When Plaid Goes Bad

Burberry, the globally recognized British luxury fashion house, known for its rich heritage, iconic outerwear, and distinctive check pattern has gone astray. Once a full-fledged fashion brand with global influence, the brand has floundered and flopped since 2020 and recent attempts to right the ship seem questionable.

Burberry’s identity is rooted in British tradition and practicality. Its most famous product is the trench coat, originally designed for British soldiers during World War I and crafted from a well woven gabardine, a fabric invented by Thomas Burberry. It was the standard in outerwear: often imitated, never equaled, you might say, but building on that notoriety has been as dreary as the days you may wear one (more on that later).

For the year ending March 29, 2025, Burberry swung from a £418 million profit to a £3 million operating loss, with revenue dropping ~17% to £2.5 billion. Amongst high end fashion brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Balenciaga, Hermes, Chanel and Miu Miu, this is a catastrophe. 

To stem the tide, retail veteran and CEO Joshua Schulman has announced cuts of approximately 1,700 jobs (18% of the global workforce) through 2027, hoping to reduce annual costs by £60 million on top of a previous £40 million saving package announced just 6 months earlier. Sales have gotten so bad that Burberry eliminated a shift at its main purse factory in Castleberry. This move underscores the brands nearsighted decision to enter the over $2,000 purse category; a space heavily crowded with brands that have dominated it for decades. In doing so, Burbury found itself trying to ease its customers upmarket armed with only a one trick pony, its Heritage Plaid. Although highly recognizable, it simply does not translate well into fine leathers and polished hardware. A recent offering was a well-crafted lambskin clutch in taupe on a chain, with an interior lining in the Burberry plaid cotton. Price, $2950.00. No thank you.

Another once core product, their silk scarves, was also overplayed even though the company has revamped stores with “scarf bars” to lure customers away from the leader in that category, Hermes. The problem furthered when Burberry sought to match pricing with the famous French retailer, which is like slapping a Lexus badge on a Toyota with cloth seats and charging the same sticker. To make matters worse, Burberry embarked on a ridiculous marketing campaign with the tag line. “Its always Burberry weather” which would denote to most that a rainy day is all the rage. Big mistake.

CEO Shulman is desperate to get out of the deep end and as such, has abandoned the pricey handbag isles, hired new marketing personnel and realigning in-store experiences: something every high end brands started doing 3 years ago. Better late than never!

Shulman knows how to navigate the markets, he did so successfully at Coach and Michael Kors, but those are brands that cater more to the middle than the high end. Slapping a MK or CC logo product wise is a lot easier at an affordable price point. He will have to reestablish the core business first (at a price point) before stepping the brand back on the runway and lastly spend less in China, a market that has proven to be a recent drag for all designer brands while the United States, India and South America have shown retail strength. If Shulman can’t right the ship in the next 2 quarters, it will always be nothing but a rainy, dreary, puddle filled day for Burberry. Have your umbrellas ready.

Christina Grazia Poggi, is an Italian writer from Como, Italy who frequently writes about fashion brands and their ups and downs. She is known in her village as ‘La signora con la sciarpa’ because she is never without her silk scarf.