2024/03 Burberry – SS24
Details:
Burberry
Spring-Summer 2024
17-19 Av. Montaigne, Paris
Review:
by Peter Hamer
march 09, 2024
Burberry’s retail strategy for its Spring/Summer 2024 season under Daniel Lee’s, his second main collection, leaves me wondering: what is Burberry? In a retail landscape where dialogue and emotional connection are increasingly valuable, Burberry seems to miss a crucial opportunity to engage on a deeper level. A product lacking a distinctive emotional universe is merely that—a product. And in a world completely saturated with products, we make products stand out by forging an emotional connection with their audience.
The power of any brand lies in its ability to transcend its products, something Burberry has historically achieved, notably with its trench coat and check pattern. This transformation from product to brand under leaders like Rose Marie Bravo and Christopher Bailey saw Burberry embrace a visual lifestyle, making the Burberry check ubiquitous. Yet, this strategy’s success waned as the check became overexposed, leading to a dilution of the brand’s distinctive appeal by 2017. The brand consolidated its diverse lines under a single Burberry banner, aiming to refocus its identity.
Fast forward to Lee’s tenure, and there seems to be a disconnect. Despite his previous success at Bottega Veneta, Lee’s Burberry lacks that spark that ignited Bottega Veneta, especially in wholesale, which is crucial for brand visibility and sales. Here, the current product range, heavily reliant on the Burberry check, feels basic and uninspired, reducing these items to mere uniforms rather than expressions of individuality. At retail, there is more focus on novelty, yet feels estranged.
This reality is symptomatic of a larger issue: the absence of a relevant narrative that connects consumers to the brand. Burberry’s reliance on its check pattern at wholesale, while an asset, recalls the brand’s earlier struggle with overuse and the subsequent need to reinvent itself under Bravo’s leadership. This history underscores the real, and persistent challenge for Burberry: evolving beyond its check to establish a contemporary message that resonates with today’s consumers.
Reflecting on Burberry’s journey I think that redefining Burberry requires a drastic reimagining of its purpose and audience. This process involves more than just aesthetic updates; it necessitates a different type of overhaul that might initially contract the business but ultimately redefine what it means to embody, let’s call it, British efficiency. Without this reevaluation, Burberry risks remaining synonymous with its check, rather than evolving as a dynamic, emotionally resonant brand.
Burberry’s current direction under Lee is still to find a human approach needed to reinvigorate its connection with consumers. As it stands, the brand’s offerings fail to inspire or engage on an emotional level, reducing Burberry to its visual elements. For a brand that became successful being British, the challenge lies in crafting a narrative that speaks to the desires and aspirations of its audience. Until then, Burberry’s legacy risks being confined to the past, overshadowed by its reliance on familiar motifs rather than forging new paths forward. But this, yet again, leaves me wondering: who is the Burberry customer?
