Burberry's Reputation Hits Historic High, Signaling A Turnaround And Rising Sales Ahead
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO - DECEMBER 9, 2019: A vintage or used Burberrys trench coat for sale at an ... More antique shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1999 the company, headquartered in London, England, changed the brand name on clothing labels to simply 'Burberry'. (Photo by)
In RepTrak's list of the top 100 world's most reputable companies in 2025, Burberry and Chanel were the biggest movers among luxury brands that earned a place on that list. Chanel was luxury's biggest reputational loser, dropping from number 24 last year to 55 this, and Burberry was its biggest winner, moving up 53 positions to reach number 37.
Coinciding with Chanel's reputational fall was a reported 5.3% drop in revenues and a 30% year-over-year decline in operating profit. While Burberry ended last year with a 12% decline in comparable retail sales for fiscal 2024/2025, its losses significantly improved in the second half of the year. Burberry's revenues dropped 20% in the first half and only 5% in the second half, an improvement that corresponded with the appointment of CEO Joshua Schulman in July 2024.
The results for both companies – Chanel's decline and Burberry's rise – suggest that their reputations are a leading indicator of brand performance in the luxury market, especially since luxury is a considered purchase. If Burberry can overcome the growing macroeconomic headwinds – Bain predicts the personal luxury market will contract between 2% and 5% in 2025 – it should see continued positive momentum through the rest of the year.
Remarkably, Burberry's strong reputation index of 74.8 points – its highest ever in RepTrak's study – and ranking as the 37th most reputable company in the world puts it above Chanel (55), as well as Estée Lauder (42), Giorgio Armani (43), Dior (48), L'Oréal (50), Hugo Boss (50), Ralph Lauren (68) and LVMH (79).
Only Rolex at number 3 ranks higher among legacy personal luxury brands. And Hermès, which just made the top 100 list last year at number 99, fell off in 2025.
Burberry's industry-leading reputational score shows a growing trust, admiration, respect and positive sentiment toward the brand. RepTrak collects over 200,000 consumer survey responses within 14 major markets to compile its ranking, measuring results across seven drivers of reputation, including products and services offered, innovation, workplace, conduct, citizenship, leadership and performance.
'The signals of a potential turnaround for Burberry are highly positive,' Stephen Hahn, RepTrak's chief reputation and strategy officer, said reflecting on its reputational surge.
'Since the appointment of Joshua Schulman as CEO, Burberry's reputation has significantly improved, especially on the merits of innovation and good citizenship,' he continued, adding that Burberry got its biggest reputation bounce in the U.S.
Schulman hails from this side of the pond, yet has a deep understanding of the global luxury market. Most recently, he served as CEO of Michael Kors under Capri Holdings, leaving in Mar. 2022, and before that, he was Coach CEO and brand president under Tapestry for three years from 2017 to 2020 where he helped reverse the brand's sales slide. He also was president of Bergdorf Goodman, part of the Neiman Marcus Group for five years and and CEO of Jimmy Choo from 2007 to 2012, which he led from its London headquarters.
London-based luxury expert Elizabeth Solaru suggests not being British-born and raised is an advantage for Schulman. Solaru is author of The Luxpreneur: How to Start and Build a Luxury Brand and host of the Luxury Business Podcast.
'Burberry is one of the few legacy British luxury brands and British brands can be very insular. Burberry needs an international outlook and coming from outside the culture, Schulman can see things a British native might miss,' she said.
Quick reminder: Burberry's most recent glory days were from 2006 through 2014 under American Angela Ahrendts, who, during her tenure as CEO before leaving for Apple, reined in the use of the brand's ubiquitous check pattern to only 10% of clothing and accessories items. However, Burberry seems to be leaning more heavily into the check lately.
Shortly after his arrival, Schulman launched a Burberry Forward turnaround strategy with the goal to 'reignite' desire for the brand. The forward plan hinges on four drivers for growth:
Burberry intends to make the most of its 169-year history of heritage and innovation, with innovation being a hallmark of the brand. In 1879, the company invented the water-resistant, breathable gabardine fabric used in its original trench coats and the fabric has been further refined for full water-proof protection in its latest iteration.
