Burberry

Feb 10, 2022

Burberry is a British fashion retailer founded in 1856 in Basingstoke, United Kingdom, by Thomas Burberry. The multinational clothing-retail company creates luxury fashion for women, men, and children.

Burberry makes innovative menswear and womenswear, accessories, shoes, eyewear, fragrances, and cosmetics. The British fashion house also makes luxury outerwear that celebrates the outdoors.

Burberry has over 9,000 employees and operates more than 420 locations worldwide. It serves millions of customers globally and aims to be the leading British luxury brand, delivering sustainable, high-quality growth and value.

Burberry is a purposeful, values-driven brand committed to being a force for good in the world. It creates the next generation of sustainable luxury and helps transform the industry.

Burberry is also passionate about social reform and supporting local communities. It works with organizations that provide young people with the skills, confidence, and opportunities to succeed.

Burberry is a fashion brand and clothing retailer based in London, United Kingdom. It makes apparel, footwear, and accessories and offers a collection of basics, denim, knitwear, activewear, underwear, loungewear, swimwear, and outerwear.

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Sustainability Rating: 4/10

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Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes, bags, jewelry

For: Women, men, children

Type: Basics, denim, knitwear, activewear, underwear, loungewear, swimwear, outerwear, flats, sandals, boots, sneakers

Style: Chic

Quality: High

Price: $$$

Sizes: 2XS-2XL, 0-16 (US), 2-18 (UK), 32-46 (EU), 4-20 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, linen, hemp, ramie, viscose, acetate, polyester, nylon, spandex, neoprene, polyurethane, rubber, leather, wool, silk, down

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing country: not transparent enough

Certifications: BCI, RWS, RDS, SA8000, WRAP, ISO 14001

Sustainability Practices

Burberry is committed to sustainability and actively addressing the challenges facing the fashion and luxury industry and the world. It reduces its environmental footprint and enables social progress.

Burberry wants to drive real change and collaborates with organizations to make a positive impact. It has a responsibility agenda that aims to address the most material social and environmental impacts along its value chain.

Burberry used to destroy millions worth of unsaleable finished products each year. It finally ended this practice and committed to reevaluating waste, reducing plastic usage, and reusing, repairing, donating, or recycling unsaleable products.

Burberry only uses a small proportion of organic materials such as organic cotton and hemp or recycled materials such as recycled polyester and regenerated nylon.

Most of the fabrics it uses are either natural without relevant certifications, such as conventional cotton or linen, or synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, nylon, and more.

Burberry doesn't disclose the factories and partners it chooses to manufacture its products. It doesn't publish a list of all its manufacturers on its corporate website, burberryplc.com.

Burberry is still facing accusations of sourcing clothes from factories and suppliers with disastrous working conditions. Its supply chain has poor health and safety records.

The British luxury fashion house is also facing modern slavery and forced labor accusations for cases in China where workers make clothes for the company. It was accused of using forced labor to produce its clothing.

Burberry has an ethical trading program and conducts ethical trade audits in its supply chain. However, more than half of its finished goods supply chain requires improvements. The brand still doesn't pay a living wage across its supply chain.

The 2021 Fashion Transparency Index gave Burberry a score of only 34% based on how much the group discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

Burberry manufactures its clothes in China and many other East Asian countries, where human rights and labor law violations still happen every day.

Burberry has a Code of Conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors, based on the regulations set by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Burberry assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct by informal visits. It works with a team of experts to improve the working conditions in its factories.

Burberry doesn't use exotic animal skin, hair, fur, or angora. But it uses leather, wool, silk, and down feathers to manufacture many of its clothing pieces.

These animal-derived materials are cruel and unethical. They also harm the environment by producing greenhouse gases and wastes. More sustainable alternatives exist.

Sustainability Goals

Burberry has committed to becoming the first luxury brand to be climate positive by 2040. It aims to reduce its environmental impact across the entire supply chain.

The British fashion house is committed to using 100% renewable electricity by 2022. It will be carbon neutral across its operational use by 2022.

Burberry plans to procure 100% of its cotton sustainably by 2022. It will have 100% of products with more than one positive attribute by 2022, relating to social or environmental improvements.

Burberry will ensure all key materials are 100% traceable by 2025. It has ambitious targets to source more sustainable cotton, recycled polyester, and nylon.