Daniel Lee - Designer, Creative Director of Burberry

[Lola701]

The reality is that with the kind of talents they have been able to attract, from Bailey to Lee, Burberry’s image is already above Coach. Unfortunately, their delusional pricing coupled with the outlets gives a very MK vibe.

What I think the Burberry issue has raised as a question is the pricing, which is an important part of a success of a brand.

The reason why a brand like Louis Vuitton can thrive is because they have a very great pricing coupled with a very great distribution.

Even if Burberry kept a competitive and relevant to the brand pricing but had a very selective distribution, it would have been a success.

Because precisely, the quality of designs that Bailey, Tisci or Lee offered is off the top luxury brands, the aspirational customer would have consumed it perfectly.

The flop of Burberry is solely due to greedy executives.

It would be as if LVMH tried to make Kenzo a luxury brand again. Nobody would buy it (and nobody is buying it already).

 

[90sfan]

Heard from some people inside the Burberry that the CEO and Lee are not even in speaking terms.
They will fire 500 people in the next 3 weeks, which is sad… The CEO is an obvious creep. Maybe they should have kept Tisci there. This has been a disaster like no other.

 

[tourbillions]

they got too impatient with tisci and probably the suits themselves didnt know what they wanted so tisci went on autopilot. then now they still dont know what they want even if lee is coming up with decent and true to brand collections, the suits managed to eff it up grandly with this pricing strategy.

 

[PDFSD]

I agree with many points both said here and in the Luca BOF piece, but i do think that price is not the only issue, Lee´s proposals for Burberry has been all over the place and there is no focus and there was a lot of many things like the blue as the house color,lots of different acc items, new hardwear designs, hardcore prints, new versions of the check,etc etc this starting from the first show it was to much clash of quirky, while his BV was a more careful/restrained build up of ideas that also had quirky touch but it was not over kill the items were clear and desirable.

I don't hear or see the big desire from people to have pieces from his Burberry as first high note, its always with if or but and price as the killer final argument.

BV i find has same issue post Lee with an offer that is so mixed up and too much items are launched in order to get the new it bags or shoe´s become a thing, hence why BV is also not flying as high as it should post Lee.

That's why you have people like MGC and VV doing super well as the product offer is clear and the more fashion creative CD´s struggling, the ideal balance is a touch of creativity to push things forward and a big base of clear commercial offer informed by the highest expression of the brands /cd creativity.

Lee and the other guy now at BV (forgot his name) are designing from their ego sitting in a design ivory tower of self indulgence and not so much with the whole company & brands vision in mind for the next 10 years or more, for both it's just a pissing contest each show of a alavance of ideas.

Tisci at Burberry was also a mis, over design and flat ...wrong match & forced ( people i know their were not happy working in the toxic environment crazy working hours not professional etc etc old story but not worth it ever & off topic )

 

[JohannesL]

If the brand is not a lost clause already, maybe they should bet on some designers like Sarah, Clare or even Maria who are known for their conservative ans classic aesthetics.

 

[Lola701]

If the brand is not a lost clause already, maybe they should bet on some designers like Sarah, Clare or even Maria who are known for their conservative ans classic aesthetics.

Sarah wouldn’t fit the brand. She is too edgy, too Couture for the brand. The same profile as Riccardo!

 

[Frederic01]

The crux of Burberry's challenge lies in consumer perception. Despite ambitious pricing strategies - a Burberry Snip bag now retails at 3,500 pounds, outpricing a Louis Vuitton comparable offering by 1,000 pounds - the brand struggles to command the same cachet as established luxury houses. As Bernstein analyst Luca Solca astutely notes, Burberry might find greater success by embracing its premium roots, akin to Coach's strategy in the US market.

Creative director Daniel Lee's efforts to infuse contemporary flair while honouring Burberry's heritage have yet to yield the desired momentum. The fashion world watches with bated breath, reminiscent of characters in Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," for a breakthrough that seems perpetually on the horizon.

In the meantime, consumers can still acquire Burberry's iconic pieces at outlet prices - a practice that, while beneficial for shoppers, may hinder the brand's luxury aspirations. As Burberry continues its upmarket journey, it must grapple with a fundamental truth: in luxury fashion, desirability cannot simply be priced into existence.

fashionunited.co.uk/

 

[NoInvite]

Burberry under Lee is always chasing water. All the product and campaigns targets the same people at BV. Sadly no one moved to Burberry with him and they were too confident that they can raise that kind of price with this kind of brand. Burberry to me will always equals to Ralph Lauren to England. It should have stayed like that.

