Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Barbour Bedale repair and reproofing

I got my Bedale, my first Barbour jacket, about four or five years ago. I picked it up from Ebay for something like $40. Back then, J. Crew hadn't discovered them, so there wasn't as much competition on Ebay. While having been previously worn, it was in really good shape.

Over the years it has been my go-to jacket as the shorter size makes it easier to wear. I think I reproofed it myself one time in those years, but should have done it more often. In the meantime, it has developed some holes in the sleeves, one of which has turned into an inch and a half long tear. Being paranoid that my sleeve would get snagged on something and the whole thing would tear off, I finally decided to bite the bullet and ship it off to be repaired and reproofed.

Clearly in need of a little TLC.

I know that most people choose to send it back to Barbour's shop to have these things done, but after hearing stories about of month-plus long turn-around times in the fall, I decided to give Green Mountain Reproofing a shot. They are a family-owned business based in Vermont, and they're actually a few dollars cheaper on their reproofing than Barbour. I got in touch with owner Ken Bissonette about repairs, and he said to go ahead and mail it to them and they would send me a quote, and then I could mail them a check if that sounded good. I shipped my jacket off on Saturday, so hopefully I should be receiving that quote soon, and should be getting my jacket back in a couple of weeks. I will post an update when I get it back.

7 comments:

Eric said...

How badly does it smell? My Barbour International Jacket is from the 80s and it has developed a moldy basement kind of smell. I stinks down whatever I wear underneath - but I love it!

Unknown said...

Looking forward to how it turns out.

trip said...

Eric,
I think that the smell is pretty a relative term, but compared to another Barbour that I have that appears to be a good bit older, I would say that the Bedale is relatively odorless aside from the typical Barbour smell. The older one does seem to be a bit mustier.

RHW said...

My Bedale is also an Ebay find, for $75 5 or 6 years ago. I like it much better than my older Beaufort. I wear the Bedale regularly and the Beaufort is strictly for duck hunting. I shipped both off (not at the same time) to Barbour UK for reproofing and cleaning and the Beaufort came back smelly. The Bedale is perfect though.

I have a friend in Augusta who is a Barbour collector and I'll be sure to mention the Green Mountain Reproofing shop to him.

RHW

Ron A. said...

Thanks for posting the link to Green Mountain. I was thinking about sending one of my jackets back through Orvis. In my experience, the waxed-cotton smell associated with a Barbour subsides after time.

Josh said...

Love what your doing here trip...a man after my own heart. You've been an island in a yankee storm while I'm on work assignment in PA for a couple months. Only now I'm hooked on all these blogs.

I have a beaufort but was thinking of a bedale for a little trimmer look. Is it long enough to wear with a sport coat?

Cheers

trip said...

Josh,
While I prefer the Bedale over the Beaufort, it is not long enough to wear with a suit/sports coat. I think that the length is something like 29.5", and most Regular length jackets at 31". Plus, the sleeves are not open like on the Beaufort; they have elastic around them so that would also conflict with wearing a jacket underneath. Hope this helps.