Bentley Luxury Collection - Autumn Winter 2008
The new and expanded Bentley Collection range includes gift items and clothing as well as exclusive accessories and products, making them perfect for the holiday period. From leather to cashmere to silk to silver, all Bentley items are made from materials of superlative quality, sourced from the best producers around the world.
Ettinger of London is a family-owned luxury leather goods and accessories company and has crafted our new leather note books, envelope folio and small travel photo frame, unique to Bentley and designed in association with the company.
Every Ettinger item – including leather travel wallets, luggage tags, coat wallets, credit card cases, business card cases and ladies’ purses - is hand-made across six individual stages, in the UK. Founded by Gerry Ettinger more than 70 years ago, the company is still family owned and run by his son, Robert. Ettinger is one of only a handful of remaining British luxury leather goods companies and is also a Royal Warrant holder for His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales.
An iconic item in our silk range is the Birkin Spot, which refers to the blue and white spotted handkerchief that Tim Birkin wore around his neck when racing in the glorious era of the ‘Bentley Boys’. The quality of silk used for all the Birkin accessories is the finest foulard, hand-woven and processed in one of England’s only remaining silk mills, in Cheshire, just 30 minutes away from Bentley’s own Crewe factory. Even the blue dye used for the Birkin accessories is a unique mix named ‘Bentley Blue’. The tie and both scarves are a more luxurious longer length than standard, with the tie measuring 1520mm, the reversible scarf measuring 1840 mm and the tubular scarf measuring 1880 mm.
Each of the silk items in the range is hand-stitched, and the 5-fold silk ties are individually hand-slipped in London. The construction of a 5-fold tie is rare and complex to achieve – only very few tie manufacturers can make these in a reasonable quantity and they insist on supplying them to the most prestigious and selected outlets. Each tie is made from a single piece of silk, which is hand folded 4 times to create the final pleated appearance.
Similarly, the Tubular scarf is a highly skilled construction. The fringes on both the Tubular and Cashmere/Silk reversible scarves are individually hand-knotted, and the cashmere used in the reversible scarf is the finest Scottish-milled cashmere.
Another family company which has contributed to this exclusive Collection is Dents, whose history of glove-making dates back to 1777. Based in the South of England, the company still practises the traditional skills of hand cutting and stitching, exercising the greatest care and attention to detail.
All the gloves in the Collection are designed in association with Bentley and finished with our iconic “B” metal fastening (also applied to Ettinger leather goods). The gloves are hand-stitched in England, using the finest leather and cashmere lining, where applicable. The gloves also feature unique cross-stitching, carried over from the interior of our cars.
A worldwide favourite, cashmere is highly regarded as one of the finest yarns available. The critical properties – wonderfully light yet warm and soft to the touch – lend its application to a wide range of products, from baby wear to heavyweight stoles.
Our cashmere stoles, scarves and baby gift items are produced in the English Pennines region, famed for its soft water rivers that still feed the factory after 150 years of production.
Within that historic Yorkshire factory, the Bentley Collection items are woven on the same looms that produce products for some of the world’s most important fashion brands, such as Chanel. The quality control measures and attention to detail are superb, and the entire process – from hand-dyeing to spinning and weaving - is still done by hand.
Our ladies’ and gentlemen’s travel robe, made to order in a pure cashmere/cotton mix with a pure silk lining and discreet Bentley ‘B’. This hand-stitched robe will turn any journey into a grand tour and bring a touch of home to any hotel room.
For ‘Pure Bentley’ lovers our latest luxury wood and silver items are true collectables. Hand-made by Anthony Holt, one of England’s most renowned silversmiths and craftsmen, each of the wood and silver ‘Pure Bentley’ items are individually made to a customer’s orders.
Using the finest solid walnut and burr walnut veneers, each wood item is subtly branded with the winged ‘B’ logo, which is set within the veneer to give a flat surface. The Watch box, Jewellery chest and Humidor use book-matched walnut veneer and are finished with ebony beading. Every piece is hand-crafted, hand-lacquered and hand-polished in England.
The sterling silver ‘Blower’ and ‘Baby Blower’ models are highly detailed and include moving parts. Both models carry the Bentley silver hallmark, as registered with the Sheffield Assay Office in England, together with the traditional precious metal hallmarks.
