British heritage lifestyle brand Barbour has recently opened its first concept store in China at Taikoo Li Chengdu and its first Chinese outlet store at Bicester Village Shanghai. These openings follow its expansion in Xi’an, Qingdao and Tianjin from October to December last year.
Barbour has also brought to the Chengdu concept store a service that was previously only available in the UK, the My Barbour customisation service. Customers can personalise the colour and request detailed designs and embroidery for their jackets. To celebrate the opening, Barbour gave away its free customisation service to the first 10 customers who spent over 10,000 RMB (1,406.20 USD) at the new shop. The Shanghai outlet opened just before Christmas last year and hosted a 50% off sale in honour of its opening.
Barbour was established in 1894 as a weatherproof workwear maker. It later became an outdoor lifestyle brand and is best known for its waxed cotton jackets such as the Beaufort, a common English countryside garment. It holds royal warrants from King Charles III, as well as the late Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II. The late queen was well known for loving the Beaufort jacket. It has recently seen a surge in popularity in China partly because of its aristocratic “old money” style, resulting from the outdoor lifestyle boom that China enjoyed in 2023. Indeed, Barbour’s recent popularity can also be somewhat attributed to its appearance in television shows such as Netflix’s The Crown.
Barbour recently disclosed its financial performance data from last year. The brand has seen a 19.7% increase in revenue to 343.10 million GBP (434.65 USD) but net profit had dropped 16.9% to 28.10 million GBP (35.60 million USD). However, Barbour states that the decrease mostly came from operating profits due to some assets being sold off last year. While Barbour has been further betting on the Chinese market with its recent expansion, the fierce competition in the outdoor wear market might still prove a challenge for the brand.
