Burberry, the iconic upmarket British fashion label, destroyed unsold clothes, accessories and perfume worth £28.6m last year to protect its brand.It takes the total value of goods it has destroyed over the past five years to more than £90m.
Fashion firms including Burberry destroy unwanted items to prevent them being stolen or sold cheaply. Burberry said that the energy generated from burning its products was captured, making it environmentally friendly. “Burberry has careful processes in place to minimise the amount of excess stock we produce. 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,” a spokesperson for the company said.
The company said last year was unusual as it had to destroy a large amount of perfume after signing a new deal with US firm Coty. As Coty would be making new stock, Burberry had to dispose of £10m worth of old products – largely perfume. Destroying unwanted products is part of that process, she said.An analyst argued that “the reason they are doing this is so that the market is not flooded with discounts. They don’t want Burberry products to get into the hands of anyone who can sell them at a discount and devalue the brand”.
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