Latest news with #ThomasBurberry
Mint
25-05-2025
- General
- Mint
How the military has defined menswear fashion
Military clothing, accessories and gadgets have time and again informed both menswear and womenswear. So much so that these army-inspired items—practical, durable and utilitarian—have become an integral part of our daily wardrobe over the years. The ubiquitous trench coat, for instance. It was crafted for the soldiers of World War I by Thomas Burberry, the English fashion designer and the founder of the brand Burberry. This tough looking yet chic piece features a double-breasted closure with 10 front buttons, a storm flap, wide lapels, and pockets that button-close. Over the years, designers like Christopher Bailey and Riccardo Tisci have reimagined the coat, adding prints and embroideries. The fatigue jacket is another example. Its origin can be traced to the basic uniform for British troops during World War II. This dust-hued khaki jacket with four pockets—two on the hips, two on the breasts—and all buttoned, has been recontextualised in textiles like leather and suede. Also, worth mentioning is the parka, another military offshoot, which usually comes with a furry hood and a zipper closure. Crafted in lightweight waterproof nylon and cotton construction, this utilitarian piece is said to have kept the US troops warm during the Korean war without obstructing movement. Here are some other noteworthy derivatives from military apparels that have refined and redefined menswear clothing and accessories, and the story behind their origin. Desert boots In 1941, an employee of the Clark Shoe Company, Nathan Clark, was posted to Burma (now Myanmar) with the British Eighth Army. That's when he observed the soldiers' penchant for crepe-soled suede boots during their off-duty hours. He also figured out that Cairo cobblers created these lightweight yet tough boots for South African military men. Later, Nathan went on to craft a boot that garnered popularity in Europe and the US. Cut to the present and brands like Woodland and Jack & Jones have offered a fashionable version of this historical footwear. Wristwatch Before the 20th century, the wristwatch was mostly seen as a feminine accessory. But that changed when the gentleman's pocket watch was replaced by the nifty wristwatch. In fact, the wristwatch became a strategic tool in World War I as troops aligned their combat formations based on predetermined times. At present, brands like Seiko and G-Shocks offer an of-the-moment upgrade of these classic military timepieces. Kimura San, the managing director, Casio India, says their brand's G-SHOCK timepieces, some of which that are mud-resistant, are inspired from the military. Also read: How to cinch it with a cummerbund like Shah Rukh Khan Combat shoes During the Napoleonic Wars, a Prussian officer observed that his troops were struggling with their boots. Hence he commissioned a reimagining of the typical combat boot in order to ensure that his men got ready quickly. This resulted in creation of a half boot, featuring two leather flaps below the ankles that could tie together. The flaps didn't meet at the base and facilitated a speedier battle prep. Today, brands like Under Armour offer an athletic take on the tactical boots built with charged cushioning midsoles. Aviator sunglasses In 1936, Bausch & Lomb created sunglasses for pilots to shield their eyes while flying, hence the name aviator. These chic sunnies ensured pilots got a complete range of vision when wrestling the glaring sun and enemies. The timeless tear-drop shape of these sunglasses totally covered the eyes and enabled protection to the complete eye socket. They've now become part of civilian life, with brands like Ray-Ban, Tom Ford and John Jacobs recontextualising them with gold accents and tortoiseshell tones. "Aviators have an incredible legacy. The shape and function were all about ergonomics and performance, especially the teardrop lens design that helped protect pilots' eyes while flying. This shape continues to dominate both modern culture and style till date," says Apeksha Gupta, the chief executive officer of John Jacobs. Chinos The US Army first wore khaki uniforms in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war in the 1890s. They were crafted using textiles manufactured in China. The Army used the Spanish word for 'Chinese" (chino) to describe the khaki uniforms. Post war, former troops resumed their academics and embraced this new style on varsity campus. Hence it became a synonym for the Ivy League, preppy look. Military jackets Today no closet is complete without a bomber or a flight jacket. The A2 Bomber jacket was a waist-length leather jacket that featured two front patch pockets and was issued in 1931 to keep pilots warm in open cockpits. Today, it's been lent a fashionable edge by designers across the board, who've presented it with prints and textures. Another tailored piece worth mentioning is the duffle coat, which was a go-to piece for the British Royal Navy during WWI and II. Instantly identifiable for its toggle closure, the jacket was crafted for sailors to fasten and unhook the jacket while wearing gloves at sea. Heritage brands like Burberry and Louis Vuitton have given it a polished makeover. Pea coat is another example. It was originally used by the Dutch at the height of their naval power in the 16th century. The pea coat features a double-breasted closure with large metal or plastic buttons, a wide notched collar and lapel, and vertical or slash pockets. At present, it makes for a dapper winter layering essential and a smart alternative to a single breasted suit. Manish Mishra is a Delhi-based writer and content creator. Also read: How to make knitwear cool for summer
Telegraph
14-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
It's going to take more than star power to save Burberry
