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Baabour and Shaun the Sheep are back with a light-hearted new Christmas film focusing on giving the gift of warmth this festive season

STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 7th NOVEMBER 2024 (8 am GMT)     

Having successfully patched up The Farmer’s waxed jacket last year, Shaun the Sheep and his flock are back for more adventures with Barbour, as part of their 2024 Christmas campaign. This time, leading heritage and lifestyle brand, Barbour, focuses on its unique and much-loved accessories, with a message of giving the gift of warmth this Winter. Alongside this year’s advert, Barbour has created 30 limited edition Re-loved Shaun the Sheep inspired wax jackets, with all proceeds going to Oxfam. 

Created by the talented team at Aardman, using their trademark stop-motion animation, this year’s seasonal film has been carefully crafted in their Bristol studio, bringing Barbour to life on Mossy Bottom Farm, once again.  

Funny and heart-warming in equal measure, the film sees Bitzer - The Farmer’s devoted dog and Shaun’s best friend - attempting to conduct a very cold choir of Shaun and his flock through some Christmas carols. As their ‘baas’ begin to freeze, Bitzer has an idea – rushing off on his bike and returning with gifts from Barbour. All wrapped up in their Barbour hats and scarves, the flock (and the farm around them) feel the magical warmth of the British brand’s quality accessories, as they merrily sing their way to the end of their carol. 

Forever synonymous with the British countryside, family-owned Barbour has been keeping its customers warm for over 130 years. Whether it’s wind, rain or snow this winter, Barbour’s clothing and accessories combine years of expert craftsmanship with timeless design. 

With a tasteful nod to last year’s campaign which demonstrated the importance of extending the life of garments, this year, Barbour is producing 30 Re-loved jackets, as a follow on from the Re-loved partnership with Glastonbury and Oxfam earlier in the year. Each of the Re-loved jackets will be totally unique and incorporate Shaun the Sheep inspiration including faux shearling lined inner, cuffs and full collar. A 'Baabour' Shaun pin badge will also be incorporated, alongside a Shaun the Sheep key ring and embroidery to the front pocket making them truly collectable items.​ The jackets will be sold by both Oxfam stores and Barbour.com, with the limited-edition jackets ‘hidden’ in various Oxfam shops across the country for lucky treasure hunters to find and buy. All of the money raised from the jackets sold will go to help Oxfam’s lifesaving work. 

Paul Wilkinson, Group Commercial Director at Barbour said, “After the success of last year's campaign, we are excited to be collaborating with Aardman for another year. A British brand that shares our core values of craftsmanship, attention to detail, and quality. The Barbour and Aardman customer is multi-generational, which was a big part of the inspiration behind this campaign. This year we are pleased to support Oxfam, giving 30 people the opportunity to purchase a unique, limited-edition Barbour x Shaun the Sheep Re-loved wax jacket with all proceeds going to the charity.” 

Rachael Peacock, Senior Brand Manager at Aardman added, “We’re delighted to launch the next festive Shaun the Sheep adventure for Barbour. These iconic British brands share strong values of quality, craft and a shared love of the outdoors. Shaun and the flock have never looked better than in Barbour!”  

Film Synopsis 

The tree is up and the snow is falling at Mossy Bottom Farm. Bitzer the Sheepdog has assembled Shaun and the flock to practice their Christmas carols. But its quickly clear things have gone off-key. Shivering their way through the song, icicles hang from the flock's ears until eventually they all freeze and fall over.  

Bitzer looks down at his tartan scarf, which gives him an idea. He whizzes off on his motorbike into town and returns with his Barbour bags – even accidentally gifting a woolly hat to Mower Mouth, the voracious goat, as he hurries past.

Holding up the bags to his flock, he is swiftly leapt on by the whole gang as they eagerly rifle their way through to find their Barbour goodies. With a deep breath in, we see a little bit of festive magic take place, as the warmth of the accessories melts the ice off the sheep and the evening turns into a beautiful pink sunset. All wrapped up in their Barbour hats and scarves, the flock (and the farm around them) feel the magical warmth of the Barbour accessories, as they merrily sing the carol.

Safely wrapped up in their Barbour hats and scarves, the flock sing a rousing carol, this time sounding much more energetic. The Farmer wanders past in his quilted Barbour jacket, doing a double take as the flock quickly returns to all four legs and hides their carol sheets. Once he’s gone, the singing resumes and a final blow on a giant sousaphone causes a pile of snow to tumble off the farmhouse’s roof and bury The Farmer, along with his cup of tea. Don’t worry, his jacket will have kept him warm.