 

[donyan]

The situation seems so clear from the outside, I wonder why they didn’t react before it all got worse, even to the point of no return? They have something that any brand would kill for, an iconic garment and an iconic pattern that is universally loved, and instead of building on this they take the huge risk of trying to become something they aren’t. Lee’s success at Bottega was build on the perception of ultra luxury and craftsmanship of the brand, to think they could just have the same results at Burberry by hiking the prices into the stratosphere seems baffling.

 

[FashionFanatico]

it's not working - and everybody knows it.

 

[TomBlanksFullFatMiuMiu]

I can't even remember the last Burberry campaign that I remember, forget about controversial.

I remember these from 2006 and 2008 so well hahahahahaha

Spring 2008


Fall 2006

 

[Mody]

The price was initially increased during Tisci era. Tisci was able to command some authority over the menswear to raise the price, but the overall result of that era left the brand so confused. The greed of the shareholders is probably more responsible for the failure of the brand, and the management is hired to realize that greed. Very typical.
And we are left with capable creatives producing lackluster products.

 

[NoInvite]

The jumping campaign by Testino was so good and now remembering how white Burberry was at that time.
And then they started being innovative with see now buy now and then the circus slowly happened.
Changing of shapes, silhouettes being bigger and then that was the end of Bailey.

 

[LadyJunon]

The jumping campaign by Testino was so good and now remembering how white Burberry was at that time.
And then they started being innovative with see now buy now and then the circus slowly happened.
Changing of shapes, silhouettes being bigger and then that was the end of Bailey.

I really think that the experimental period in the mid/late 10s did a lot of harm to Burberry. It started when Christopher Bailey became the CEO and started doing dramatic shifts in the brand's strategy like the consolidation of the brand's lines and the see-now, buy-now schtick. The modernist rebranding under Gobetti and Tisci didn't help the situation, but it's the far from the core of the problem.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I think both Tisci and Lee were a strange choice when it seemed to me the obvious way was to go super bourgeois, super traditional, but with a cleaner, contemporary touch.

That said, Tisci's Burberrry was gaining traction and improving in sales before they decided to scrap it.





Imagine

 

[tourbillions]

Tisci's Burberrry was gaining traction and improving in sales before they decided to scrap it.

it kept getting better every season so im confused why they scrapped it.

Im not sure how they can bounce back when their stratetgy failed with 2 of the biggest names in fashion and those 2 are the most "fit" for pushing burberry into a more upscale brand. But no as fast as their pricing strategy wanted.

 

[rowjellies]

I think both Tisci and Lee were a strange choice when it seemed to me the obvious way was to go super bourgeois, super traditional, but with a cleaner, contemporary touch.

Would love to see traditional British bourgeois at Burberry with a clean, modern touch.

I don't think this would happen but I would love to see Ryota Iwai the Japanese designer of Auralee at the helm doing this for them.

 

[90sfan]

I still see so many on the streets, especially men, in Tisci’s Burberry…His designs started to sell, and he was so popular with the young crowd.
Its obvious that when Tisci’s CEO Gobetti left, the new CEO let Tisci go and messed up the whole house. Daniel Lee is ok for a small label… He does not have the Tisci’s wider look at things, and it’s just wrong. Curious to see how long this will last… They’ll end up like Calvin..a ruined label by Raf Simons and Willy Wonka Wanderppere lolz

 

[rowjellies]

I still see so many on the streets, especially men, in Tisci’s Burberry…His designs started to sell, and he was so popular with the young crowd.
Its obvious that when Tisci’s CEO Gobetti left, the new CEO let Tisci go and messed up the whole house. Daniel Lee is ok for a small label… He does not have the Tisci’s wider look at things, and it’s just wrong.

I think the Chinese really loved Tisci’s stuff.

When you see what actually sells well at Burberry it’s still the Nova Check rubber slides, Tisci era sans serif “BURBERRY” logo tee, Nova Check canvas totes. Basically the opposite of quiet luxury.

As the saying goes “the rats love their cheese”

 

[PDFSD]

I think the Chinese really loved Tisci’s stuff.

When you see what actually sells well at Burberry it’s still the Nova Check rubber slides, Tisci era sans serif “BURBERRY” logo tee, Nova Check canvas totes. Basically the opposite of quiet luxury.

As the saying goes “the rats love their cheese”

China accounts for more than 33% of global luxury consumption – which is expected to rise to 40% by 2025.
China is the second-largest personal luxury goods market worldwide, it is home to more than 40 percent of the global middle class,this is a large and diverse range of consumers that support many luxury brands.

Knowing this it does not say much about Burberry & Tisci's period was really loved by the Chinese in particular than any other big luxury brand out there, unless someone does the boring homework to check the numbers: since he started till his last year in regards to what regions bought it the most of his collections.

Under Bailey it was doing well in China as well like Gucci and LV i remember etc