Fashion Trivia: Why Did Burberry All But Stop Using Its Famous Check Pattern in the 2000s?

The Christopher Bailey era was relatively check-free, but behind the scenes…

Test your fashion-industry knowledge with our new-old weekly series, Fashion Trivia! There’s no prize (yet) for having the right answer, but you get theoretical bonus points for not using Google.

Q: Created by Burberry in the early 1920s, this beige, black, red and white check pattern would go on to become synonymous with the British luxury heritage brand. By the 1980s, it was a status symbol associated with the UK’s stylish upper crust. It was the sort of iconic, aspirational, immediately recognizable emblem most marketing teams dream of, and it set Burberry up perfectly for the forthcoming era of ’90s logomania. So, then, why did Burberry all but stop using it entirely in the 2000s?

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A: It was actually that ’90s logomania that nearly killed the storied Burberry check. 

As it became more visible to (and thus desired by) a wider breadth of consumers, including — gasp! — the working class (“chavs,” as Brits like to refer to them) and international markets, it began to lose its exclusive, upper-class caché. Even though the brand’s UK sales diminished as high-end stores became less interested in stocking it, sales skyrocketed in other markets, and Burberry leaned into that for a while, licensing the check for just about every type of product imaginable. Counterfeits proliferated as well.

By the end of the ’90s, executives were concerned about brand dilution; then-CEO Rose Marie Bravo hired Christopher Bailey as creative director in 2001. Bailey and Angela Ahrendts, who succeeded Bravo in 2006, famously worked together to restore the brand to its former luxury associations by buying back licenses, suing counterfeiters and, yes, majorly limiting the use of the check on products. Bailey instead focused on the Burberry Prorsum line, which, it was recently announced, will be returning in some capacity. By Bailey’s departure in 2017, this clean, conservative overhaul had paid off economically — though, some ultimately argued that it limited the brand’s ability to reach its full creative potential.

Fast forward to 2023, and the imminent arrival of new creative director Daniel Lee’s first collection for the house (on Monday, to be exact): Per recent interviews with him and CEO Jonathan Akeroyd (both Brits), Burberry’s next era is all about realizing that potential.

“People are a little bit fatigued about waiting for us to pop as a brand,” Akeroyd told Business of Fashion. “We genuinely believe we can make it pop.”

Burberry recently released the first brand imagery under Lee’s leadership, and while the check isn’t the main focal point, it’s there. The duo has discussed plans to lean further into the brand’s British heritage.

“When we say ‘dialling up on Britishness,’ it’s a completely different dial up from what it was in the great Christopher [Bailey] era,” Akeroyd told BoF. “This will just feel much more relevant [to today].”

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Source: Fashionista.com