During that time, it has crafted some of the finest examples of the gunmakers art that exist anywhere. While many of the traditional skills used to create the company’s modern firearms would be familiar to the craftsmen who were working at Westley Richards when Charles Dickens was born, the English gunmaker has never bowed to convention. Consequently, it has been responsible for more than 100 patents, several of which proved to be so influential that they still form the cornerstone of modern gunmaking. While technical innovation and craftsmanship feature high on the list of the company’s core values, reliability and durability have always been of equal importance. Before any gun can be considered to be a true Westley Richards, it must be far more than a thing of engraved and polished beauty, it must do exactly what it was designed to do - without fail. It was this reputation for combining aesthetics with durability that led Westley Richards to develop a complementary traditional skill they had begun to introduce before the turn of the last century – hand-crafted leather goods and bags. It’s a little-known fact that the company is the only gunmaking house in Britain with its own leather workshop where skilled craftsmen create a range of goods with the option of a bespoke service to reflect the customers’ personalised choice. In addition to their leather and luggage ranges, the company found they were receiving an increasing number of requests from its shotgun and rifle clients for suitable outdoor clothing and accessories with similar quality and durability characteristics as the company’s guns. Accordingly, Westley Richards’ buyers began a worldwide search for suitable high-quality jackets, shirts and shorts, hats, etc - all made by leading specialists in their respective fields. The result of this division of specialities is that the clothing and accessories it offers don’t just look like they’d be at home on safari or a shoot – they would be at home even in the toughest climates – or double up as long-lasting luxury leisure wear.