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors  

To preview the Barbour Christmas film via the Barbour website, follow this link: https://barbour.com/press-christmas-preview  
For further information on Barbour, please visit www.barbour.com or contact: 
Rachael Sundin, Global PR Executive 
E: [email protected] T: (0)191 427 4280  
 
#BarbourChristmas 

About Barbour  
Originally established by John Barbour in 1894 in South Shields in the North East of England to provide outerwear to fishermen, sailors and mariners to protect them from the worst of the British weather, today Barbour offers a complete wardrobe of clothes, accessories and footwear for men, women and children. Shirts, knitwear, trousers, footwear and accessories are now just as much in demand as Barbour’s iconic outerwear. 
  
Forever synonymous with the British countryside, Barbour’s collections now span from the best practical country clothing to fashion-forward lifestyle collections. To this day Barbour’s ranges continue to be inspired by the company’s archives which date back to 1910 – each season classic designs are re-interpreted into modern, contemporary silhouettes. 
  
A family-owned 5th generation brand established 130 years ago, Barbour is a global success story sold in over 55 countries worldwide including Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the US and Japan.   
 
In 2020, Barbour launched Wax for Life, an overarching name for all of Barbour’s wax services designed to encourage customers to extend the life of their jackets.  Wax for Life includes re-waxing and repairs first introduced in 1921 and Re-Loved, an upcycling circularity initiative.    
 
In 2023, Barbour celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Beaufort wax jacket, an Evergreen icon, designed by Dame Margaret Barbour in 1983 and one of the classic jackets that has made Barbour a household name.  
  
 
About Aardman   
Aardman is an employee-owned company, based in Bristol (UK) and co-founded in 1976 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton. An independent, multi-Academy Award® and BAFTA® award winning studio, it produces feature films, series, advertising, games and interactive entertainment. Current animated productions include the feature length sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget and a brand new Wallace & Gromit film for 2024.  
  
Its productions are global in appeal, novel, entertaining, brilliantly characterised and full of charm reflecting the unique talent, energy and personal commitment of the Aardman team. The studio’s work – which includes the creation of much-loved characters including Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time and Morph – is often imitated, and yet the company continues to lead the field producing a rare brand of visually stunning content for cinema, broadcasters, digital platforms and live experiences around the world. Recent celebrated projects include the Academy Award® and BAFTA® nominated short film Robin Robin, International Emmy® award winning Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas, BAFTA® nominated preschool series The Very Small Creatures and the brand new CGI comedy series for kids Lloyd of the Flies.  
 
The studio runs the Aardman Academy which has a commitment to nurturing talent by delivering excellence in film and animation training and mentoring. The Aardman Academy offers a variety of courses from intensive one-day workshops teaching production skills and storyboarding, to comprehensive twelve-week courses for professionals in craft based subjects from model making to animation.  
In November 2018 it became an Employee Owned Organisation, to ensure Aardman remains independent and to secure the creative legacy and culture of the company for many decades to come. www.aardman.com  
 
About Shaun the Sheep  
Shaun the Sheep, Aardman’s family favourite TV series, is recognised the world over for its slapstick humour, distinctive look and strong, quirky characters and enjoyed across multiple media platforms. First appearing in Nick Park’s 1995 Academy Award® winning Wallace & Gromit ‘A Close Shave’, Shaun then went on to star in his own series, created by Richard Starzak which launched on BBC One in 2007.  Shaun the Sheep is currently broadcast in 170 territories around the world and is an internationally celebrated icon with over 5.6 million fans on Facebook.  In 2015 the first Shaun the Sheep Movie with feature film partner Studiocanal was released around the world to critical acclaim and the first half hour TV special aired as part of many broadcaster’s festive season. The feature film sequel Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon was released in October 2019 and nominated for an Academy Award® and was closely followed by a sixth season of the series in 2020.  A new festive special Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas was released in December 2021. In 2023 Aardman launched One Farm, an exciting brand initiative using Shaun’s authentic link to the great outdoors to represent issues around the environment and sustainability in a fun and engaging way for families.  
 
About Oxfam 
Oxfam was born in 1942 and since then, has helped change lives worldwide. Oxfam is a global movement of people all working towards the same goal – an end to the injustice of poverty. Working together with local communities and partners, we save and rebuild lives in disasters, help people earn a living, and speak out on the big issues, like inequality and climate change, that keep people poor. Oxfam has more than 540 shops in the UK. By buying and donating through Oxfam shops, you can help to protect our planet, while helping the poorest people around the world to escape the injustice of poverty. In 1993, Oxfam provided stewards at Glastonbury festival for the first time and set the foundations for a relationship that continues to this day. 

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