Following two successful years of festive collaborations with nostalgic favourite, Shaun the Sheep, Barbour is once again partnering with award-winning animation studio Aardman for its eagerly anticipated 2025 Christmas advert – this time starring the much-loved, and recently NTA awarded duo, Wallace & Gromit.
Accompanying this year’s advert, Barbour has created a limited-edition run of Re-loved Wallace & Gromit inspired wax jackets, with all proceeds going to Oxfam.
Produced by Aardman’s skilled team with their signature stop-motion style, this year’s festive film was meticulously made in their Bristol studio, but immediately transports viewers to Wallace & Gromit’s home, where Barbour products are seamlessly weaved into the animation.
Both heart-warming and humorous in nature, the advert introduces viewers to Wallace’s latest contraption: the Gift-o-matic. From the very origins of the Barbour business and building on the brand’s AW25 storytelling campaign, Ode to Ayrshire, tartan has played an important role, and it is no different for this year’s Christmas advert. Each season, Barbour explores new colours and palettes to suit the collection, reimagining the signature, but always staying true to the original Barbour sett. Wrapped in Barbour’s festive Winterberry tartan, exclusive and limited for this season, the Gift-o-matic is a tartan-wrapped robot designed to make festive gift-giving effortless, the machine can gift, wrap, unwrap and even pull a celebratory cracker. After both Wallace and Gromit simultaneously gift each other the perfect gift – a Barbour classic tartan scarf – in true Wallace style, the invention takes an unexpected turn. While the invention in theory is revolutionary for the festive period, in practice, it ends in the Gift-o-matic not unwrapping a gift, but Wallace himself, with only his new scarf working as a cover up.
With an appropriate focus on gifting, and a tongue in cheek tagline which plays into the final scene, the combination of Barbour, Wallace’s inventions and Gromit’s friendship is undeniable: they’ve got Christmas gifting covered.
Forever synonymous with the British countryside, family-owned Barbour has been coveting the crown of gift-giving 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 to provide functional and joyful products to gift to loved ones.
As a follow on from Barbour’s Re-loved partnership with Glastonbury and Oxfam, this year’s Re-loved jackets will be totally unique, repaired with tartan patches and incorporate inspiration from Wallace & Gromit, making them truly collectable items. A selection of the jackets will be sold in different Oxfam stores, with the remaining being sold at an online auction and all of the money raised from the jackets sold going to help Oxfam’s lifesaving work.
“We are excited to be continuing our partnership with Aardman for another year; a brand, like Barbour, that is renowned for its heritage, nostalgia, craftsmanship and meticulous detail. This year’s film brings a light-hearted charm to Barbour’s Original and Authentic Tartans including the Classic Tartan Scarf and the exclusive, reimagined Winterberry Tartan wrapping Wallace’s ingenious
Gift-o-matic. Whilst rooted in our British heritage, the story’s themes of generosity and togetherness resonate far beyond the UK, reflecting the universal spirit of the season,” said Paul Wilkinson, Barbour Group deputy managing director.
“Wal/ace and Gromit have a/ways embodied warmth, eccentricity, and quintessential British charm, which makes them a wonderful fit for Barbour’s Christmas storytelling. The Gift-o-matic is a classic Wal/ace invention – brilliant but with a few hiccups – and we’re delighted to share this playful, festive tale with audiences this year, in hope that the love, craft, warmth and humour bring big smiles this Christmas,” said Nick Park, creator of Wallace & Gromit.
FILM SYNOPSIS
The story unfolds with Gromit sat amongst the twinkly Christmas tree lights, preparing his Christmas gift for Wallace. A bold Wallace charges in, with his Barbour beanie keeping him cosy from the snowy scenes outside, completely unaware that he’d nearly ruined his own surprise, but too excited to contain his politeness.
As Gromit quickly hides the gift, Wallace introduces Gromit- and viewers – to his latest invention: the Gift-o-matic, explaining how it makes gift giving so much easier. Moving through the settings of the machine, the Gift-o-matic flawlessly wraps Gromit’s teacup and teapot in Festive Tartan wrap before sharing an explosive Christmas cracker with Gromit resulting in Gromit being blown out of the living room into the garden, leaving an armchair-shaped hole in the concrete wall. After wiping the cracker-incident-related dirt from Gromit’s cheek, Wallace gifts Gromit with a timeless Barbour scarf in Classic Tartan. Returning the favour, Gromit hands the gift over to Wallace, reminding Wallace of the “unwrap” mode, prompting the Gift-o-matic’s “arms” to uncover the gift: the very same classic tartan scarf, capturing the humour and warmth of the season.
As carol singers arrive, Wallace’s excitement accidentally triggers the Gift-o-matic’s “unwrap” setting once more. In a comical twist, the machine zeroes in on Wallace himself, leaving him suddenly stripped of his festive attire. In the closing scene, Wallace stands in his classic Barbour wellies, hurriedly covering himself with his newly gifted tartan scarf, much to the shock of the onlooking carollers in a perfectly light-hearted Wallace and Gromit moment.
The campaign celebrates the joy and frivolity of Christmas, reminding audiences that gifting should be playful, heartfelt, and full of laughter.
