In brief
Burberry almost died in the early 2000s because it lowered prices and licensed the brand to too many manufacturers, until the tartan became the uniform of chavs and, by 2005, 99% of tartan products were counterfeit. From 2006 CEO Angela Ahrendts and creative director Christopher Bailey removed the tartan from visible items, ended low-cost licensing, raised prices and embraced digital, and within five years sales rose 27% a year.
- Pubs in England banned anyone wearing Burberry for fear of brawls, and rapper Dappy of N-Dubz said wearing Burberry marked you as a criminal
- Burberry rebuilt exclusivity by raising prices, launching limited collections and choosing ambassadors such as Emma Watson, Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne
- It was the first fashion brand to live stream runway shows, built a trench coat customization platform and ran the Art of the Trench campaign
The Burberry Case: How a Luxury Brand Almost Died (and Saved Itself with a Brilliant Rebranding)
Burberry is now one of the most prestigious luxury brands in the world, a symbol of British elegance and status. But few people know that in the 2000s the brand was on the brink of total disaster:
- Gangsters and thugs had adopted it as their uniform.
- Parallel markets were flooded with fakes.
- The brand was considered cheap and had lost its luxury appeal.
Then, in a stroke of genius, Burberry has made one of the most spectacular rebrands in history, returning to being an exclusive and desired icon. Here’s how it happened.
1. From Luxury Icon to Gangster Brand
Founded in 1856, Burberry was synonymous with luxury, quality and British class. Celebrities, politicians and even the royal family wore his famous trench coats and scarves in beige, red and black tartan.
But in the early 2000s, something went wrong.
The Problem: The “Chav Takeover”
Burberry made a fatal mistake: to increase sales, lowered prices and licensed the brand to too many manufacturers.
Result? The famous Burberry check pattern ended up on:
- Baseball caps and tracksuits sold cheaply.
- Streetwear bought by British “chavs” (the equivalent of Italian tamarri).
- Every market stall and second-rate shop had fake Burberrys for a few euros.
From a luxury brand, Burberry became the uniform of hooligans, gangsters and football hooligans. Even pubs in England banned anyone wearing Burberry, for fear of brawls.
By 2005, 99% of Burberry tartan products sold worldwide were counterfeit.
Disastrous damage to image
The brand was now associated with the culture of crime. Even the English rapper Dappy (N-Dubz) declared that “if you wear Burberry, you are a criminal”.
Result? Sales plummeted. The wealthy target did not want to be associated with the brand any longer, and even shareholders feared that Burberry had become beyond redemption.
2. The Stroke of Genius: How Burberry Saved Its Brand
In 2006, Burberry brought in Angela Ahrendts as CEO and Christopher Bailey as creative director. They had an impossible mission: transform a declining brand into an exclusive luxury icon.
Here are the most brilliant strategic moves that turned the situation around.
1. Rid the brand of criminals (literally)
Burberry made a drastic and risky decision:
- He removed the tartan logo from the most visible items.
- He stopped licensing with low-cost manufacturers.
- He removed tartan entirely from the most commercial accessories (such as baseball caps, which had become the symbol of chavs).
Within a year, Burberry cleaned up its brand image, making products with the iconic motif rare and desirable again.
2. Creating an Aura of Absolute Exclusivity
Burberry returned to targeting the high end of the market:
- He raised prices.
- He launched limited collections.
- He chose luxury ambassadors such as Emma Watson, Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne.
The strategy worked: the message was clear. Burberry was no longer for everyone.
3. Technology + Luxury: Digital Innovation
Burberry was one of the first luxury brands to aggressively embrace digital:
- It was the first fashion brand to live stream its runway shows.
- It created a unique platform for custom-made, allowing customers to personalize trench coats.
- It launched highly engaging social campaigns such as “Art of the Trench”, which turned shoppers into brand ambassadors.
Burberry transformed the concept of fashion marketing, becoming a point of reference for the industry.
3. The Return to Success: From Dying Brand to Emperor of Luxury
Within 5 years, Burberry’s rebranding was one of the most spectacular in history:
- Sales rose 27% a year.
- Burberry shares quadrupled.
- Rich customers flocked back to the brand.
Burberry had succeeded in get rid of unwanted audiences and become synonymous with luxury and refinement again.
4. The Marketing Lesson Behind the Burberry Case
Burberry teaches us that a brand can quickly destroy itself if it loses control of its image, but it can also rise again if it adopts an intelligent strategy.
Here are 3 key lessons from the Burberry case:
- Exclusivity = Desire → If a luxury brand becomes too accessible, it loses value. Rarity is the secret of desire.
- The right audience is more important than the largest audience → Burberry understood that it didn’t have to sell to everyone, but only to the right customers.
- Digital can reinvent a brand → The combination of luxury and digital experience has made Burberry a pioneer of fashion tech.
Today Burberry is once again a global icon. But without this stroke of genius, it would probably have failed in 2010.
Conclusion: Marketing Can Save (or Destroy) a Brand
Burberry is proof that marketing is not just advertising, but strategic positioning. If a brand is perceived in the wrong way, it can die. If it manages to regain control of its image, it can be reborn stronger than before.
The Burberry case is one of the most extreme and spectacular examples of rebranding in history.
The question is: how many other brands today are making the same mistake and risking collapse?
Frequently asked questions
Why did Burberry become associated with chavs?
Burberry became associated with chavs because in the early 2000s, to increase sales, it lowered prices and licensed the brand to too many manufacturers. The famous check pattern ended up on cheap baseball caps and tracksuits, market stalls sold fakes for a few euros, and the tartan turned into the uniform of hooligans and gangsters. By 2005, 99% of Burberry tartan products sold worldwide were counterfeit.
How did Burberry fix its brand image?
Burberry fixed its image after 2006, when Angela Ahrendts became CEO and Christopher Bailey creative director. They removed the tartan logo from the most visible items and from commercial accessories like baseball caps, stopped licensing with low-cost manufacturers, raised prices, launched limited collections and chose luxury ambassadors such as Emma Watson, Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne. Within a year the iconic motif was rare and desirable again.
Who turned Burberry around?
Burberry was turned around by Angela Ahrendts, appointed CEO in 2006, and Christopher Bailey, appointed creative director at the same time. Their mission was to transform a declining brand into an exclusive luxury icon: they cleaned up the tartan's overexposure, ended low-cost licensing, repositioned the brand at the high end of the market and made Burberry one of the first luxury brands to embrace digital aggressively.
How did Burberry use digital marketing in its rebranding?
Burberry was one of the first luxury brands to embrace digital aggressively. It was the first fashion brand to live stream its runway shows, created a custom-made platform that let customers personalize their trench coats, and launched engaging social campaigns such as Art of the Trench, which turned shoppers into brand ambassadors. This combination of luxury and digital experience made Burberry a pioneer of fashion tech.
What were the results of the Burberry rebranding?
Within five years of the 2006 relaunch Burberry's sales rose 27% a year, its shares quadrupled and wealthy customers returned to the brand. The brand became synonymous with luxury again. The case shows that exclusivity creates desire, that the right audience matters more than the largest audience, and that digital can reinvent a brand; without this strategy Burberry would probably have failed in 2010.
Last substantive revision: April 16, 2025.
