From models to royalty, everyone wants a Barbour (even if they smell like wet Labrador!)

There is a distinctive scent that emanates from a beloved Barbour Beaufort jacket: a jacket of burning fire, moss and country lanes, with a subtle undertone of wet Labrador.

In Britain, a battered, wind and watertight Barbour is what many rural residents look for as they head into the New Year elements.

But now that it’s celebrating its 40th anniversary – it debuted in 1983 – the classic Beaufort wax jacket will be buttoned and zipped not only across the country set this year, but also across the rather picky fashion elite.

That’s because Barbour’s latest collection, which was unveiled late last year, includes a collaboration with luxury Italian label Gucci.

Here, cut from the scraps of emblematic red velvet designer Tom Ford, who became synonymous with Gucci in the 1990s, lies a Beaufort unlike anything you’ve seen before: yours for £2,280.

In addition to the iconic Gucci color, there are the defining features of a Beaufort: four pockets, a turned-up corduroy collar and that instantly recognizable tartan lining.

The focus of the collaboration is on upcycling. The entire collection is made from surplus deadstock fabrics from yesteryear or re-waxed Barbours from yesteryear.

But why is Barbour still going strong when other heritage brands, like Hunter, have fallen? 2023 was a record year for Barbour. Last week the brand reported a 20 percent increase in sales in the year to April 2023, totaling £343 million.

I suspect this is because Barbour’s clothing appeals to an audience that is much more varied than just the rural setting. Take the Beaufort itself.

Launched a year after the Sloane Ranger Handbook was published, it quickly became the standard for any self-respecting Sloane, male or female, whose spiritual home was not actually rural, but the whitewashed streets around Sloane Square in London’s Chelsea.

Princess Diana, of course, had one. The Handbook even includes a drawing of a stereotypical Sloane with a notation of an arrow pointing to his jacket and the caption: “Barbour – rumpled, oily and sweaty. Big pockets for big hands, used cartridges and Labby’s lead.’

Perhaps we should have predicted the Barbour-Gucci tie-up, as another drawing shows a signature Sloane style: “Shoes – Gucci, black, snaffled.”

It was with the Beaufort that the Barbour brand went stratospheric.

Barbour, based in South Shields, where every wax jacket is still made, started making fishing outfits in the 1890s, moving into motorcycle clothing in the 1930s and submarine suits during the war.

By the time the Beaufort was launched, the brand had perfected the washing technique that makes the fabric so durable.

The classic Beaufort, which retails for around £200, has a studded collar allowing the attachment of a hood, the option of a zip-in fleece lining and a removable storm throat flap – talk about value for money. And that’s before we even get to those bags.

Unique to the Beaufort is that the full-width back pocket is the perfect size for both city and countryside. Probably designed for a freshly shot grouse, but also just right for a two-liter bottle of milk you pick up on the way home.

The two front pockets are spacious. As I type, I reach into the Beaufort hanging from the back of my chair and find some crushed up dog biscuits; various dog poop bags; a tube of fruit pastilles; a jar of Vaseline; a pair of clip-on earrings; a phone charger; two lipsticks and a paperback. Mary Poppins’ carpet bag is nothing like a Barbour Beaufort bag.

Practical and affordable are as useful to the city hipster as they are to the Lincolnshire land agent, which is why Barbour has persevered.

Add to that the enduring quality of Barbour products – right down to the fact that the brand is still a family business and has been for five generations – and you have a recipe for longevity like no other.

Despite all the technology available to 007, it was a Barbour jacket that James Bond wore to defend his ancestral home in Scotland during 2012’s Skyfall.

Compare it to Hunter, a brand that once looked as durably British as Barbour: the wellies worn stylishly by everyone from Princess Diana (again) to the modest stable girl to the latest ‘It girl’ at Glastonbury. But when the company moved production from Scotland to China in 2008, things seemed to go wrong.

By expanding the range of colors and styles in an attempt to attract global buyers, it lost the British identity they wanted in the first place.

Despite hiring Stella McCartney’s husband Alasdhair Willis as creative director from 2013 to 2020, Hunter was unable to compete with brands expanding into higher-end wellies, including Prada and Balenciaga, and declared bankruptcy last summer with debts of over £100 million.

By adapting and broadening the market more nimbly, Barbour’s survival is assured. Chameleon-like, it has found a niche in every fashion trend that has come our way over the decades, all while maintaining its core values.

Lily Allen, Alexa Chung and Sienna Miller turned a Barbour jacket into a shortcut to the indie aesthetic that kept them at the forefront of the festival circuit in the early 1990s. Lily James makes hers look effortlessly cool.

Rishi Sunak gave one to President Joe Biden during his official visit to the US last summer.

The Princess of Wales has worn four Barbour coats in recent years, including one last November from Chung’s collection of the brand.

And smart collaborations have worked well for Barbour. There have been many, and each was chosen with a different market in mind. This season is the fifth adventure with, for example, House of Hackney; the second with London high-fashion label Roksanda and a second with the brand synonymous with Scandi cool, Ganni.

Last spring there was also a collaboration with the French fashion giant Chloé, which again represented a new market: younger and more environmentally conscious.

In 1977, the brand’s chairman, Dame Margaret Barbour, asked the Queen if she wanted a new Beaufort to celebrate her Silver Jubilee. Her Majesty declined and asked if she could have her old jacket re-waxed instead. It seems that sustainability has lasting appeal, especially in these difficult times.