The Complete Guide to Burberry

Few coats are as recognisable as a Burberry trench. The house built its name on weatherproof cloth and military tailoring, and more than a century later those same items read as clearly as ever, which is why Burberry holds up well as a pre-owned label.

This guide covers what matters when buying pre-owned Burberry: the history behind the items, how to read the labels, how the check and the cloth should look, how the coats are cut and how to place a garment in time. The chapters can be read in order or used to jump to a specific topic.

A short history

Thomas Burberry opened his first store in Basingstoke, Hampshire, in 1856, at the age of 21. His focus was practical: clothing that stood up to the British weather. In 1879 he invented gabardine, a tightly woven, water-resistant and breathable cloth that changed outerwear and became the foundation of everything that followed.

The Tielocken coat of 1912 was the direct predecessor of the trench. During the First World War, Burberry developed the trench coat for British officers, with the epaulettes, D-ring belt, storm flap and double-breasted front still recognisable today. The check, first used as a trench lining in the 1920s, came later, and only became a visible house signature decades after that.

Spotting the real thing

The most informative signs of an authentic Burberry item are the wording on the label, the way the pattern is cut and the weight of the cloth.

• Label wording. The company dropped the “s” from its name in 1999. An item reading “Burberrys” or “Burberrys of London” predates that change, while “Burberry” belongs to 1999 or later. The wording places a garment in an era at a glance.
• Check alignment. On genuine items the check continues correctly across seams and pockets. Matching a pattern across every seam costs fabric and labour, which is why copies often let it jump or shift.
• The cloth. Genuine gabardine has a distinct density and feels substantial, even slightly stiff when new. A trench that drapes like soft cotton does not match genuine gabardine.

A full breakdown is in Spotting Fake Burberry: 7 Things to Check. Every item is authenticated through LegitApp before it reaches the store.

The lines explained

Burberry has used several sub-labels over the years, and the wording shows where an item sits in the range and roughly when it was made.

• Burberrys and Burberrys of London is the older branding, generally consistent with items made before the 1999 name change.
• Burberry London is the tailored, classic ready-to-wear line.
• Burberry Brit is the more casual line.
• Burberry Prorsum is the runway and top-tier line.

The London, Brit and Prorsum lines were consolidated under a single Burberry label from around 2015, so an item carrying one of those names generally predates that change.

Shop the edit: Burberry →

Sizing and cut

Sizing and cuts differ between eras, and a trench coat is cut deliberately roomy because it is designed to be worn over a jacket. For this reason every item is stated with flat measurements rather than the size on the label.

Measuring a coat that already fits well and comparing it to the stated measurements shows how a new coat will wear. The four measurements are chest, shoulders, length and sleeve.

A well-made trench is built to last a lifetime. Many examples are only part-way through theirs.

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Dating the labels

The brand label and care tag are a clear way to place a Burberry item in time. The framework below is a starting point, and the finer details should be confirmed against a trusted reference before a date is treated as certain.

Era	Label detail	What to look for
Before 1999	“Burberrys” / “Burberrys of London”	The trailing “s” in the wordmark
1999 to c.2015	“Burberry”, with London / Brit / Prorsum lines	Sub-line naming on the label
c.2015 onward	Single unified “Burberry” label	Consolidated branding, modern care symbols

Items worth knowing

Several Burberry items stand out for their design: the gabardine trench, the Nova check scarf, the check-lined car coat and the house’s shirts and knitwear among them. The current selection is available for men and women, and the wider high-end selection is also available.

How to style it

Burberry items work through restraint: a trench over tailoring or over denim, and a check scarf as the only pattern in an outfit. The items are designed to lead quietly, so the rest of the outfit can stay simple and let one item carry the look. More outerwear is available in the coats collection.

Sources

1. Burberry · company history: founding (1856), gabardine (1879), the Tielocken (1912), the trench coat and the Check.
2. Burberry: the 1999 name change from “Burberrys” to “Burberry”, and the consolidation of the London, Brit and Prorsum lines (c. 2015).