UK Heritage Menswear

Drake's

Drake's was founded in 1977 in East London by Michael Drake as a small atelier producing handmade silk scarves and ties for the London tailoring trade. For three decades the brand operated quietly as a wholesale supplier to Savile Row tailors and high-end menswear shops; the breakthrough came in 2010 when Michael Hill (then a long-time Drake's customer) acquired the business and pivoted it toward direct-to-consumer.

Margaret Howell

Margaret Howell was founded in 1970 in London by Margaret Howell, an art-school-trained designer who had been producing menswear in small quantities from her flat in Blackheath. The first product was a single style of cotton shirt; her menswear shop opened on London's South Molton Street in 1980, and women's clothing was added shortly after. The thesis from the start was clear: utility-rooted British menswear (the shirt, the corduroy trouser, the duffle coat, the mac) made to the highest specification she could achieve.

Barbour

J. Barbour & Sons was founded in 1894 in South Shields, England by John Barbour, who began as an importer of oilskins and other waterproof clothing for sailors and dockworkers on the River Tyne. The company expanded through the early 20th century into producing waxed cotton motorcycle and field coats, with the iconic Beaufort, Bedale, and Border models becoming standard issue for British rural workers, military officers, and the Royal Family (the Queen famously wore a Border for her country pursuits).

John Smedley

John Smedley was founded in 1784 in Lea Mills, Derbyshire, England by John Smedley as a small textile mill producing cotton and wool yarn for the regional clothing industry. The company progressed through the 19th century into producing finished knitwear, with the Lea Mills factory becoming one of the earliest dedicated fully-fashioned knitwear factories in the UK. The brand's foundational thesis settled in the late-Victorian period: produce the highest-grade fully-fashioned knitwear possible — Sea Island cotton, Merino wool, cashmere — at the level of craftsmanship that would last for decades of wear.

Belstaff

Belstaff was founded in 1924 in Stoke-on-Trent, England by Eli Belovitch and his son-in-law Harry Grosberg as a small workshop producing waxed-cotton motorcycle jackets and outdoor garments for the broader British motorcycle-and-outdoor-adventure community. The brand has been one of the defining British waxed-cotton-outerwear brands of the 20th century, with the iconic Trialmaster jacket (a 1948-pattern waxed-cotton motorcycle jacket) anchoring the broader brand cultural position across decades of British outdoor-adventure culture.

Albam

Albam was founded in 2006 in London by Alastair Rae and James Shaw as a contemporary British menswear brand specifically focused on what the founders described as 'a deliberately-British workwear-and-traditional-craft-anchored contemporary-menswear vocabulary anchored to small-batch British-and-European production.' The brand has been one of the defining post-2006 British-anchored contemporary-menswear brands operating at the 'British-everyday-craft' price tier.

Burberry

Burberry was founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, a 21-year-old draper in Basingstoke who developed gabardine — a tightly woven, weatherproof cotton — in 1879 by patenting a chemical treatment process. The fabric was lightweight, breathable, and rain-resistant, and it became the foundation of British officer wear in the South African and First World Wars: the trench coat as we now know it was substantially Burberry's design, including the D-rings, the gun flap, the wrist straps, and the storm pocket.

Mackintosh

Mackintosh was founded in 1823 in Glasgow by Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh, who patented a method of bonding two layers of cotton fabric with a layer of dissolved rubber in between — creating the first technically-effective waterproof fabric, which became known as 'rubberised cotton' or simply 'Mackintosh.' The original Mackintosh raincoat was developed in the 1830s using this fabric, becoming a defining piece of British rainwear and military-issue British Army outerwear through the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Grenson

Nigel Cabourn

Nigel Cabourn was founded in 1971 in Newcastle, England by British designer Nigel Cabourn as a small menswear brand specifically focused on what Cabourn described as 'the cultural conversation between British military-and-expedition archives and contemporary menswear craft.' The brand's foundational thesis was specific and archive-driven: build a menswear vocabulary by hunting for vintage British-and-American military, expedition, and workwear references in flea markets, archives, and historical collections, then producing contemporary reproductions at the level of pre-1960s industrial craft quality.