About R1823
Rugby Holds Us Together
Rugby is more than what happens on the pitch.
It’s the colours we wear. The clubs we belong to. The rivalries passed down through families. The journeys, the songs, the clubhouse stories, the people beside us and the people we meet along the way. These are the threads that have run through rugby for generations. R1823 brings them into what we wear.
Born from 25 years of experience at Rugbystore, R1823 creates clothing with rugby at its heart. Our story draws on the colours, traditions, people and moments that have shaped the game for generations. Clothing for match days and ordinary days, the clubhouse and the pub, weekends away and everywhere in between. Because rugby doesn’t end at the final whistle. We carry it with us.
“Rugby has always been about belonging. We created R1823 around that connection to the game, the people, places and moments that stay with you long after the match is over.”
Anthony Barlow, Founder
The Threads Between Us
Every R1823 collection starts somewhere in rugby. A colour. A badge. A place. A famous match. A tour. A team. A tradition. A moment that people still talk about decades later. Sometimes the connection is obvious. Sometimes it sits quietly in a colour combination, a detail, a piece of embroidery or the cut of a familiar rugby garment.
We take those threads and bring them into clothing designed for today.
From rugby shirts and heavyweight hoodies to polos, quarter-zips, tees and everyday layers, R1823 is made to live beyond the pitch without losing its connection to the game.
Rugby has always been about belonging.
Made With Purpose
Our garments are made in Portugal using 100% cotton fabrics selected for their feel, durability and ability to stand up to regular wear.
R1823 is designed in the Scottish Borders, a region with deep roots in both rugby and textile making. Our embroidery and optional personalisation also take place here, bringing together that local connection with the expertise of our Portuguese manufacturing partners.
“The Scottish Borders has long been one of rugby’s heartlands, so it felt natural to keep the design, embroidery and personalisation of R1823 close to home. Combined with the expertise of our Portuguese manufacturing partners, it gives us the standard we wanted for R1823 from day one.”
Susie Barlow, Co-Founder
The result is clothing made to be worn often, lived in and kept.
Beyond The Game
You don’t stop being part of rugby when you leave the ground. It’s there on Saturday afternoons on the touchline and conversations in the pub. In old shirts at the back of a wardrobe and new ones worn for the first time. In the club you grew up with, the country you follow and the grudging respect for the colours on the other side.
That’s part of what makes rugby different. R1823 is clothing for that world. Not replica kit. Not sportswear. Just a connection to rugby that can go wherever you do.
Where Rugby’s Story Begins
Our name comes from 1823, the year traditionally associated with the birth of rugby. William Webb Ellis is said to have picked up the ball and run with it at Rugby School, creating a moment that would become part of rugby folklore. In the two centuries since, the game has grown across countries, clubs and communities, building its own traditions, rivalries and culture along the way. That is the world behind R1823.
R1823… Spun From Rugby.