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Burberry

1 Introduction

Burberry clothing was founded in 1856 when 21-year-old Thomas Burberry, a former draper's apprentice, opened his own store in Basingstoke, Hampshire. By 1870 the business had become well established and focused on the development of outdoors attire. In 1880 Thomas Burberry invented gabardine fabric, which is hardwearing, water-resistant, yet breathable, in which the yarn is waterproofed before weaving. A patent was taken out for this in 1888. In 1891 Thomas Burberry opened an emporium in the Haymarket, London, which still stands today as the company's headquarters. Ten years later, the company was commissioned by the War Office to design a new service uniform for British officers. The company also became the outfitters for Roald Amundsen's 1911 Antarctic expedition, which became the first to reach the South Pole, and then to Ernest Shackleton on his 1914 attempt to cross Antarctica. When war broke out in Europe that year, the company modified its military designs to suit the conditions of contemporary warfare encountered by British troops, and the trenchcoat was created. After the war trenchcoats became popular with civilians and, over the years, the design has been worn by Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther films, and Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. In 1955 Burberry was bought by Great Universal Stores (GUS), owners of UK High street retailers Argos and Homebase. After a protracted period of relative slow decline the company became labelled as an old fashioned raincoat manufacturer. Recognising the decline of the brand GUS recruited RoseMary Bravo as Chief Exec in 2000. Bravo brought in rising designer Christopher Bailey and other new key personnel and undertook a programme that turned around the fortunes of the company. Central to this turnaround were the designs produced by Bailey and his creative team. Basing his design concepts on the heritage of the company Bailey won wide acclaim from critics and from...