Barbour jackets

[countryman]

What has happened to this company, I brought a lined utility jacket less than 2 years ago and the under part of the sleeves is splitting in the creases. I all most never brought it when I was in the shop because there jackets are so thin now but I thought being a Barbour it would still last years. My old solway zipper from the 80s which had years of hard use never ripped, now the thin lining constantly gets caught in the zip and this morning I all most took the scissors to it to get it off me. 

[Stephen-H]

100% agree I got a shooting jacket off them a few years ago within two months of casual wear two of the poppers had come off wouldn't buy another barbour again 

[JohnfromUK]

I had a lightweight Barbour a few years ago - and the outer layer proofing compound (silkoil?) went all slimy and a sort of green waxy slime rubbed off on everything!  I ended up throwing it away. 

My older jackets never did that.  I would never buy Barbour again - as you pay top price - which was OK when they were doing top quality stuff, but these days price remains high, but quality has fallen badly.  I have found Musto very good.

[countryman]

I was going to ask is there still a good wax jacket about, I will have a look at musto

[McSpredder]

42 minutes ago, countryman said:

I was going to ask is there still a good wax jacket about, I will have a look at musto

Don't know about Musto, but I have found DuckDri gilets much more durable than Barbour, and a lot cheaper.   Hoggs clothing is usually good.

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, the old original Barbour's were well made and long lasting, you can still buy second hand, not so good in cold weather but would do well in a monsoon, I have a border and various waistcoats for beating, shooting I wear a jack pike, light/water proof and not expensive, look at dri aza bone wax jackets, I got all mine off a market dealer, except the IP, cheers

Just now, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, the old original Barbour's were well made and long lasting, you can still buy second hand, not so good in cold weather but would do well in a monsoon, I have a border and various waistcoats for beating, shooting I wear a jack pike, light/water proof and not expensive, look at dri aza bone wax jackets, I got all mine off a market dealer, except the IP, cheers ps if I kept my solely zipper it would be 50 year old🤔😁

 

[Scully]

I have six Barbour jackets, five are waxed, and never had any problems with any of them. 
One is past its best admittedly but it’s over 20 years old.

If there’s something amiss then you need to contact the manufacturer.

[JohnfromUK]

2 hours ago, countryman said:

I will have a look at musto

Good, but not waxed - Goretex.

[bluesj]

I've got a 20 odd years old one with the liner that has probably only been use once or twice. I wouldn't buy a new barbour wax jacket or any other wax jacket as there are better water proofs around for the same or less money. 

[countryman]

1 hour ago, Scully said:

I have six Barbour jackets, five are waxed, and never had any problems with any of them. 
One is past its best admittedly but it’s over 20 years old.

If there’s something amiss then you need to contact the manufacturer.

All ready contacted them and not very helpful at all, they are only guaranteed for 1 year apparently which I would say is the life span of a new Barbour.

[moondoggy]

The problem is due to their success. Hoards of city fashion buyers that only wear them as a fashion piece. The majority of Barbour stuff will never go near a field or marsh nowadays. Barbour have taken the opporchancity to save money on production costs and still charge the same or more. After all, how many Items of Barbour clothing are going to have problems with their new pampered lives?

[Scully]

15 minutes ago, countryman said:

All ready contacted them and not very helpful at all, they are only guaranteed for 1 year apparently which I would say is the life span of a new Barbour.

Fair enough. I can’t understand why quality has suffered; I’ve never had a problem to be fair. 
I can understand them wearing out, but they still provide a repair and replenish service. 
Admittedly the ones I now have don’t get as hard a life as others I’ve had, but I do tend to always get the heavyweight canvas types. 

[countryman]

4 hours ago, moondoggy said:

The problem is due to their success. Hoards of city fashion buyers that only wear them as a fashion piece. The majority of Barbour stuff will never go near a field or marsh nowadays. Barbour have taken the opporchancity to save money on production costs and still charge the same or more. After all, how many Items of Barbour clothing are going to have problems with their new pampered lives?

Yes I think this sums it up, sad really as I remember when the only shooting jacket you had was a Barbour. 

[Scully]

35 minutes ago, countryman said:

Yes I think this sums it up, sad really as I remember when the only shooting jacket you had was a Barbour. 

They definitely had a good spell thats for sure, but with the advent of technology creating much better materials for waterproofing I suppose people grew out of cold, stiff clammy coats, ( except me ) when increasingly there were more practical ( if no cheaper ) alternatives. Even Barbour did it! 

[countryman]

27 minutes ago, Scully said:

They definitely had a good spell thats for sure, but with the advent of technology creating much better materials for waterproofing I suppose people grew out of cold, stiff clammy coats, ( except me ) when increasingly there were more practical ( if no cheaper ) alternatives. Even Barbour did it! 

Yes, at 18 I had me beat up AYA no 4 , Solway zipper, my little gun dog Ben. God I wish I could go back to those days.

[McSpredder]

The Barbour “Border” jacket that I bought 35 years ago is still in reasonable condition (if slightly tatty-looking).   The Barbour wax gilet bought a few years later (forget the model name) started to disintegrate after just a couple of years, and I think the material must have been quite a bit thinner.