While most of the UK is basking in unseasonably glorious sunshine this week, spare a thought for the folks at Burberry who appear to be facing an altogether more gloomy outlook. The luxury British fashion house is weathering yet another storm with the announcement yesterday of more financial losses and hundreds more job cuts. The company announced 1,700 jobs will go in the next two years in the wake of a £66 million loss in the year to April, compared with profit before tax of £383 million a year earlier. The house aims to save an extra £100 million by the end of the 2027 financial year, partly through cutting around 18 per cent of its global workforce. The results come in what is a tough period for fashion globally, with business and supply chain challenges amidst a worldwide luxury slowdown. 'These results are very disappointing,' says The Telegraph 's head of fashion, Lisa Armstrong, 'but every brand is going through a hard time at the moment, even houses like Chanel are not having the stellar growth that they were post-pandemic when so many brands were growing unsustainably.' Yesterday's bad results are just the latest in a long line of strong financial headwinds battering the London-listed business. The British heritage brand, founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry to make outdoor clothing for the military, is something of a bellwether for British luxury, but has struggled to find its north star in recent years with sharp revenue decline. Less than a year earlier in July 2024, more poor results saw off then-chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd who departed from the brand after only two years with immediate effect, to be replaced by Joshua Schulman, a Los Angeles native and former boss of American superbrands Coach and Michael Kors. There were cuts announced then too, 400 office jobs at the brand's UK headquarters. 'Akeroyd's departure last summer really shook the team,' a brand insider tells The Telegraph. 'And the fact it happened with immediate effect… We did not see that coming, and it rattled and destabilised everyone, including (creative director) Daniel Lee, who had been brought into the house by him.' Indeed Lee, originally from Yorkshire, had arrived at the beleaguered house in 2023 following a star turn at Bottega Veneta, to take over from Italian designer Riccardo Tisci who, critics argued, had failed to capitalise on Burberry's British heritage during his five-year tenure. (Tisci has subsequently been accused of sexually assaulting a man in New York in June 2024, allegations he denies). Lee did not have the easiest start at the house, with several poorly received collections fuelling rumours about his future in the months after he arrived. The brand's autumn/winter 2025 collection, shown in February, felt like a sea-change. 'Creative Director Daniel Lee put his best foot forward with a very British take on cosy opulence,' said The Telegraph 's acting fashion director Sarah Bailey of the collection at the time. 'It wasn't a revolution, but a purposeful stride in the right direction… There was a confidence and a conviction in this collection that seemed to blow the mist of doubt away.' Lee himself has previously said that he thinks 'Burberry should appeal to everybody, from the street to the Royal family' and under Schulman, the label continues to seek to exploit its quintessential Britishness, notably around celebrities, with whom the brand still has phenomenal pulling power, consistently boasting London's flashiest front row at its bi-annual fashion shows. This February, actors Richard E Grant, Lesley Manville and Jason Isaacs all walked the runway and the much-photographed Peltz-Beckhams were amongst the crowd in the front row (wearing matchy-matchy plaid). Then there are the high-profile advertising campaigns, the latest in celebration of Burberry's relationship with Highgrove Gardens, features stars including actors Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael and Sope Dirisu. A foray into art is on the cards, too. In March it was announced the Victoria and Albert Museum had partnered with the house to rebrand the Fashion Gallery as The Burberry Gallery in 2027. Earlier this month, the label enlisted stylist du jour Law Roach (of Ariana Grande and Zendaya fame) to host a table at the prestigious Met Gala at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and dressed Roach, alongside his guests – actors Angela Bassett, Jodie Turner-Smith and singer Cardi B amongst them – for the red carpet. If these events win plaudits from the fashion press and on social media, they are not yet, it seems, translating to cold hard cash. The house may be determined to capitalise on their unique selling point of being the only British luxury fashion house, but customers appear confused about what 'Britishness' even is in 2025 – tea, cake and weather clichés aside. How to evoke Burberry's long and storied history (the quintessential trench was patented in 1912) without being defined by it? How to walk the line between cliché and cool – and moreover, convince an increasingly financially constrained global marketplace to invest thousands of pounds in it (one of the brand's iconic Gabardine trenchcoats now costs £1990, a merino wool, jacquard knit cardigan, £950)? While the house says their problems have been compounded by the 2021 decision to withdraw the VAT refund scheme for overseas visitors shopping in the UK and an unpredictable US market under President Trump's tariff threats, there is a bigger brand identity problem which echoes through into the beauty space where Burberry has been under licence to Coty, an American multinational beauty company, since 2017. 'There was such a buzz about Burberry beauty when it launched in 2010, because it was the first big-time British fashion house to launch a beauty range,' says one source in the industry. 'The products were innovative and the packaging had real make-up bag appeal. Sadly it doesn't feel like the same brand anymore – there are hardly any new launches and the products they dolaunch are just cookie-cutter versions of what is already out in the market. This is what often happens when a big corporate company takes ownership of a cool brand: it loses its magic completely.' 'I think Burberry is on the right track now with Daniel Lee,' says Armstrong. 'It's just very important that Burberry deliver great outerwear, good bags and good knitwear. They don't need to do anything else. But they should stop trying to be ultra cool – this is a mistake so many houses make. Cool is a tiny market, and the venn diagram where cool intersects with money is even smaller.' But if there is a year for Burberry to restore and reinvent their 'Cool Britannia' image, perhaps it is this, with the house's signature check rehabilitated and once again enjoying cult status on swimwear, streetwear and accessories, and a Nineties redux taking place in popular culture (Oasis reunion tour anyone?). Charlie Huggins, shares portfolio manager at high-net-worth investment service Wealth Club, says a turnaround can't come soon enough, describing the last financial year as an ' annus horribilis for Burberry.' 'Almost everything that could go wrong did,' Huggins says. And while he believes that the house's turnaround plan could tackle key issues, he cautions 'investors have seen several failed turnaround plans from Burberry in recent years. This one feels like a last chance saloon.'
