My new Barbour International jacket.

[Edward]

Ph, yes - Burberry have long abandoned the "heritage" market in favour of fashion. Given what they charge (around GBP1000 now, for a fairly standard trenchcoat), I can only assume they're chasing even greater profit margins, because if you can't make a coatl ike that in the UK andc do very nicely out of it at a grand, you're doing something very wrong indeed. They're still nice enough that I've seen, but it's been a very, very long time since they were sold at a price I'd consider reasonable for a cotton (or, more often now, cotton poly) trenchcoat.

 

[Doctor Damage]

If you look closely, both those jackets shoe the hint of a logo on the upperf left arm, where Belstaff put theirs now. Also, Belstaff long go abandoned the slanted upper breast pocket on the left hand side, instead having four vertical pockets on thed front of their Trialmaster jackets. Given these are both famous celebritis that can affordprciey stuff, I'd put money on them being Belstaff (and not as good as the Barbour Internationals, while being significantly more expensive).

Good info, thanks. I remember when the International was introduced (re-introduced?) back in the late 1990s and I should have bought one then, removed the tag, and been wearing it for the last 20 years.

Since this thread last came round, I see Barbour have cut its Internatyional range back significantly - if you look at the website, while they apply the International brand to aboutg a dozen jackets, now only three of them are true International jackets in the four pocket, belted style. There is only one Original International model, which I like the look of, but it comes only in black, which is a shame. (That said, I've also found it in Sandstone, a sort of dark tan, on other websites, so...?). I quite like the look of the Washington model, which seems to be the Stve Macqueen model stripped of a lot of the more obvious branding. It still has that tacky flag-design lining (nice to see that particularly naff idea has been abandoned elsewhere in the range), but that won't be seen when it is being worn.

For what it's worth, it's common among luxury and "luxury" brands to have variations for different markets: different colours, or materials, for instance. I imagine that's why you see a tan version of the International on some websites. The flag thing is ridiculous!

Here's another alternative that is, imo, just as good:

http://www.speedwear.co.uk/brown-continental-wax-cotton-motorcycle-jacket-p-181.html

I've known a coupel of people bought this and wore it as a bike jacket, with good experiences.

Ooo, I'm glad you posted that!

 

[Edward]

For what it's worth, it's common among luxury and "luxury" brands to have variations for different markets: different colours, or materials, for instance. I imagine that's why you see a tan version of the International on some websites. The flag thing is ridiculous!

Honestly, I've never understood anyone wanting to drape themselves in a flag, but then given the morons who have the propoensity to do exactly that where I grew up, it's unsurprising I find it daft. Good point about different markets.... Maybe brown is just a thing that only sells to the vintage motorcycle crowd, and so black is the mainstream norm, with the other shades special orders for niche businesses... Surprised, though they're sticking with black and not adding, say, navy. I do wish they'd do the green.... given that they still make their country ackets in green, they have it around....