With the good old wax jacket you can work in heavy rain all morning, shake off the drops from the outside, hang it in a warm place for half an hour while you have lunch, and it is ready to wear again.   Modern multi-layer jackets have many advantages, but the ones I have tried take ages to dry out if they get thoroughly wet.  

Friends who had GoreTex garments told me they were marvellous when new, but tended to lose their waterproof qualities in areas subject to pressure --  knees (if you kneel down a lot) and shoulders (if you carry a rucksack).   

[London Best]

Barbour’s ‘Border’ was very popular but I always thought that was the model where Barbour jackets started to go downhill because it was only half as thick as the ‘Solway’ and ‘Threequarter Coat’, etc.

[Scully]

12 hours ago, McSpredder said:

The Barbour “Border” jacket that I bought 35 years ago is still in reasonable condition (if slightly tatty-looking).   The Barbour wax gilet bought a few years later (forget the model name) started to disintegrate after just a couple of years, and I think the material must have been quite a bit thinner.

With the good old wax jacket you can work in heavy rain all morning, shake off the drops from the outside, hang it in a warm place for half an hour while you have lunch, and it is ready to wear again.   Modern multi-layer jackets have many advantages, but the ones I have tried take ages to dry out if they get thoroughly wet.  

Friends who had GoreTex garments told me they were marvellous when new, but tended to lose their waterproof qualities in areas subject to pressure --  knees (if you kneel down a lot) and shoulders (if you carry a rucksack).   

That’s the thing with gore-tex, a seasons beating of pushing through gorse and briers can ruin it, whereas a heavy waxed cotton will be still just as good season after season. 

[samboy]

I bought a Musto a few years back and the inner sleeve was longer than the other sleeve.  So i took it back and my money was refunded.

Bought another Musto jacket and it leaked, i took it back to the factory and they replaced it for the same size model.

But it was too tight so i sold it. I would not buy Musto again. I said to the woman i was dealing with that i normally 

wear Barbour but the quality is not what it used to be. She had the honesty to say no neither is Musto. 

[wymberley]

12 hours ago, McSpredder said:

The Barbour “Border” jacket that I bought 35 years ago is still in reasonable condition (if slightly tatty-looking).   The Barbour wax gilet bought a few years later (forget the model name) started to disintegrate after just a couple of years, and I think the material must have been quite a bit thinner.

With the good old wax jacket you can work in heavy rain all morning, shake off the drops from the outside, hang it in a warm place for half an hour while you have lunch, and it is ready to wear again.   Modern multi-layer jackets have many advantages, but the ones I have tried take ages to dry out if they get thoroughly wet.  

Friends who had GoreTex garments told me they were marvellous when new, but tended to lose their waterproof qualities in areas subject to pressure --  knees (if you kneel down a lot) and shoulders (if you carry a rucksack).   

Mine too. The only thing that I've done to it is I had my wife remove the elasticated/press studded cuffs from my old Gamefair and sew these into the Border. I have to confess though that I now live in the Dunmoor Fleece as my activities tend to be more sedate. I had my previous one for 20 years and the fleece started to get a bit flat and as the moleskin trousers went out of production I managed to grab a couple of pairs before they all disappeared so got a new Dunmoor while I was at it.

[grahamch]

That's because they mainly make stuff for urban, urbane fashion aware folk not sportsmen who want a good quality robust product!

Go to the factory shop to see what I mean.....

Now where did l put my Solway Smock!

 

 

[udderlyoffroad]

21 hours ago, bluesj said:

I've got a 20 odd years old one with the liner that has probably only been use once or twice. I wouldn't buy a new barbour wax jacket or any other wax jacket as there are better water proofs around for the same or less money. 

+ 1 .  Technology has moved on, and I assume it's quite an expensive undertaking to manufacture waxed jackets compared to modern materials.

 

2 hours ago, Scully said:

That’s the thing with gore-tex, a seasons beating of pushing through gorse and briers can ruin it, whereas a heavy waxed cotton will be still just as good season after season. 

I don't have anything as fancy as Goretex, but I've not found more modern coats that susceptible to it.  Obviously depends very much on your terrain.  Our DIY shoot isn't short of a thorn or 2....

 

14 hours ago, countryman said:

Yes, at 18 I had me beat up AYA no 4 , Solway zipper, my little gun dog Ben. God I wish I could go back to those days.

Pretty sure you can recreate most of that.  You might find your tolerance for discomfort has dropped a little in the intervening years 😁

[JDog]

Barbours were never water proof nor were they very warm to wear. They were fashionable for years until someone came along with something more suitable.

No jacket is completely waterproof unless it is one of those that the men wear whilst mending the road. My solution is to have two or three jackets to wear on a wet day. I also have two caps and two pairs of waterproof trousers.

[samboy]

1 hour ago, JDog said:

Barbours were never water proof nor were they very warm to wear. They were fashionable for years until someone came along with something more suitable.

No jacket is completely waterproof unless it is one of those that the men wear whilst mending the road. My solution is to have two or three jackets to wear on a wet day. I also have two caps and two pairs of waterproof trousers.

I have had several Barbours and mine have never let water in. But they are cold old things. I'll keep my old Beaufort but i wouldn't 

buy Barbour again.

 

[Smokersmith]

Anyone who thinks a Barbour wax jacket, either new or old, is the most effective outdoor garment at keeping you warm and dry really needs to step into the modern world.