Store Aquascutum

Product range. Menswear, womenswear, and accessories in a pronouncedly time-honoured style. The great bulk of the collections are made up of shirts, jumpers, cardigans, bodycon dresses and formal tailored trousers in classic styles. Aquascutum clothing makes for a perfect outfit for relatively affluent white collars, golf club members, or the students of a top ranking university. The staple of Aquascutum collections have always been the trench coat. There's little originality about the styles and in most cases they are timeless classics par excellence.

Originality. Comparing Aquascutum to Burberry, another British heritage brand, have become a part of the collective unconsciousness. They bear obvious similarities thanks to their iconic trench coats and the use of the tartan pattern. They, make the differences all the more striking: unlike high fashion Burberry that succeeded in reinventing itself, Aquascutum has hopelessly fallen out of style long ago. Aquascutum collections lack novel silhouettes and inventive print designs (time-honoured tartan patterns do not count anymore).

Chic. Aquascutum established its name as a British style stalwart that offers quality trench coats, suit separates, and polo shirts, but is absolutely reluctant to move any further fashionwise. Abandon trends all ye who enter here: Aquascutum shines only when it comes to updating your wardrobe staples, don't expect anything fancy.

Pricing. Aquascutum outerwear has always been on the pricey side with a few items approaching £1,000. Trench coats are the most expensive of the range. The rest is notably cheaper. Shirts are £100, dresses are £250, and trousers are £200 on average.

Corporate history highlights. Aquascutum was founded by John Emary back in 1851. The brand have long been at war with Burberry with both heritage brands stubbornly claiming the invention of the trench coat as their own. Just like Burberry, Aquascutum was commissioned by the British Government to supply outer garments for the officers during Crimean campaign and World Wars I and II. Aquascutum is also an outfitter to the royals and has been holding royal warrants since 1897. The company has been family-run for almost a century and a half, but since 1990 has changed hands several times, entered administration in 2012, and eventually ended up acquired by a major Chinese trading company.

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