Burberry pulled the check back upmarket and nearly doubled revenue under Angela Ahrendts

Burberry's check pattern had been licensed so widely that the brand was everywhere and valued by almost no one; by 2006 it was growing only about 3% a year and had drifted from its luxury roots. Angela Ahrendts, who joined as CEO in 2006, decided the brand had to be pulled back upmarket.

Her move was to stop being a wholesale-licensed label. Burberry cut the number of goods it offered, raised prices, enhanced the luxury and high-fashion elements, took back product categories that had been licensed out, and opened its own stores — pushing toward a retail-led model. It also invested early in digital, which was unusual for a luxury house at the time.

The results came quickly. In fiscal 2007 revenue rose 15% on an underlying basis to £850.3m (against 3% the prior year), with retail up 24% and reaching 48% of group revenue. Burberry kept compounding, and by the year to March 2011 its revenue was near £1.5bn with record profits — a brand that controlled its own destiny again.

FY2007 revenue £850.3M (+15% underlying) with retail at 48% of sales; by FY2011 revenue neared £1.5B.

Wide licensing had destroyed scarcity, so Burberry had to take back control of products and channels.

Cutting product breadth and raising prices restored the premium positioning.

A retail-led model captured the margin and the customer relationship directly.

Early digital investment let Burberry reach a younger, global luxury buyer.

When a heritage brand is everywhere, restoring scarcity and controlling your own stores beats any new logo or campaign.

Burberry entered the FTSE 50 under Ahrendts, who left in 2014; the luxury business kept scaling before the brand faced a new, harder sales decline in the 2020s.