Information On Burberry

Burberry clothing was founded in 1856 when 21-year-old Thomas Burberry, a former draper's learner. Burberry opened his own store in Basingstoke, Hampshire. By 1870 Burberry 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 in London, which still stands today as the company's headquarters. Ten years later, Burberry was commissioned by the War Office to design a new service uniform for British officers. Burberry 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 the war broke out in Europe that year, Burberry 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 U.K. 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 buyers. The brand was also expanded to include franchised items such as household items, watches, fragrence, sunglasses and golf items. As the UK business was revitalised work also began to reintegrate the businesses operating around the world under the Burberry banner but which were not owned or managed by the UK operation. Operations in Spain and Hong Kong were bought into the business. Following a period of massive sales and reputational growth GUS opted to float Burberry off as a separate company by passing its shares over to the shareholders of GUS its self. At this time (November 2005) RoseMary Bravo announced her intention to move to the position of Vice Chairman and it was announced that Angela Ahrendts was to take over the CE role.

The red, white, black, and camel check, known as the 'Nova,' has come to be synonymous with Burberry. It was first used as a lining for Burberry trenchcoat in 1924, although it was not widely used as an outer layer until the late 1960s. By then the Burberry Check was used on items including umbrellas, scarves and luggage, and was registered as a trademark.

After the entry of a new management team in 1997, Burberry was revitalised. Once mainly the preserve of upper-middle class older women, the patronage of celebrities in the U.K. and U.S., including David and Victoria Beckham and hip-hop artists, gave it wider appeal.