The well-known fashion brand Burberry has been able to attract additional attention from consumers and investors with a new collection.
After the new collection, created with the participation of the new creative head Riccardo Tisci, received a lot of very positive response, Burberry shares immediately rose to 14%. This has been interpreted as a sign that the business revamp meant to push the British brand into the same orbit as Gucci and Dior is working.
We have previously written about the Thomas Burberry monogram, which is an interlacing of the letters T and B, will appear on the brand's products. The new collection includes, among other things, a £300 baseball cap and a £500 handbag.
According to Burberry, the new collection appealed to consumers from various countries. But it became especially popular in China, where sales accounted for two-fifths of total sales. The popularity of the collection led to an increase in sales immediately on 4% - twice as much as other analysts expected. Shares jumped 287 points to £22.77, boosting Burberry's market value by more than £1bn to £9.4bn.
This year Burberry announced plans to close 38 stores - about a tenth of its global network - as part of a plan to tighten distribution of its bags and raincoats. The company will also stop selling its products in non-luxury department stores. Instead, the company is investing millions to turn its flagship stores into exclusive luxury outlets.
It's hard to say whether Burberry will be able to keep up the pace in the future (some analysts doubt it), but the company has definitely got off to a good start.
