim Shirt: Topman

Club Tie: Butler & Webb

Leather Briefcase: Vacation purchase

Lapel Pin: Home Made

Watch: Timex

Bracelets: Home Made

Pocket Square: eBay 

Braces: Next

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