South Wales Guardian
14-05-2025
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Burberry to cut 1700 jobs despite having 'best days ahead'
The company said it was hiking its cost-cutting target to £100 million of savings per year by the 2027 financial year. The firm said these savings will partly come from a reduction in 'people-related costs, " which could affect around 1,700 jobs globally over the two-year programme. 👗📈 Burberry Exceeds Expectations Despite Yearly Loss Burberry reports a better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales drop of 6% and an adjusted operating profit of £26 million for FY 2025. The company is navigating a turnaround under CEO Joshua Schulman, despite a significant dip… The British brand revealed it had tipped into a loss of £3 million in the year to March 29, swinging from a profit of £418 million the previous year. Retail comparable store sales fell 12% year-on-year, with a 16% slump in sales across Asia dragging on the total. Chief executive Joshua Schulman told investors: '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.' Recommended reading: Founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, the brand has evolved from a practical outfitter to a symbol of British luxury. Despite this, it is well ingrained in the football fan culture and the controversial hooliganism of the 1980s and 1990s. This led to the Burberry brand being linked with violence and anti-social behaviour, impacting the company's image.
North Wales Chronicle
14-05-2025
- Business
- North Wales Chronicle
Burberry to cut 1700 jobs despite having 'best days ahead'
The company said it was hiking its cost-cutting target to £100 million of savings per year by the 2027 financial year. The firm said these savings will partly come from a reduction in 'people-related costs, " which could affect around 1,700 jobs globally over the two-year programme. 👗📈 Burberry Exceeds Expectations Despite Yearly Loss Burberry reports a better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales drop of 6% and an adjusted operating profit of £26 million for FY 2025. The company is navigating a turnaround under CEO Joshua Schulman, despite a significant dip… — PiQ (@PiQSuite) May 14, 2025 The British brand revealed it had tipped into a loss of £3 million in the year to March 29, swinging from a profit of £418 million the previous year. Retail comparable store sales fell 12% year-on-year, with a 16% slump in sales across Asia dragging on the total. Chief executive Joshua Schulman told investors: '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.' Recommended reading: What is Burberry? Founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, the brand has evolved from a practical outfitter to a symbol of British luxury. Despite this, it is well ingrained in the football fan culture and the controversial hooliganism of the 1980s and 1990s. This led to the Burberry brand being linked with violence and anti-social behaviour, impacting the company's image.
Rhyl Journal
14-05-2025
- Business
- Rhyl Journal
Burberry to cut 1700 jobs despite having 'best days ahead'
The company said it was hiking its cost-cutting target to £100 million of savings per year by the 2027 financial year. The firm said these savings will partly come from a reduction in 'people-related costs, " which could affect around 1,700 jobs globally over the two-year programme. 👗📈 Burberry Exceeds Expectations Despite Yearly Loss Burberry reports a better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales drop of 6% and an adjusted operating profit of £26 million for FY 2025. The company is navigating a turnaround under CEO Joshua Schulman, despite a significant dip… The British brand revealed it had tipped into a loss of £3 million in the year to March 29, swinging from a profit of £418 million the previous year. Retail comparable store sales fell 12% year-on-year, with a 16% slump in sales across Asia dragging on the total. Chief executive Joshua Schulman told investors: '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.' Recommended reading: Founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, the brand has evolved from a practical outfitter to a symbol of British luxury. Despite this, it is well ingrained in the football fan culture and the controversial hooliganism of the 1980s and 1990s. This led to the Burberry brand being linked with violence and anti-social behaviour, impacting the company's image.
