Burberry × Smythson Turns Rainy-Day Motifs Into Notebooks and Roll-Up Travel Games
The British brands unite weather and exploration imagery with leather notebooks and portable games. The UK website already lists the collection; Japan’s first release starts October 28, with card cases expected separately in November.
On a rainy afternoon, an umbrella can live on a notebook cover as well as above a trench coat. For their first collaboration, British brands Burberry and Smythson bring the former’s imagery of weather, exploration and the outdoors to the latter’s leather stationery and travel games. The collection is already listed on the UK website, while selected Japanese stores and the Japanese online shop are scheduled to launch it on October 28. The October 26 report is a recent introduction, not a simultaneous global announcement today.
Umbrellas, signposts and check go beyond a logo
An illustrated green Soho notebook depicts a person carrying an umbrella beside a dog. A red version uses a signpost pointing in different directions and a windblown checked scarf to suggest travel. Other covers take a quieter approach with gold-stamped weather-related titles. Rather than simply enlarging a trademark, these small scenes translate coats, check and the British climate into portable objects, giving each notebook a narrative before anything is written inside.
A signpost and checked scarf extend the red cover’s imagery of exploration and travel.
The interiors use Smythson’s characteristic pale-blue Featherweight paper. Opening and closing pages feature either a London map inspired by Burberry’s Winter 2026 runway imagery or the House Check. These designs vary by style; every book should not be assumed to contain both linings. The official announcement says the notebooks are individually handmade in Smythson’s Hertfordshire bookbinding workshop. That information does not establish that every component of the games is made in the same workshop.
Pale-blue ruled pages and a ribbon show the notebook opened.A London street map spans the notebook’s lining.
Rolling up a board makes storage part of leather design
The travel games include roll-up chess and backgammon boards in Panama crossgrain leather. Unrolled, they offer smooth leather playing surfaces, with check detailing and zipped storage compartments at the ends. Photographs retain clear black-and-white chess squares and contrasting pieces, while the board need not occupy a table permanently. Rolled away, it resembles a leather accessory. The structure lets playing and tidying share one object instead of merely printing a board on an ordinary fabric pouch.
The unrolled chessboard shows check detailing and zipped compartments at its ends.Contrasting triangles mark the backgammon board, with check storage details at the sides.
Playing cards also come with leather travel cases and gilt edges. The double-pack version adds a lightweight pencil and a pale-blue paper notepad for scoring. The Japanese announcement marks both single- and double-pack card cases for expected arrival in November. The late-October introduction of notebooks and boards therefore does not mean every game arrives on the same day. Initial stamping is also offered; check the particular item’s available position, lettering and processing time before buying it as a gift.
Separate UK prices from Japan’s staggered arrivals
The UK website currently lists Soho notebooks at £210 or £225 depending on the design, the chess roll at £850 and the backgammon roll at £795. Japan’s official announcement lists titled notebooks at ¥49,500 and illustrated versions at ¥53,900, so these are not interchangeable prices. The figures reflect each market’s retail settings rather than a direct currency conversion. They also do not represent every shipping and import cost for a buyer in Taiwan.
The Smythson UK collaboration page links to the current styles. Japan’s initial stockists are Isetan Shinjuku’s Men’s building, the Nagoya store and the Japanese online shop; actual availability changes with each retailer. For those who prefer physical notes and tabletop games, the collaboration shifts fashion’s travel symbols into everyday reach: closed, a leather surface and small illustration; opened, a place to write or play.