Britishness will also frame brand storytelling, including partnerships with King Charles' Highgrove House and the V&A and Tate Britain museums.
Burberry's heritage rainwear, scarves and capes are considered the brand's 'superpower,' so it will lean into these hero core categories.
For example, 'It's Always Burberry Weather' campaign was shot in London and the British countryside. It featured prominent British music, film, fashion and football brand ambassadors, including model Cara Delevingne, footballers Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze, rap musician Little Simz and actors Barry Keoghan, Zhang Jingyi and Olivia Colman – she played Queen Elizabeth II in the later installments of Netflix's The Crown series.
It also has launched 'Scarf Bars' in its flagship stores to let customers get a more personalized experience in purchasing Burberry's iconic scarves.
Burberry will move away from its recent expansion into high-end handbags, which hit a wall by being too pricey. New handbag introductions will be in the more accessible under $2,600 (£2,000) range.
As it realigns good/better/best price points across all categories, Schulman sees outerwear as offering the most price elasticity at the luxury end.
Burberry aims for 'prominence, productivity and profitability' throughout its distribution network, including its roughly 400 directly operated stores, which generated some 84% of $3.3 billion (£2.5 billion) fiscal 2024/2025 revenues. Wholesale (13%) and licensing (3%) make up the rest.
In Burberry stores, it will increase 'density' with additional fixturing, restore mannequins to display full looks and enhance cross-category merchandising. At wholesale, it will increase its presence with 'opinion-leading' partners and exit 'non-strategic' accounts.
It will also bring more function to the e-commerce user experience with virtual scarf try-on, and what is calls 'Burberry Weather Snap Lens,' which allows online users to virtually experience Burberry style in weather-themed environments through augmented reality.
Paul Price, the company's new chief product merchandising and planning officer, will be instrumental executing this initiative. Price previously served as Burberry's chief merchandising officer from 2007 to 2017, overlapping with Ahrendts, before moving on to Top Shop and Top Man.
'As a key member of the Burberry leadership team during the company's peak era of value creation, Paul was responsible for product strategies that led to consistent double-digit growth,' stated Schulman in the hiring announcement.
Burberry will strengthen the links between design, merchandising and marketing, what is called the company's 'creative and commercial alchemy.' Reporting structures will be realigned with regional presidents reporting directly to CEO Schulman to move decision-making closer to the customer.
Advanced data analytics will be turned on to sharpen company insights, increase agility and yield better cost control. And in organizing for growth, it will 'streamline' the operating model, evolve the ways of working and align its cost base.
What streamlining will look like is cutting some 1,700 jobs by 2027. As of March 2025, Burberry employed approximately 8,700 people, nearly 500 fewer than the 9,200 employed in 2024. Last November the company instituted a $54 million (£40 million) cost-saving program and with the latest announcement, it intends to achieve a combined savings of $135 million (£100 million) by Spring 2027.
'After a challenging first half, we have moved at pace to implement Burberry Forward, our strategic plan to reignite brand desire, improve our performance and drive long-term value creation. Our customers are responding to our Timeless British Luxury brand expression,' CEO Schulman stated in the latest earnings announcement.
Noting improved brand sentiment, as RepTrak's reputation index verifies, he added:
'The continued resilience of our outerwear and scarf categories reaffirms my belief that we have the most opportunity where we have the most authenticity.
'While we are operating against a difficult macroeconomic backdrop and are still in the early stages of our turnaround, I am more optimistic than ever that Burberry's best days are ahead and that we will deliver sustainable profitable growth over time.'
The key from Reptrak Hahn's perspective is that Burberry must 'live up to the expectations of an innovative luxury product brand with a strong reputation – failure to do so would be a major set-back from the company's renewed aspirations.'
A further set-back is the last thing that Burberry needs and it looks like Schulman and team are taking the appropriate steps to avoid it.
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