We've always been fond of products with a heritage. Brands with a heritage. They stand for something. They are
products with a story to tell. And they have proven themselves over time as well.
They are the classics. And what finer example we tumble upon when stubling at a 'classic' true English raincoat.
Let's have a look at the history and origins of Crombie. 'Crombie ?' you might ask yourself if your not from England.
Well, it seems you might know Crombie a lot better than you thought....
Crombie (also known as J&J Crombie Ltd, after its founder John Crombie and his son James) is the British fashion
company, that produces high-end clothing and accessories. Crombie is most famous for its luxury coats.
The word 'Crombie' is sometimes used by other companies to refer to their own coats produced in the style of
Crombie's most famous three-quarter length (usually wool) overcoats.
Crombie was founded in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1805, making it one of Britain's oldest brands. Over the years,
Crombie has manufactured from several different mills in Scotland and England over two centuries, initially at the
Cothal Mills in Aberdeen, and most famously from 1859 at the Grandholm Mill also in Aberdeen.
In 1990, production at the Grandholm Mill ceased, and was moved to other mills in Scotland and England.
(The A-listed Grandholm factory site was converted into a residential project by the Cala Group in 2005.
Part of the mill is now an Indian restaurant called The Spice Mill, which has maintained the original elements
of the factory).
Crombie began as a producer of luxury cloth, which it sold to cloth merchants and sent directly to famous London
tailors. By the 1850s, Crombie had won several quality awards from Queen Victoria and Napoleon III at the Great
Exhibition in London and the Exposition Universelle in Paris respectively. Later, Crombie expanded from simply
manufacturing the fabric for other producers, to creating coats under its own name. This seemed to be a great move !
A key factor in Crombie's expansion, from the 1860s and onwards, was the receipt of military contracts. Crombie
supplied 'Rebel Grey' cloth for the Confederate Army in the American Civil War, and also supplied officers' uniforms
to the British Army and Royal Air Force in World Wars One and Two.
Starting in the late 1960s or early 1970s, Crombie-style coats were popular within the skinhead and suedehead
subcultures, although very few skinheads would have been able to afford a brand new Crombie coat.
The iconic Crombie coats were also fashionable among mods, who saw them as a stylish item of clothing that
enhanced their clean-cut image. It was an alternative to the popular fishtail parka or trenchcoat. Crombie has long
marketed itself at international statesmen and royals. It has enjoyed particular success in Russia, where Crombie
began supplying to the Tsarist court from 1880, and even in 1984 it was observed that Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev was wearing a Crombie coat when he visited Britain that December. Crombie lists King George VI,
Winston Churchill, Cary Grant, Dwight D Eisenhower and John F Kennedy among its historic customers.
From 1995 till 2004, Crombie also held the famous Royal Warrant for being a supplier to the Prince of Wales.
The company continues to trade today, and currently has three stand-alone stores:
One in London, one in Manchester and one Edinburgh, Scotland. Crombie is also sold through selected independent
retailers, such as Harrods in Great-Britain, and comparable department stores in North America, Europe and East Asia
as well. Crombie also sells worldwide over its international website.
The founding Crombie family sold their interest in the company in 1928, to another British textile family, the Salts
(famous as the founders of Saltaire in West Yorkshire). After the Second World War, Crombie became part of
Illingworth Morris – at that time Britain's largest woolen textile company, of which British actress Pamela Mason
was the majority shareholder. In the 1980s the company was taken private by its Chairman. Crombie is also known
to hold the rights to the Tommy Nutter brand name, having backed him financially in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
So, let us take a look at their history in a kind of timeline...
1805
The Crombie story begins over 200 years ago, in the year of the epic Battle of Trafalgar. It was at this time that John
Crombie - son to a family of Scottish weavers - established his first woollen mill at Cothal Mills in Aberdeen.
Using only the finest natural fibres, John Crombie quickly established a reputation throughout Britain for the quality
of his luxury cloth. Each year, he would set out on horseback to sell his prized fabrics - not only to cloth merchants,
but also direct to London tailors eager for the richest offerings to present to their noble clients.
1810
The company receives an award from the "Board of Trustees for Fisheries and Manufactures in Scotland", for the
exceptional standard of its Forest cloth - the woollen cloth of the time. Wool was scoured and milled, spun and woven
and subsequently tailored to produce Elysian overcoatings worn by the best-dressed men.
1828
James Crombie, the eldest son, joins the expanding company, which continues to prosper through the post Napoleonic
War period. The main production was tweele and wincey, woven mainly in blues and greys, having already been dyed
in the west of England. Folk etymology suggests that the word "tweed" was born at around this time as a result of a
London merchant misinterpreting a Crombie employee's badly handwritten letter referring to an order of tweele.
1849
By the mid-nineteenth century, the Crombie business has established its reputation amongst the fashionable drapers
of London and Paris. Crombie's fine wools, tweeds, cashmeres and merinos became the fabric of choice for Savile
Row tailors and gentlemen of taste.
1851
As the Victorian era progresses, the Crombie name becomes renowned for excellence and fine craftsmanship.
In 1851, Crombie's cloth was presented at the Great Exhibition, and was awarded a prize medal by Queen Victoria
and Prince Albert "For Superior Manufacture and Beauty of Design".
1855
At the Exposition Universelle in Paris, Crombie is similarly commended by Napoleon III.
