Burberry to be produced in China

[belletrist]

via parliamant.uk

"BURBERRY FACTORY CLOSURE
09.10.2006



Bryant, Chris
That this House notes Burberry's announcement that it intends to close its designer clothing plant in Treorchy and relocate production in Asia or South America, where labour costs are lower; is concerned that other Burberry operations in the UK may be similarly affected; believes that by withdrawing from British production Burberry will damage its own brand, which it describes as a luxury brand with a distinctive British sensibility; further notes that for the period 2005-06 the retail value of products sold bearing the Burberry brand was in excess of £2.7 billion; and supports the GMB campaign calling on Burberry to reconsider its decision and to keep Burberry British"

Don't know if someone have talked about it before...

 

[Heroin_Chic]

That sucks!

If they expect me to pay 700-1500 Euro for their bags they should better be hand-made in Italy or France!

 

[snowqueen]

why does the word exploitation linger in the back of my mind when i read this thread

and plus burberry is so english it just wont be the same

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Wherever it relocates to, it can't be more in the sticks than Treorchy.

 

[misssakura]

Rubbish. Why don't they just stop making burberry altogether and just let the massive fake burberry trade in china take over.

 

[Atelier]

There's an interesting discussion in the Careers & Education forum about this topic:

http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f90/luxe-manufacturing-china-35534.html

 

[Fashion Puss]

This is absolute rubbish! I used to work with a vendor based in Romania that made a lot of Burberry product, including the entire childrenswear ranges. The reason they are relocating to China is because Romania enters the EU in Jan and therefore China will be the cheaper option, from many perspectives.

Burberry made in Britain - pull the other one. Other 'British' labels, which I will not name, have been playing this game for years. Its widely known throughout the industry.

 

[Fashion Puss]

In addition, even if they claim the product is made in GB, doesn't mean the fabric and its components were too. Its quite normal to have a mill in, say China, and the vendor in a completely different country, like Romania or wherever.

 

[belletrist]

The only thing I hope is that Prorsum will still be made in Europe

That's a surprising news though. I thought they wanted to reach into the luxury market - that's why they hired Bailey after all- and then made in china, which would make the brand no longer credible in the up market - they'll become a new expensiv logoed mass market brand.
I wonder what Christopher will do...
I wonder who would buy a 250 EUR cashmere scarf "made in china"

 

[Fashion Puss]

Just because a product is made in China does not nessesarily mean its crap. Granted, its never going to compare to a fine Italian yarn suiting or wool. But I still source out of China and I still find bloody good fabrics.

 

[mimiko]

so this means the prices will be cheaper ?? hope so

 

[liberty33r1b]

^hm, i don't think so, they are unlikely to transfer their cost savings over to the customer....

 

[oanadobre]

This is absolute rubbish! I used to work with a vendor based in Romania that made a lot of Burberry product, including the entire childrenswear ranges. The reason they are relocating to China is because Romania enters the EU in Jan and therefore China will be the cheaper option, from many perspectives.

Burberry made in Britain - pull the other one. Other 'British' labels, which I will not name, have been playing this game for years. Its widely known throughout the industry.

Absolutely true

 

[misssakura]

Just because a product is made in China does not nessesarily mean its crap. Granted, its never going to compare to a fine Italian yarn suiting or wool. But I still source out of China and I still find bloody good fabrics.

I don't think it's that peopel think the quality goes down..it's that the brand no longer represents what it says it does (and also the fact that they'll charge the same prices even though it's being made in somewhere that could allow massive retail price drops for the product)

 

[*Happiness*]

I wonder how many jobs will be lost in Treorchy due to this move? that is what bothers me the most about these companies who choose to have their products manufactured overseas...those in the home country where the product WAS produced lose out!

 

[Mathewthew]

Made in China doesn't mean it's crap...
I use to think that too, but after I've visit a factory at china...
I can say they can make really great products.....
I think burberry will choose the best to do prodcuts for them.

 

[belletrist]

I still believe a luxury company shouldn't worry about the cost - especially when they are not money-loosing.
I'm pretty sure China could produce grandes complications watches. But can you imagine that? Patek Philippe "made in china"? No no no, that's wrong.
Burberry will loose the few credibility they still had - after the Burberry whisky and the burberry cookies tragedy haha-, and will certainly fail if they still want to become a high-market brand. It's not only a question or quality. It's a question of humanity. People want to pay for exclusivity, they want to fell that the products was made with care, and not mass manufactured.

 

[Caffeine]

can we merge this thread with the other thread?

I actually never considered Burberry a very luxury brand. (Prorsum is a different story though.) Burberry London's rtw is always cheaper than other European counterparts and it's really just a "better made jcrew" to me . the coats and trench coats are nice, but nowadays it's no longer exclusive. Other houses such as Celine makes great trench coats, too. Burberry London is about basics with good quality, so the location of the production doesn't matter.

Also, as I posted before, the best cashmere is produced in China. Loro Piana has good mills and good dying process though. yeah chances are your hundreds of dollars worth scarf is actually from China.
belletrist, from a pure business perspective, cost is a concern no matter what. Not loosing money doesn't mean the company is doing well. it's a very competitive market, and if you do not deliver as high return as other companies do to the investors, people will stop buying your stock or support your business. It's just pure capitalism

Patek Philippe is not going to be made in China soon though IMO. When the production is limited and lots of design is involved, it's hard to outsource. Same case for Hermes' Birkin bags. Small production doesn't benefit from outsource as much because your goal is not to reach the economies of scale anyway.

 

[vanilla fairy]

so, other than the maybe affected quality, would that affect the price tags as well?!
the Burberry boutique we have here doubles(actually tribles) the u.s. and uk prices which i thought is sometimes justfied because of the quality and stuff, but now... i dont think ill pay the tripled price for a product that is made in china.. im sorry

 

[Goya]

made in China doesn't mean bad quality, ''Burberry to be produced in China'' simply means the House is going down because they have to lower their production costs to balence their profits.