Burberry from the Beginning

The history of Burberry began in a small town in Hampshire, England named Basingstoke. In the 19th century, the people of Basingstoke were typically known for designing and creating their own garments, garments of everyday use that were all similar in style yet completely different in craft, very similar to what the 21st century would call bespoke clothing

A twenty-one year old entrepreneur named Thomas Burberry noticed a cultural shift as more people began constructing ready-to-wear garments; he saw this as a faultless business opportunity and opened his own store in Basingstoke when the population of the town was around 4,500.

The focus of the upcoming brand was durable outerwear, Burberrys clothes were to be worn by fishermen and hunters. Burberry was driven to create a fabric that was appropriate for the outdoor sportsman, one that was water resistant yet contained no rubber as this made the garments uncomfortable and restricted movement. Partnering with British cotton manufacturer, Burberry began to design different weaves and textiles that would be fitting for his targeted persons.

Due to the great success of his outer wear collections the brand grew rapidly. By 1878, Burberry founded a larger factory, which focused on wholesale manufacturing and 'ready to wear' clothing, that employed over 200 workers by 1881.

Burberry recognised the lack of promotion in his upcoming business and cleverly reached out to Lord Kitchener and Lord Baden Powell, asking them to wear his weatherproofs. As two respectable men of the era, sales rocketed and Burberry turned into the United Kingdom’s most cosmic clothing brand.

In 1879, Burberry triumphed with the discovery of Gabardine, a material that is waterproof yet breathable and unlike it’s rival Makintosh, does not contain rubber, it is water resistant due to its fine threads and sophisticated method of tight weaving using Egyptian cotton.

After the evolutionary discovery, Burberry was noticed world wide and opened his first flagship store in London. The entirety of the consumer had adapted and inflicted interest with famous explorers, in1893, Norwegian polar explorer and Noble Peace Prize winner, Dr Fridtjof Nansen became the first explorer to use gabardine on his trip to the Arctic Circle, British Explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton wore Burberry gabardine for a total of three expeditions in the early 20th century.

Designs inspired by 1850s outerwear...