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J&J
Crombie Ltd. is a British fashion company, which produces high-end clothing and
accessories under its Crombie brand. Crombie is most famous for its luxury
coats – so much so that 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, although the Crombie company has
been known to take legal action to prevent this trademark word from being used
generically.
History
J&J
Crombie Ltd. was founded by John Crombie and his son James in Aberdeen,
Scotland in 1805, making it one of Britain's oldest brands. Crombie has
manufactured from several different mills in Scotland and England for over two
centuries, initially at Cothal Mills in Aberdeen, and most famously from 1859
at 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 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
direct to London tailors. By the 1850s, Crombie had won 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.
A key
factor in Crombie's expansion, from the 1860s 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. 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 royalty. 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 General Secretary
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 to 2004,
Crombie also held the Royal Warrant as a supplier to the Prince of Wales. In
2014 it was announced the new Twelfth Doctor, as played by Peter Capaldi, will
wear a Crombie with a red lining.
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 Savile Row suit tailor Tommy Nutter's brand name, having backed him
financially in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The company
continues to trade today, and currently has three stand-alone stores: in
London, Manchester and Edinburgh. Crombie is also sold through independent
retailers, such as Harrods in Britain, and comparable department stores in
North America, Europe and East Asia. Crombie also sells worldwide over
its website.
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CROMBIE
HERITAGE
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The Crombie company coat of arms
The lion originally featured on the Crombie family coat of arms; the black and silver stripes represent the warp yarns and the flying shuttle is that of a loom; the ram's head alludes to the highly prized "Golden Fleece" of ancient mythology. The heraldic water carrier symbol in the second quarter was incorporated into the company coat of arms in the 1880s, originally featured in the coat of arms of the Ross family, who had joined the Crombie family in running the company by this tim
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.
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.
e.
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
Initially, the main production was tweele and wincey, woven mainly in blues
and greys, having already been dyed in the west of England. However, when
Crombie’s London agent James Locke visited the company in Scotland one autumn,
he was so struck by the seasonal foliage that he suggested their tints be imitated
in cloth, both in solids and mixtures. Thus Crombie pioneered the creation of a
fashion of colours, the making of mixtures and the look-out for something new,
so that the strong point in favour of tweeds came to be the variety of colours
obtained.
To Locke also is attributed the invention of the name “Tweed”, when in 1830
he misread an indistinctly handwritten invoice for a quantity of “tweels”.
1840s
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.
The name of the firm in the early years varied from time to time.
Originally founded as “Knowles & Crombie”, by 1808 it was “Crombie &
Company”, and in 1828 it was “John Crombie”. When the founder John Crombie’s
second son (also called John) joined as a partner in 1843 it was changed to
“John Crombie & Company”, and in 1854 the final title of “J & J
Crombie” was adopted – which has been the company’s official name ever since.
Regent Street
“Regent Street premises of James Locke, the first agent to Crombie in
London, 1849”
1850s
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".
At the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855, Crombie was similarly
commended by Napoleon III.
1860s
The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 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.
At first, fashion-conscious Southern officers placed orders directly and
individually with luxurious European clothiers, paying for their uniforms out
of their own pockets – while ordinary soldiers had to home-make their uniforms
or scavenge them from Northern troops. But from 1862, the Confederate
government in Richmond was placing orders centrally. Some of the ordered cloth
was constructed into uniforms in Britain or Ireland, the rest was sent to
depots in the South for assembling within the CSA itself.
Not for the last time, Crombie products had to run a blockade to be
delivered to expectant customers (see 1870s and 1939).
International Exhibition
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 1870, 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.
Par Ballon Monte
A mail order “Par ballon monté” (by manned balloon) from a customer in
besieged Paris in October 1870, instructing “Messieurs J & J Crombie,
manufacturers, Aberdeen, Grande Bretagne” to “Please draw on the Bank of
England for £1,000 one thousand pounds sterling” as payment for an order of
cloth. – Crombie Archive
1880s
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.
Tsar Alexander II
When the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stepped onto British soil for the
first time at Heathrow in December 1984, television commentators observed that
he was wearing his British Crombie coat.
A Russian advert for Crombie coats in the 1970s
1900s
Crombie’s trade in continental Europe experiences a golden age.
To reduce its dependence on the winter trade, Crombie turned its expertise
to lighter weight summer overcoats and morning coats for markets opening up in
France, Germany and Belgium. Crombie saw a particular increase in European
demand for its more specialist products: extravagant, soft summer overcoatings,
in a range of pioneering cloths and colours.
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.
Crombie’s winter trade also expanded during this decade, particularly in
Russia, Poland and the Balkans.
This period of growth came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of war, which
caught Crombie and its European customers equally by surprise: orders were
cancelled, wagon-loads of garments were stuck at ports, and customers in
Central Europe cut off by the war owed the company about £60,000 (£4.5 million
in today’s value).
1912
A thank-you letter from Buckingham Palace after a visit by Their Majesties
King George V and Queen Mary to one of Crombie's factories. - Crombie Archive
1914-18
During the First World War, Crombie temporarily switched its production to
British military uniforms.
The Crombie company records note that during the war, the British
government had to coerce many important manufacturers into accepting military
contracts due to the very small margin of profit, compared to the much more
lucrative private export opportunities still available. Crombie, however,
voluntarily undertook large government contracts throughout the war – despite
the low profit – in order to keep its personnel fully employed.
Such became the extent of Crombie's production that ultimately one tenth of
all greatcoats worn by British soldiers and officers were made from Crombie
cloth. The term "British Warm" was coined at this time to describe
this Crombie coat. The name remains synonymous with Crombie to this day.
