For this year’s seasonal campaign, leading heritage and lifestyle brand, Barbour is collaborating with the much-loved children’s character Paddington. Barbour’s seasonal film includes the original Peggy Fortnum illustration style which has only ever been animated by Barbour.
Watch the full Christmas film here
Emotive, fun and heart-warming, Barbour’s festive film follows the adventures of Paddington as he comes up with an idea for a thoughtful gift for his misunderstood and sometimes grumpy neighbour, Mr Curry. Highlighting Paddington’s kindness and good intentions, it celebrates the joy of giving a very special present that means so much.
As part of Barbour’s Wax for Life initiative to extend the life of their garments, the film focuses on Barbour Re-Loved, an important circularity sustainability initiative. Barbour Re-Loved enables customers who no longer have a use for their Barbour wax jacket to hand it back in return for a voucher. Barbour cleans, re-waxes and repairs the jacket ready for it to be ‘re-loved’ in a new home, thus extending the life of the jacket. No two Re-Loved jackets are the same, making each one unique.
Paul Wilkinson, Group Marketing Director & MD, USA, Barbour said “We are delighted to feature Paddington in our Christmas film. Extending the life of our garments has been at the heart of our brand for over 100 years and through Barbour Re-Loved, a key focus of our Wax for Life initiative, we have been able to demonstrate in a humorous and sentimental way, the importance of upcycling and how much a thoughtful and unique present can mean particularly at Christmas time.”
The beautiful hand-painted 2D animation was created by the acclaimed trio of directors againstallodds and produced by Triple Academy-Award winning production company PASSION Pictures. The film was created in TV Paint and aftereffects, with painstaking effort made to faithfully bring Peggy Fortnum’s signature style to life. For this film, Paddington’s world has expanded, meeting more characters and venturing outside of the Brown’s home, all the while staying true to the iconic ‘Paddington’ look. Every frame of the animation is hand drawn and painted with more than 3000 hours of work going into the design, animation and composition of the final film.
The agreement was brokered by The Copyrights Group who own the Paddington brand. Rachel Clarke, SVP UK - Licensing & Retail at The Copyrights Group said “Copyrights are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Barbour for a second Christmas campaign with Paddington full of kindness, humour and fun, just like the bear himself.”
To support the campaign, Barbour through its DTC channels and barbour.com, is launching a limited-edition Barbour x Paddington Re-Loved jacket with a unique lining taken from an image in this year’s Christmas film – each upcycled and one of a kind. Men’s and women’s classic wax jackets, the Bedale and Beadnell will also be available with a special Paddington lining. Very collectable, they’re the perfect festive gift.