Yorkshire designer is appointed new chief executive at Burberry

CHRISTOPHER Bailey, the Yorkshire designer credited with reviving the fashion brand Burberry, is to become the company’s chief executive next year, when long-standing boss Angela Ahrendts moves to Apple.
Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Director of Burberry LtdChristopher Bailey, Chief Creative Director of Burberry Ltd
Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Director of Burberry Ltd

The fashion house confirmed yesterday that Ms Ahrendts would step down by mid-2014. She will be replaced by Mr Bailey, who will also keep his role as chief creative officer.

“I am profoundly moved and humbled to be asked to take on the CEO role at this company that means so much to me,” said Mr Bailey. “I also feel privileged to be keeping my role as chief creative officer, as I believe that creativity and innovation have been at the heart of our success in the last ten years.”

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However, the fact that the 42-year-old will hold two major positions prompted concerns from some analysts, who feared that he might be taking on too much.

“There will undoubtedly be relief that Mr Bailey, the driving force behind the brand for the last 12 years, is staying,” Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients.

“But we anticipate some investor concern about combining the chief creative officer and CEO roles, which are both time consuming and require very different skill sets.”

Mr Bailey was brought up in Halifax and attended Sowerby Bridge High School. He studied at Batley College of Art and Design, and worked for Gucci in Milan and Donna Karan in New York, before joining Burberry.

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He holds doctorates from the University of Huddersfield and the University of Westminster.

His creative flair has been credited with boosting Burberry’s fortunes, after a period when some analysts associated it with ‘chav’ culture. Burberry makes its trenchcoats at a factory in Castleford, which employs 600 people.

A spokesman for Burberry said that Mr Bailey was not giving interviews yesterday, but added: “He’s proud of his Yorkshire roots, and Burberry has got links with Castleford as well.”

In 2009, Mr Bailey told the Yorkshire Post that much of the fashion industry radiates from Yorkshire.

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“Yorkshire people tend not to want to brag, ” he said at the time.

“We have a tendency to be quite quiet and modest about the things that we produce and do.

“At Burberry, Castleford is where we manufacture all our classic trenchcoats and it’s only there that we can get the right quality and the right workmanship.”

Ms Ahrendts has been Burberry’s boss for eight years, during which time its share price has soared by around 250 per cent. She will take up a newly-created position at Apple as a senior vice president with oversight of retail and online stores. She will report directly to chief executive Tim Cook.

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Mr Bailey joined Burberry in 2001 and has held the major creative role for six years.

He has helped to rebuild the group after it became a victim of its own success in the 1990s when its trademark pattern was embraced by the mass market, losing its appeal to its core wealthy clientele.

Under Ms Ahrendts and Mr Bailey, the group has refocused on the luxury market, increased its store base and expanded rapidly in emerging markets like China. It reported first-half results yesterday which showed the benefits of that approach.

Chief financial officer Carol Fairweather said yesterday: “The strategies which have underpinned our success in recent years will remain unchanged as Christopher has been an integral part in developing these over the last 12 years.”

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Burberry reported retail revenue up 17 per cent to £694m in the six months to September 30, which was in line with analysts’ forecasts.

Its total revenue was £1.03bn, an increase of 14 per cent.

Brokers Hargreaves Lansdown described the update as impressive, although it was overshadowed by the announcement of Ms Ahrendts’ departure.

Burberry’s first-half revenue growth was driven by robust demand for outerwear and large leather goods.

Retail sales from stores open at least a year grew by 13 per cent, helped by double-digit growth in the Asia Pacific and the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) divisions and high-single digit growth in the Americas.

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Burberry said in May that first-half pre-tax profit would be below last year’s £173m as its focus shifts from wholesale markets – sales through non-Burberry stores – to high-growth Latin American and Asian retail sales from Burberry branded stores.

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