Published: Friday, September 12, 2025 · 5:00 AM | Updated: Friday, September 12, 2025 · 5:00 AM
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A homemade sign appeared on a lamppost by Dublin Bay in late 2020. “By order: no Dryrobes or Dryrobe types!!!” it read.
The sign was seemingly at odds to Dryrobe founder Gideon Bright’s vision of a product protecting from the winter elements after emerging from the surf, as well as a convenient way of changing into warm clothes.
But, ever since public health advice to venture outdoors during COVID, Dryrobe has somehow found itself swimming against some divisive tides, as sightings of the oversized, innovative fleece-lined coats grew.
Read more: I turned my mum’s 1980s homemade Dryrobe into a £22m British success
There are now Facebook and Reddit groups on ‘Dryrobe spotters’, while the brand has been hashtagged with #britishproblems and detractors have come up with phrases such as ‘Dryrobe W*****s’ and ‘grim reaper silhouettes’.
Last month, those groups were awash with images of Angela Rayner when the then-deputy prime minister was spotted wearing a camouflage and pink Dryrobe number and sipping a glass of rosé by the Sussex coast.
The previous week, Yahoo Finance UK had published a timely interview with the brand’s founder where Bright admitted that he found the Dryrobe memes “weird”.
The anti-sentiment seems to be placed on the garment being worn in drier places away from the coast — supermarkets, parks or a city centre. It has been reported that Dryrobe wearers simply take up too much space for some people.
“The drier the place is, the higher my chances of spotting one,” one tabloid journalist wrote.
“The exclusive price, celebrity endorsement and distinctive look have made Dryrobes a fashion statement,” chimed the Mail on Sunday. “They are now as likely to be seen in the organic aisle of Waitrose as in the rugged outdoors, much to the chagrin of hardy sportspeople. This makes them divisive.”
Bright, meanwhile, is undeterred and fully embraces those consumers who wear his product on the side of a sports pitch or walking the dog. It’s a disregard, he says, for a “normal” look.
“We created something that didn’t exist before and there are very few brands I think that do that, and for it to be what it is is amazing,” Bright tells Yahoo Finance UK.
“It has always been about nature and, with my kids, dragging them out when they don’t want to go down to the beach and you’ve got something to chuck on them or if we’re walking in the woods.”
He also told the Financial Times recently that “I wear it pretty much everywhere. It makes a lot of sense to me to wear it out when it’s freezing.”
“You’re never going to please everyone,” he added. “Online, you’re always going to have haters.”
Bright says he has taken an interest in other products that have come in for either criticism or gained attention [such as footwear brand Crocs (CROX)] over time.
“They tend to be fantastic products, but then people that are worried about change or standing out a bit,” admits Bright.
“I think it comes from a bit of insecurity. You’ve got to trust in common sense and do what makes sense for you. And if you’ve got a garment that you can stand around anywhere and stay warm and sheltered, why wouldn’t you [wear it]?
“Those sorts of things actually might need explaining. We might need to let people know the other uses it can be used for and point out it won’t do any harm. I just find it interesting.”
When COVID hit, Bright was forced to furlough half of his then-15 employees at Dryrobe’s Devon headquarters. Sales rocketed when restrictions were then lifted to venture outside, not to mention the rise in popularity of cold water swimming.
Six years after launching the product in 2010, Bright was predicting revenues of around £1m. Then, between 2019 and 2023, the clothing brand saw increased sales of 545%. Bright, who employs over 50 staff, revealed revenues of £21.8m in Dryrobe’s latest financials.
It seems that 2020 was the year when Britons were happy to wear this new product wherever it was necessary — and without fear of what others thought.
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In a column entitled “What being a dryrobe w@nker can teach us about happiness and community”, one Substacker and advocate of the garment wrote last autumn: “We get it. It’s not cool to wear a Dryrobe unless we are doing a Dryrobe-worthy activity.
“But guess what. We know it’s not cool. And we‘re gonna wear our Dryrobes wherever the hell we want anyway. And how freakin’ cool and subversive is that?!”
With the growth of cold water pursuits and the mental health benefits of being outdoors in general, Dryrobe looks set to continue being the standout brand in its field, as it aims for expansion outside the UK and fights product copycats in the process.
Meanwhile Dryrobe could also be benefiting from another source: the Great British Skinny Dip (GBSD), a growing charity initiative from British Naturism now in its tenth year.
“Dryrobes are dropping across the nation,” the Daily Mail reported, the newspaper adding that GBSD now has 600 venues involved across the UK.
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