British Outdoor Wear: A Continuing Heritage

Like most of us, I love the great British outdoors. But while our woods and lowlands are kind much of the year, the weather can be savage in the winter months, particularly in our hills and mountains. Within these extremes of weather we enjoy the countryside in so many ways; from walking, climbing and watching wildlife to fishing and shooting. The combination of the challenges of the terrain and weather and the demands of each particular pastime have led to the development over decades of clothing and equipment to allow us to enjoy these activities in comfort.

Barbour, Barbour and a duffel coat

British outdoor clothing developed to cope with these climactic extremes and brands such as Grenfell, Macintosh, Harris tweed, Cordings, Johnstons of Elgin (who made estate tweeds), Ventile, Barbour and Belstaff provided clothes for internationally renowned mountaineers, the military, sportsmen and women, royalty and ordinary people - and many of these makes survive today.

I wanted to celebrate this great British heritage by finding, wearing and showing the clothes that are their direct descendants. They provide practical alternatives to modern water and weatherproofs. Modern gear works well in extremes, but is often garish in colour, noisy to wear and, being made from non-renewable materials, is arguably less sustainable than traditional cotton or wool-based garments. It is also, in my eyes, much less comfortable and stylish than tailored tweeds and well-cut cotton-based weatherproofs.

Modern outdoor products are superb (I use them myself) but for less extreme use they lack that spirit and ability to improve with age that traditional garments display. 

I set out to find the survivors of this great heritage. Determined to photograph them in the hills, woods and streams for which they were designed, I organised a photoshoot in Cumbria. I wanted to do the clothes and British countryside justice with a professional photographer and I want to acknowledge the brands without whose financial help this project would have been impossible - they will be identified in the feature itself. 

Vintage outdoor clothing - from left: Barbour Ventile, Barbour archive, Grenfell vintage. Images Gillan Bell & Barbour

The feature will appear in a few days. Please call back and see what I found.