brby industry fashion founded 1856 ; 160 years ago 1856 basingstoke england founder thomas burberry headquarters london england number of locations 498 may 2016 area served worldwide key people john peace chairman christopher bailey fashion designer products clothing accessories perfumes cosmetics revenue 2 523.2 million 2015 1 operating income 440.3 million 2015 1 net income 341.1 million 2015 1 number of employees 10 851 website uk.burberry.com burberry group inc is an english luxury fashion house headquartered in london england . its main fashion house focuses on and distributes ready to wear outerwear fashion accessories fragrances sunglasses and cosmetics . established in 1856 by thomas burberry originally focusing on the development of outdoor attire the fashion house has moved on to the high fashion market developing pattern based scarves trench coats and other fashion accessories . the first shop opened up in the haymarket london in 1891 . burberry was an independent family controlled company until 1955 when it was reincorporated . the fashion house has dressed notable actors world leaders musicians and athletes such as humphrey bogart audrey hepburn peter sellers and ronald reagan . its distinctive check pattern has become one of its most widely copied trademarks . burberry is most famous for its trench coat . burberry has branded stores and franchises around the world and sells through concessions in third party stores . queen elizabeth ii and the prince of wales have granted the company royal warrants which have been maintained despite burberry s closure of its factory in wales . christopher bailey has been the ceo and chief creative officer since 2014 . the company is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . in 2015 burberry ranked 73rd in interbrand s best global brands report ahead of ralph lauren and hugo boss . 2 3 burberry has more than 500 stores in over 50 countries . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 early years 19th century 1.2 20th century 1.2.1 influences and rise to prominence 1.3 21st century 2 stores 3 brand designs 4 products 5 selected gallery 6 references 7 external links history edit early years 19th century edit burberry was founded in 1856 when 21 year old thomas burberry a former draper s apprentice opened his own store in basingstoke hampshire england . 5 by 1870 the business had established itself by focusing on the development of outdoors attire . 5 in 1880 burberry introduced in his brand the gabardine a hardwearing water resistant yet breathable fabric in which the yarn is waterproofed before weaving . 6 burberry was the original name but then the company soon switched to using the name burberrys after many customers from around the world began calling it burberrys of london . this name is still visible on many older burberry products . in 1891 burberry opened a shop in the haymarket london . 5 20th century edit former burberry headquarters on the haymarket built 1913 in 1901 the burberry equestrian knight logo was developed containing the latin word prorsum meaning forwards and registered as a trademark . 5 in 1911 they became the outfitters for roald amundsen 5 the first man to reach the south pole and ernest shackleton who led a 1914 expedition to cross antarctica . a burberry gabardine jacket was worn by george mallory on his presumed ill fated attempt on mount everest in 1924 . 7 in 1914 burberry was commissioned by the war office to adapt its officer s coat to suit the conditions of contemporary warfare resulting in the trench coat . 5 after the war the trench coat became popular with civilians . the iconic burberry check was created in the 1920s and used as a lining in its trench coats . 5 burberry also specially designed aviation garments . a.e. clouston and betty kirby green made the fastest flying time to cape town from london in 1937 and were sponsored by burberry . 8 burberry was an independent family controlled company until 1955 when it was taken over by great universal stores gus . 9 influences and rise to prominence edit stars of the modern world began wearing the burberrys brand . notable people include humphrey bogart audrey hepburn peter sellers and ronald reagan . during the 1970s and 1980s burberrys signed agreements with worldwide manufacturers to produce complementary products to the existing british collection such as suits trousers shirts sportswear accessories for men ladies and children . these products designed under the strict control of headquarters in london were produced and distributed through independent retail stores worldwide as well as the burberry stores and contributed to the growth of the brand in sales and profits through to the late 90s although the full extent of sales was not apparent in the parent company accounts since much was done through licensed agreements . the company had signed lord litchfield as photographer lord leonard wolfson was chairman and stanley peacock obe managing director . in 1998 burberrys changed their marketing name to burberry following the retirement of the aforementioned . 21st century edit burberry chicago flagship store on the magnificent mile built in 2012 . in may 2001 christopher bailey joined burberry as creative director . 10 11 however between 2001 and 2005 burberry became associated with chav and football hooligan culture . this change in the brand reputation was blamed on lower priced products the proliferation of counterfeit goods adopting burberry s trademark check pattern as well as adoption by celebrities prominently identified with chav culture . the association with football hooliganism led to the wearing of burberry check garments being banned at some venues . 