British Brands at Chicago Collective August 2022
These British craft and heritage brands that are showing at Chicago Collective August 7th – 9th 2022.
The Barbour story began in 1894 in the Market Place in South Shields. Today the 5th generation family owned business remains in the North East, with Barbour’s headquarters located in Simonside, South Shields.
Barbour holds the Royal Warrant to Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales. The brand now has retail stores presence in over 55 countries worldwide including the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Holland, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, New Zealand and Japan.
Collections cater for men, women, children and now even dogs! Broadening out from Barbour’s country wear roots, today the brands heritage and lifestyle clothing brand produces clothing that is designed for a full lifestyle wardrobe.
Barbour remains true to its core values as a family business which espouses the unique values of the British Countryside and brings the qualities of wit, grit and glamour to its beautifully functional clothing.
British made since 1985, Chrysalis England has been manufacturing the finest Country and Town outerwear at their Corby factory in the heart of the British countryside since 1985. For over thirty years, Chris Blackmore, MD and founder of the company, has led a dedicated team of skilled artisans in the production of the garments. Using traditional and specialised methods, they take pride in producing clothing that combine functionality with the best of British tailoring.
The Rose family first entered the design and manufacture of men’s clothing when Jack Lewis Rose started out in 1926. The brand focuses on the time that is important to you: getting home, changing into something comfy and switching off; relaxing with a great book; lounging with friends by the pool, fabulous lounge-wear.
Derek Rose is still family owned to this day, bringing almost 100 years of passion and expertise to its customers.
The process of making Fox Umbrellas has changed very little since the beginnings in 1868. It all started in 1868 during the reign of Queen Victoria. Mr Thomas Fox opened a shop in Fore Street in the City of London (later becoming London Wall after the bombing during World War Two when the roads were rebuilt) making and selling umbrellas.
To obtain the high quality that we require and the customers have come to expect it is still necessary to rely on the skill of hand workers rather than machines, and today the quality and attention to detail are still the hallmark of a Fox Umbrella.
Fox Umbrellas, with its history and globally renowned reputation for excellence, still exists today albeit with a change of name to Fox Umbrellas Ltd.
Since 1948, Gladson New York has been the preeminent purveyor of the world’s finest fabrics to the men’s custom tailoring industry in the United States. This third-generation family business is part of a global textile group that includes HMS International Fabrics in New York, Huddersfield Fine Worsteds in the UK, and Roger LaViale in India. Gladson and its sister companies represent a who’s who of the best mills in Biella, Italy; Huddersfield, England; and other key textile weaving centers around the world. Vitale Barberis Canonico, Ermenegildo Zegna, E. Thomas and Carlo Barbera are the luxury Made in Italy mills that are exclusively represented by the group, as well as England’s own Hardy Minnis, the only woolen merchant in the world with the prestigious Royal Warrant By Appointment to HM Queen Elizabeth II.
Royal Warrant holders to HM Queen and Prince of Wales, John Smedley are creators of the World’s Finest Knitwear. Established in 1784, they are one of the oldest manufacturing factories in the world, crafting beautiful, high quality garments that are designed to last, made in England and distributed the world over. The John Smedley story began during the infancy of the industrial revolution at their factory in Lea Mills, Derbyshire where you can still find the brand today, over 230 years later. John Smedley continues to innovate, recent triumphs include the re-launch of the womenswear line at London Fashion Week in 2015, and the contemporary unisex capsule collection ‘Singular’ being the first ever unisex knitwear collection launched within the UK. John Smedley proudly has “Made in England” on the tag of every garment they make. John Smedley has remained a British, family run business, now managed by Ian Maclean an 8th generation member of the Smedley family.
Since 1880, Loake Shoemakers has produced some of the world’s finest footwear from their Wood Street factory in Kettering, Northamptonshire. Family-owned since the very beginning, the brand have a proud history and heritage as traditional shoemakers, and have a Royal Warrant to HM The Queen.
Photo by Simon Turner
Sanders & Sanders Ltd. (or Sander Bros. as it was first named) was established in 1873 by Brothers William and Thomas Sanders of Rushden, Northamptonshire. William Benjamin Sanders was apprenticed to the shoe and boot trade as a lad, and then went on to working in London as clicker before returning to Rushden in 1871 at the end of the Franco Prussian War, with the vision of setting up his own shoemaking business with his brother.
The company is now in its 5th generation of Sanders and is producing over 2000 pairs of the finest quality shoes and boots every week, being awarded the coveted ISO9001 Quality Assurance certification. Today, Sanders & Sanders remains in the same factory on Spencer Road as it has done for the past century, and is known throughout the world as the very best in English elegance, and exports to over thirty countries across five continents.