John Barbour was born on a farm in Galloway, Scotland, to a family whose links can be traced back to the 14th century.

No one could know better what was needed to protect a person from the extremes of weather that he faced tending sheep in the bleak landscape of his home country.

At the age of twenty he decided to try his luck in the north east of England, where in 1870 he started his business as a travelling draper. Encouraged by his new wife, he used his skills to start J Barbour & Sons, an enterprise which was to become renowned throughout the world.

Barbour clothing has been made in the north east of England and the borders of Scotland ever since. Quality has never been compromised, purpose never forgotten by the generations of weavers, tailors and seamstresses that have made each garment.