12 13 gus divested its remaining interest in burberry in december 2005 . 14 15 burberry group plc was initially floated on the london stock exchange in july 2002 . in 2005 sanyo shokai was the burberry ready to wear licence holder in japan with retail value of 435 million . 16 in 2006 rose marie bravo who as chief executive had led burberry to mass market success through licensing decided to retire . 17 she was replaced by another american angela ahrendts 18 who joined from liz claiborne in january 2006 and took up the position of ceo on 1 july 2006 . ahrendts and bailey successfully turned around the then chav like reputation that the brand had acquired at the end of bravo s tenure by removing the brand s check pattern from all but 10 % of the company s products and buying out the spanish franchise that was worth 20 % of group revenues . 10 19 20 burberry first began selling online in the us followed by the uk in october 2006 and the rest of the eu in 2007 . 21 bailey became chief creative officer in november 2009 whilst it was reported that during 2012 ahrendts was the highest paid ceo in the uk making 16.9 m 22 the first time an english woman has held that title . 23 in october 2013 it was announced that ahrendts would take up the position of senior vice president of retail and online at apple inc. from april 2014 and be replaced as ceo by bailey . 24 during her tenure sales increased to over 2 billion and shares gained more than threefold to 7 billion . 25 although burberry promotes its british connection according to the guardian a british national daily newspaper as of july 2012 burberry maintains only two production facilities in great britain one in castleford producing raincoats and a smaller one in keighley . 26 a burberry store in tsim sha tsui hong kong in spring 2014 christopher bailey became ceo of burberry and retained the role as chief creative officer . 24 his basic salary is 1.1 m with total compensation of up to 10m a year depending on sales targets being met . 27 in july 2016 it was announced that bailey would resign from ceo but would continue as chief creative officer of the company . 28 c line boss marco gobbetti will takeover as ceo of the ftse 100 company while christopher bailey would be demoted to creative director and president down from creative director and ceo . this move was made by the investors who were unhappy with bailey s performance as both ceo and creative director when the company reported 29m fall in annual pre tax profits for the year to 31 march to 415.6 m in may 2016 . anusha couttigane senior fashion analyst at kantar retail said that mr bailey excelled on product but pricing strategies maximising profitability and thoroughly reviewing every aspect of the business were not his main strengths . it was henceforth believed that bailey was not capable of discharging the duties of both ceo and creative director in an efficient way at a time when the luxury goods industry is forecasting slow growth and falling revenues . stores edit the number of burberry stores on 1 may 2016 africa south africa 4 egypt 3 americas united states 63 canada 12 brazil 8 mexico 5 colombia 2 panama 2 aruba 1 barbados 1 chile 1 asia south korea 62 china 56 japan 39 hong kong 15 taiwan 15 united arab emirates 13 india 7 saudi arabia 6 kuwait 4 malaysia 3 philippines 3 qatar 3 singapore 3 vietnam 3 indonesia 2 lebanon 2 macau 2 mongolia 2 thailand 2 bahrain 1 jordan 1 kazakhstan 1 europe united kingdom 23 france 22 italy 17 spain 17 germany 11 turkey 9 portugal 7 russia 5 netherlands 4 poland 4 azerbaijan 3 switzerland 3 belgium 2 czech republic 2 denmark 2 sweden 2 austria 1 armenia 1 croatia 1 estonia 1 finland 1 georgia 1 hungary 1 ireland 1 latvia 1 lithuania 1 norway 1 romania 1 ukraine 1 oceania australia 5 brand designs edit burberry operates under 3 sub brands 2014 1 29 burberry prorsum the most fashion forward collection centered around runway shows providing the design inspiration for the brand . burberry london the tailored collection typically what a customer wears on weekdays for work . burberry brit the most casual collection typically worn on the weekend . products edit the company s main fashion house focuses on and distributes ready to wear outerwear fashion accessories fragrances sunglasses and cosmetics . 29 selected gallery edit burberry london store on bond street burberry scarf with check pattern the burberry check a burberry store in recife brazil references edit a b c d annual report 2015 pdf . burberry . retrieved 20 march 2016 . 2014 best global brands . interbrand . retrieved 15 march 2015 . interbrand . rankings 2015 best global brands best brands interbrand . interbrand.com . retrieved 2016 03 04 . burberry store fashion . store locator . burberry.com . retrieved 15 march 2015 . a b c d e f g burberry history . burberryplc.com . retrieved 4 january 2011 . chastain sue 4 december 1985 . trenchant coat cuffs may fray and buttons may pop but a true believer won t abandon his burberry . chicago tribune . p. 40 . retrieved 15 march 2015 . mallory and irvine should we solve everest s mystery . bbc . 3 october 2011 . retrieved 9 march 2014 . dh comet g acss & the burberry racer project . key publishing ltd. 20 november 2009 . retrieved 18 may 2013 . timeline burberry . 2 november 2010 . retrieved 9 march 2014 . a b mcdowell colin 6 september 2009 . christopher bailey burberry s golden boy . the times . retrieved 7 december 2009 . jones dolly 11 november 2009 . all hail bailey . vogue . retrieved 7 december 2009 . bothwell claire 28 october 2005 . burberry versus the chavs . bbc . retrieved 16 november 2015 . ostler catherine 5 november 2014 . as romeo beckham stars in their new ad how burberry went from chic to chav to chic again