Crombie
'[krom'bi] The name of J&J Crombie Limited, a Scottish firm of
clothmakers, used to designate a type of overcoat, jacket, etc., made by them.'
- Oxford English Dictionary
1920s
A period of post-war prosperity saw soaring demand for luxury clothes
around the world. Crombie’s largest export markets in this decade were the USA,
Canada and Japan.
Crombie’s company records describe Japan in 1918 as “in a very prosperous
condition” and with dress there “being steadily influenced by Western
fashions.” Japanese orders were mainly for Crombie overcoats in black and dark
colours, in the best qualities of soft-handling fabrics of the lighter winter
weights. Cashmere cloths were very popular, and initially Crombie received more
enquiries from Japanese customers for these products than it was able to supply.
During the 1920s, sales to Japan peaked at £50,000 per year (£2.35 million
today’s value).
This decade also saw the death or retirement of all the remaining Crombie
family owners. Rather than allow the business to fall to Trustees with no
experience of it, the aging Crombies decided to sell their business to nother
textile family, the famous Salts of Saltaire, West Yorkshire. The sale was
completed on 31st August 1924, with the final Crombie family director retiring
in 1928.
The Original
The fabric of British menswear for over two centuries moving into the
future with a rich legacy.
1930s
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".
The Great Depression saw a significant slump in orders from the American
and Canadian markets – in many respects made worse by the Crombie company’s proud
refusal to compromise on quality and lower its prices. In January 1930 Crombie
had to put all departments on short time, with a number of employees in each
department suspended for two-week periods at a time on reduced wages. By 1937,
Crombie’s turnover had fallen to its lowest recorded since 1889. Fortunately,
by 1938 the worst of the recession was over and demand had begun to pick up
again.
1939-45
In the Second World War, Crombie once again makes its contribution for
Britain.
In the early years of the Second World War, the British government was
desperate for export sales to provide dollars for the purchase of munitions
from the USA. Therefore, with approval of the UK Board of Trade, Crombie
continued to send merchants with luxury coats to New York, Chicago, Toronto and
Montreal, travelling by plane from Bristol via neutral Lisbon. Indeed, during
this period Crombie increased its production by 50%, and was one of Britain’s
four largest woollen textile exporters to the USA.
After Lend-Lease was agreed between Roosevelt and Churchill in 1941,
Britain’s demand for dollars decreased, and Crombie switched production
increasingly to military uniforms. In 1943 alone, Crombie produced overcoats
for 90,000 Allied soldiers, 23,000 British Navy and Royal Air Force Officers,
and even 12,000 overcoats for US Army officers based in Britain.
Perhaps the most unusual order executed by Crombie during the war was in
1942 the making of cloth to a special shade of dark grey for the uniform of
Norwegians sent from Britain back to Norway to assist the underground movement
there.
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.
1945-1955
With its war work over, Crombie reassumes its position as a purveyor of
fine British fashion to celebrities, royalty and statesmen worldwide.
Celebrating its 150th anniversary in 1955, the company wrote to its
employees: “We can look back with satisfaction on the past; its difficulties
overcome and triumphs achieved. Crombie’s reputation for quality never stood
higher than it is to-day. ... No one can tell what the next 150 years may bring
forth. It is certain however that there will always be a demand for coats of
the highest quality and that, as in the past so in the future, Crombie will
continue to be in the forefront of those who will meet demand.”
James Mason
Actor James Mason with wife Pamela Ostrer. Pamela and her family went on
become majority shareholders in Crombie.
Sir Winston
Churchill, 1945
1960s
The brand's enduring simplicity and elegance allow it to be rediscovered
afresh by a new generation of statesmen and celebrities.
The Beatles
The Beatles arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 1964
John F. Kennedy with Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Inauguration Day, 1961
1980s
Not content to rest on its laurels as producer of the world’s finest
overcoats, Crombie branches out into suits. US President Ronald Reagan was an
early fan: he bought 13 Crombie suits over the course of his presidency, and
was wearing one when John Hinckley shot him in 1981.
When the legendary British tailor Tommy Nutter sought to return to Savile
Row with his own ready-to-wear range in 1982, 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 on 19 Savile Row –
with clients including. Elton John, Eric Clapton, Cher and Mick Jagger.
Crombie’s own Spring/Summer 1985 collection was also designed under Tommy
Nutter’s creative direction and when Tommy produced Jack Nicholson's Joker
costumes for the 1989 Batman movie, Crombie supplied him with the cloth.
Since Tommy Nutter's sad death in 1992, Crombie has continued to release
respectfully commemorative ‘Tommy Nutter’ branded products, derived from his
original designs still in our archives.
1990s
Crombie opens it first stand-alone stores: in Edinburgh, followed by London
and Manchester.
For nine years starting from 1995, Crombie held a Royal Warrant to His
Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.
During this decade, Crombie increasingly shifted production from Scotland
to sites in Yorkshire. But this was entirely fitting. When setting up his company
in 1805, John Crombie had needed to overcome the shortage of trained workers
locally by bringing over highly skilled foremen from Yorkshire’s textile
heartland to instruct and supervise the work. Indeed, company records show that
from 1812 to the 1840s, there were English foremen in each department of
Crombie, having under them Scottish and English labourers working side by side.
In fact throughout the nineteenth century, Crombie would send its wool to
the West of England to be dyed, then send it to Scotland for spinning, weaving,
scouring and milling, then return it to Yorkshire for finishing. Thus Crombie
has always been a brand associated with the whole of Britain, rather than
anchored to any one region.
Crombie Archive
Sales ledgers dating back to early 1900s
2000
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.
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