1861
The outbreak of the American Civil War establishes a new export market. Business increased five-fold as Crombie
received large orders for "Rebel Grey" cloth from the Confederate army - who had no mills of their own in the blockaded
South.
1862
Queen Victoria's commissioner commends Crombie cloth at the International Exhibition held in London in 1862.
1870s
John Crombie's grandson Theodore journeys extensively across the globe, with trunks filled with Crombie's trademark
cloth, to secure new markets in Europe. Such was his success that in 1871, during the Prussian siege of Paris,
an order was famously sent by hot air balloon to secure delivery of the legendary cloth. Theodore's agents went on to
establish the Crombie brand name as far afield as Canada and even Japan - where Crombie's agent was Thomas Glover, who went on to help establish the Mitsubishi Corporation, and supposedly inspired Pucccini's opera Madam Butterfly.
1880
Links with Russia are established which persist to the present day. Crombie entered the Russian market in 1880 with
the "Russian Coat" - a heavy pile coat specially designed to shield wearers from the harsh Russian winter.
Crombie soon established a favourable reputation in Russia, and became the fabric of choice for Tsars, the Russian
Imperial court, and later even the Politburo. When the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stepped onto British soil for the
first time at Heathrow in December 1984, the television commentators observed that he was wearing his British
Crombie coat.
1900s
Crombie turns its expertise to lighter weight coats, suits and morning coats for markets opening up in France, Germany
and Belgium. The Crombie "Beaver-Raised" woollen overcoating proved an international success, particularly for
gentlemen's wedding attire. The cloth, made from merino wool, was given a secret finish that imparted a mirror-like gloss.
1914-1918
During the First World War, Crombie temporarily switched its production to military officers' uniforms. Such was the extent
of Crombie's production that one tenth of all greatcoats worn by British officers were made from Crombie cloth. The term
"British Warm" was coined at this time to describe the coat made from Crombie cloth. The name remains synonymous
with Crombie to this day.
1928
Another textile family, the famous Salts of Saltaire, West Yorkshire, bring Crombie into the Illingworth Morris group
- creating what becomes Britain's largest textile group for much of the twentieth century.
1932
The Duke of York (later King George VI) visits a Crombie mill in 1932, wearing a coat created by Crombie especially for
him. This design was revived and re-released by Crombie in 2009 as the "King Coat".
1939-1945
In the Second World War, Crombie once again makes its contribution for Britain. During 1941 alone, Crombie's output
included overcoats for 90,450 soldiers, 23,364 RAF officers, and 12,042 US army officers. In 1942, Crombie supplied
the Norwegian resistance movement with a dark grey cloth to match that of the occupying German troops.
Despite the vast quantities involved, the cloth produced by Crombie during this period maintained its legendary status,
on account of the exceptional quality of every garment.
1946-present
With its war work over, Crombie reassumes its position as a purveyor of fine British fashion to celebrities royalty,
and statesmen worldwide.
1983-1992
When the legendary British tailor Tommy Nutter sought to return to Savile Row with his own ready-to-wear range,
he approached Crombie for support. A partnership was formed, and for many years Crombie and Tommy Nutter products
were sold alongside each other from the same shop. During this time our joint store at 19 Savile Row had clients
including Elton John, John Lennon, and Mick Jagger. Tommy Nutter produced a variety of eye-catching designs
- including Jack Nicholson's Joker costumes for the 1989 Batman movie - while Crombie supplied him with the cloth.
Since Tommy Nutter's sad death in 1992, Crombie has continued to release respectfully commemorative Tommy
Nutter products derived from his original designs.
1990s
Crombie opens it first stand-alone stores: in Edinburgh, followed by London and Manchester.
2010
Crombie launches its new website as its "fourth store", bringing the best of British style to customers all over the world.
Apart from Britain of course, Crombie's classic designs prove particularly popular with online shoppers in the USA,
Australia, Germany, Poland, Sweden and France.
Timeless
Crombie remains an iconic British brand, trusted worldwide for the quality of its products and the timeless elegance
of its designs. Crombie continues to source only the finest raw materials to make its luxury products. To this day, the
majority of fabrics used in our coats are milled in England and Scotland (otherwise in Italy). Likewise, 80% of our
accessories are "Made in England", from five-fold silk ties hand rolled by English craftsmen, all the way up to
Handmade classic fur felt hats.
Navy Crombie Rainmac, Fully Waterproof
Crombie considers its coats to be the best in the world, and we're sure that once you put on this exquisitely constructed raincoat
you won't want to take it off.
This piece has the usual Crombie durability, but by using a single layer of double faced fabric (a once difficult technique
of which Crombie was a pioneer in the nineteenth century), it is a lighter weight than many other full-cotton raincoats,
and the superb grade of the weaving gives it a softer feel as well.
With a natural resin coating and taped seams, this garment is fully waterproof. The distinct navy/red colour combination
is based on a sample of original double-faced Crombie cloth in theirarchives from 1865. How's that for Heritage.
By touching the fabric, you'll feel it's water-repellent. The taped seams let you notice immediately that
we're talking about a true waterproof coat. Even just by looking at the seams, you'll know it. Somehow it
reminds me of the seams on a Zodiac inflatable boat or tender.
The Crombie Rainmac: Front view. Notice the simple yet elegant look of the basic lines. Sober perfection.
The Crombie Rainmac: Back view. Elegantly cut for a perfect fit.
