Crombie 1805 Ltd., formerly known as J&J Crombie Ltd., are the owners of the clothing and accessories brand Crombie brand. They are known for luxury coats, the Crombie name and the brand being so well known that the word is included in The Oxford English Dictionary: "Crombie -used to designate a type of Overcoat, Jacket etc made by J&J Crombie Ltd".
'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 are known to take legal action to prevent this trademark word from being used generically.[1]
History
Crombie was founded by John Crombie and his son James in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1805, making it one of Britain's oldest brands.[2] 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. 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 awards from Queen Victoria and Napoleon III at the Great Exhibition in London and the Exposition Universelle in Paris respectively. Crombie expanded from weaving the cloth to creating its own coats. A key factor in Crombie's expansion, from the 1860s onwards, was the receipt of military contracts.