About Us
Founded in 1948 from our traditional workshop in Street, Somerset.
We have been producing sheepskin and leather products for over 70 years.
Five generations of the family have been involved with leather tanning and manufacturing.
We continue to use this inherent skill and priceless knowledge to develop Owen Barry into the unique company it is today.
We pride ourselves as a family-owned and ethically run business; upholding a philosophy of British heritage and manufacturing.
We believe, it is important to keep these traditional handcrafting skills flourishing alongside the fast-paced evolution of technology today.
This passion and creativity are what makes our products unique, we believe they also reflect our sense of good value and consideration for the local community.
The Mother-Daughter Duo
Today, the mother and daughter duo Cindi and Chas are at the helm of the business; custodians, ensuring the passage of specialist knowledge to both the next generation of craftspeople and discerning clients.
Whilst offering well-crafted contemporary products to both new and loyal global customers Owen Barry continue to provide an undoubtedly friendly service and traditional lifetime guarantees, a breath of fresh air in today’s fickle fashion industry.
Passion, Creativity and Names
After over 70 years of working with leather, lambskins, sheepskins and cowhides we are very passionate about the materials we select and the products we create from them.
Here at our Somerset factory, we have a multi-skilled team that constantly researches trends, visits industry tradeshows, forums and events, and works with tanneries to ensure that the skins and designs we develop, are the finest we can possibly offer. The quality of skins, the design, cut, balance, fit and finishing details of every Owen Barry product are crucial, they come with a Lifetime Guarantee so we need to be sure that everything is fit for purpose in every possible way.
After the skin selection, the blueprint, the consultation and pattern development, all new designs are hand-cut and made by the sample development team, during this period of time (it can be weeks or months) there is the perfecting of the construction methods, the patterns and the detailing until the finalised designs come together.
OB Products are wear-tested and feedback is always listened to.
When we are confident with both skin and design, every product is "christened", yes a great deal of effort goes into every aspect of an OB design, even the naming of it.
All our designs are like babies to us, we want to give them the very best chance, so every product has a name that means something, whether nodding towards its origins, its concept or its expected usage, every name has a back story!
Over time some have become well established classic's and their original name journey forgotten, but knowing how designs become much loved by customers, we are now keeping a record so that we can remember the design origins and timeline -so if a customer asks, and quite a few do, we can tell them a little about the journey of their favourite products. !
Skin resourcing -
Also, see our Materials section- for more in-depth details regarding all of our skins
Coming from a tanning background; Great, Great, Great grandparents Walter & Amy Barry ran the first tiny OB tannery right back in the late 1800s in Wiltshire - therefore our skins are paramount to the Owen Barry offering.
Since then, things have changed and despite the address, we no longer tan and finish our own skins here at the Tanyard in Street, Somerset. We now work with many specialist tanneries based in the UK, Europe and South America to develop exclusive skins that are of the finest quality.
Each OB tannery has been chosen and long-term relationships built to capitalise on the skills, machinery and raw materials selections that it offers. These multiple factors are advanced and superior to anything that the old OB tannery could produce nowadays. therefore working with these marvellous suppliers ensures that we can keep selecting and developing exclusive skins that are vanguards of quality, trend and very importantly on the environmental and sustainable cutting edge.
The OB team visits our tanneries very regularly to inspect the skins, the dying processes, the disposal of any effluents, and check environmental impacts & energy emissions.
If you would like to know more about any individual skins - please check out of Materials section as this will give you information on the skins we use, their origins, their selection and their care.
