This site has limited support for your browser. We recommend switching to Edge, Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.

FREE NZ SHIPPING ON ALL ORDERS OVER $150

Shopping Cart

Your cart is empty

Continue Shopping

Dedicated to Denim

Bear Brothers is a family owned business founded by Janet Bingham in 1997 when she designed the Original denim apron as a mum of two little boys living in rural Wiltshire. Janet needed an apron to wear whilst cooking, gardening, painting and cleaning mucky football boots…

Unable to find a decent apron, she decided to design her own. After 10 years designing denim collections for Lee and Lee Cooper jeans, there was a fair bit of denim at home to use for the first prototype which, after extensive testing, became the launch product for the Bear Brothers brand. This is still the apron Janet uses at home, 23 years on.

As with that first apron, product testing is still a big part of our design and development process. It is vital that every pocket is at the right height and angle for comfort. The only way of knowing that is by wearing the garment. This takes time, but every garment we introduce to the range is expected to stay there for years. We are the very antithesis of fast fashion.

Our production is done in small batches to minimise any waste by over production, and we support both on and off shore manufacture.

Denim for Modern Times

The lines between work and home life have become somewhat blurred in recent years with more people working from home than ever before.

Shopping trends have changed, with more people buying less, and consciously choosing comfort over glamour, and longevity over seasonal fashion.

We have embraced those changes at Bear Brothers by creating a small capsule wardrobe of essential garments that are built to last and will take you through each day in comfort and style.

Consider our denim workdress or dungaree, as your base layer, and build from there. Introduce colour and texture in the tops you choose, and enjoy layering up or down depending on the season. Each combination will feel like a whole new outfit.

"A small capsule of essential garments, built to last a lifetime."

Double denim

The myths around the wearing of double denim are long outdated. Our philosophy is, wear as much denim as you want to, the more the better!

There are no rules or limits with denim, that's the beauty of it. Change it up by layering different shades of indigo, or keep it tonal.

Have fun, experiment, and take it from us, nothing goes better with denim, than more denim.



Denim Forever

The early adopters of denim as casual wear in the milkbars of the 50's and the hippie festivals of the 60's, are now in their twilight years. They have grown up wearing denim, they want to continue to wear denim, but understandably, are done with the cowboy look.

They are the first generation to have lived through decades of changes in denim design, colour and fits. Part of our inclusive strategy at Bear Brothers, is to create modern denim garments to suit women of all ages. There are not many denim companies who have a target age range of 18 - 80, but we do, and proud of it!