Burberry Burned Millions Of Dollars Worth Of Unsold Stock

The London-based luxury brand would rather incinerate leftover trench coats and bags than sell them at a discount.
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Luxury clothing brand Burberry burned $37.8 million worth of its pricey trench coats, bags and perfumes last year to prevent them from being stolen or sold to the “wrong people,” according to The Times of London.

Burberry’s annual report shows that the London-based company incinerated $1,800 trench coats and $250 polo shirts among the $13.76 million in beauty products, and $24 million in ready-to-wear products and accessories it destroyed. That’s more than usual. The company said it’s burned $116 million worth of unsold Burberry products in five years.

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Burberry, with a market capitalization of about $11.6 billion, isn’t the only high-end brand destroying unsold stock to protect the brand and keep the goods from falling into the hands of discounters. Retail chain H&M and luxury brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton also have burned unsold stock, and experts say it’s a fairly common practice among brands trying to retain their exclusivity.

“The reason they are doing this is so that the market is not flooded with discounts,” Maria Malone, principal lecturer on the fashion business at Manchester Metropolitan University, told the BBC. “They don’t want Burberry products to get into the hands of anyone who can sell them at a discount and devalue the brand.”

Counterfeiters, Malone added, were “sticking the Burberry check on anything they could.”

Many people on social media lamented that the expensive check-printed items are going up in flames:

I get why @burberry would want to protect their brand image by destroying products rather than donate them as is. But surely a better solution is to de-brand the products, remove all labels, possibly dye items black or something to obscure the pattern and then donate anonymously?

— dom. (@Inkydom) July 19, 2018

I don’t find this shocking — of course Burberry and others burn stock — but I do find it disgusting. Waste and pollution just to preserve the artificial sense of scarcity these brands rely on https://t.co/2fj8WvZ5o6

— Mic Wright (@brokenbottleboy) July 19, 2018

#Burberry burn their clothes in order to keep it a luxury brand. If everyone started wearing it it would no longer be luxury, thus the rich will no longer be interested. The company will lose profit and their staff will become unemployed. How economies work.

— Lucy Williams (@lucyciw) July 19, 2018

£28.6m worth of clothes destroyed by Burberry, including jumpers and coats.

In the year we had the coldest winter on record and an ever-growing homelessness crisis - surely giving the clothes to charities or shelter would have crossed someone's mind?

— Dominic McGregor (@DominicMcGregor) July 19, 2018

If they can afford to burn £30m of clothing per year then it shows that (if proof were needed) their items are wildly overpriced. #Burberry

— David (@David_HMFC) July 19, 2018

#ThursdayThoughts Why Did Burberry burn all unsold bags and perfume 🤷🏽♀️🤦♀️#Burberry https://t.co/iJbSmZdoTx pic.twitter.com/e4G317bgrx

— The Ameenha Lee (@AmeenhaLee) July 19, 2018

There's something inherently wrong about torching a stack of #Burberry gear, particularly when undertaken by the fashion line itself. https://t.co/6RqofKA3oa

— James Reinl (@jamesreinl) July 19, 2018

That’s literally what I was thinking 😂😂 that and how many charities, and low income families could benefit if they just gave them to a charity shop... but I guess what can we expect from @Burberry why help someone else when you can afford to burn money.

— Samantha Young #FBPE (@SamYoung841) July 19, 2018

I had no idea this happened and it seems stunningly wasteful. @Burberry burned millions of dollars of clothes it didn’t sell to "minimise the amount of excess stock we produce.”https://t.co/HiRhTjXhGv

— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) July 19, 2018

This is my vintage @Burberry scarf. Today I’m donating it to Oxfam in protest at #Burberry’s ridiculous decision to burn stock rather than do something good with it. Gotta start somewhere, right...? pic.twitter.com/M3Q7shjrB2

— Sarah Drew Jones (@sdj19) July 19, 2018

Much of the backlash has come from environmentalists, who take issue with the waste.

Burberry told the BBC that “the energy generated from burning its products was captured, making it environmentally friendly.”

“Burberry has careful processes in place to minimize the amount of excess stock we produce,” the company said. “On the occasions when disposal of products is necessary, we do so in a responsible manner and we continue to seek ways to reduce and revalue our waste.”

The company told Newsweek it was careful to minimize excess stock.

“On the occasions when disposal of products is necessary, we do so in a responsible manner, and we continue to seek ways to reduce and revalue our waste,” Burberry said in a statement.

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