Off the back of a successful, and very chic, collaboration with Ganni, Barbour has now teamed up with Gucci on a collection that celebrates sustainability and beautiful prints. The two brands have worked together on the latest Gucci Continuum Collection, a programme through which the Italian label makes deadstock fabrics available to other brands for special one-off collaborations.
The collection features eight jackets, three gilets and one bucket hat, all created with heritage Gucci deadstock fabrics, including the red velvet from one of Tom Ford's most memorable collections. Barbour has lovingly restored and crafted these into a selection of its Re-Loved jackets, creating entirely new pieces out of these archive materials.
"We are very proud to be partnering with Gucci Continuum on this project, extending the life of our garments and finding new uses for fabrics to collectively reduce our impact on the environment," says Paul Wilkinson, group commercial director of Barbour. "We are particularly proud to have produced the pieces using our highly skilled machinists in our South Shields Factory, based in the North East of England where Barbour began and has been based for nearly 130 years."
Bringing together two very different brand aesthetics, who tend to work with very different fabrics, was a challenge, explains Barbour's senior design and development manager, Gary Janes: "The partnership presented a real unique challenge and opportunity, working with iconic Gucci tapestries and delicate silk fabrics that are very different to the robust wax cotton we are used to working with at Barbour."
Despite its challenges, the project was also an excellent example of how the heritage of two brands can be celebrated while working towards a more circular future.
"Barbour Re-Loved and Gucci Continuum are two very worthy and current ways of thinking about fashion, reutilising existing product and fabrics to really minimise the impact on the environment – remodelling and taking care of garments so they can be enjoyed for many years to come," he added.
The Barbour Re-Loved for Gucci Continuum collection goes on sale today.
