Daniel Lee - Designer, Creative Director of Burberry

[Frederic01]

BOF

 

[90sFan]

She described it perfectly! The brand is aspirational and now nobody can’t afford it. And I wonder why they didn’t send things to influencers…
Their new bag is nowhere to be found on peoples arms during FW.

They are embarrassed to send it out??! Who can blame them???!!!!!

 

[gallianostan]

perhaps daniel lee should prove he's not a raging racist instead, so he doesn't get fired again lol

 

[LadyJunon]

BOF

Compared to the situation at Gucci, I think that Burberry is a more complex issue.

After Tisci’s somewhat mediocre tenure, Lee’s appointment was very well received, aided by his previous success with reviving Bottega Veneta. The rebrand was equally well received with a healthy dose of nostalgia with the revival of the “Prorsum Knight” and a striking cobalt blue with the positive reception continuing with the debut show and its relaxed, casual propositions.

However, the final prices of the FW23 and RE24 collections killed off all interest in Lee’s Burberry, mainly because of Burberry’s poor brand perception. It doesn’t help that Burberry’s current visuals lean more into the trendy, quirky “everyman” type, which contradicts the upper-luxury pricing strategy. On top of that, Lee’s collections lack the sophistication in design and construction to command luxury price points.

 

[Lola701]

I love Lee’s Burberry.
I bought a reversible trench coat already and pre-ordered a blouse and a pair of sandals.

I Don’t really know if the problem of both houses is the same. The success of Burberry was never dependent on their abilities to release It bags and shoes. They needs to sell clothes! The clothes are great, the price is not right.

Gucci however needs to sell a lot of bags and shoes. Clothes needs to move but what Ancora needs is a new it-bag.
Michelle first hit was the Dyonisus and he had the princetown mules too!
The dynamic is not the same.

 

[yslforever]

They are embarrassed to send it out??! Who can blame them???!!!!!

Well everybody made fun of the Chess line bags , looking like bare buttocks or scrotums ....

 

[LadyJunon]

I love Lee’s Burberry.
I bought a reversible trench coat already and pre-ordered a blouse and a pair of sandals.

I'm interested to know how good the quality is. Please let me know.

I don’t really know if the problem of both houses is the same. The success of Burberry was never dependent on their abilities to release It bags and shoes. They needs to sell clothes! The clothes are great, the price is not right.

If that's the case, then it might be smarter to take a more Dries/Isabel approach to pricing the runway collections. The offering, aesthetic and visuals are strong, but they don't say "2k for a skirt, 4k for pants".

 

[Lola701]

I'm interested to know how good the quality is. Please let me know.

If that's the case, then it might be smarter to take a more Dries/Isabel approach to pricing the runway collections. The offering, aesthetic and visuals are strong, but they don't say "2k for a skirt, 4k for pants".

The quality is good. Good cotton, perfect finishing. A honest product. I’ve never been disappointed by the quality of Burberry, particularly the runway or runway-inspired stuff. Their quality is more sketchy when it comes to the products they have in department stores and outlets. But considering that a lot of Riccardo stuff was unsold I guess people will good quality items in outlets too.

I must say that I bought the trench on Farfetch. So I saved almost 400€ on the official retail price. And I love that trench. It doesn’t have epaulettes, it’s reversible, the lining is that yellow alteration of the check and it’s perfect. But I’m not sure I would have paid the full retail price. It took me a lot of time to decide to pay that price for a Burberry trench. The specifics made me paid for that one but it’s more expensive than a Celine trench or a YSL trench. And now I’m talking big luxury brands but of course, from APC to Stella McCartney, there are many alternatives that are cheaper.

The blouse and the shoes are runway pieces but the prices were decent.

I don’t think they have that clientele willing to spend 4K on pants.
I think they can charge 2K for a trench, 3K for a big shearling coat.

The worst thing is probably their bags. Very practical but they shouldn’t cost more than 2000€ for a large size. They should align to Mulberry and Coach to that aspect.
They have +3K bags! It’s insane!
You can have a beautiful Loewe bag for less than a Burberry bag!

 

[tourbillions]

I’m not sure I would have paid the full retail price. It took me a lot of time to decide to pay that price for a Burberry trench

This will always be the problem with his line. To buy things from Lee's Burberry, you'll have to really want it to consider buying it at all otherwise there's many cheaper alternatives from more people's "go-to" brands that are regarded to be much more upscale. They completely lost it with this strategy, have they started it at Tisci's tenure by slowly raising the price i think it would have worked since he has/had a cult following. Just needed a bigger marketing push.

 

[vetements]

This will always be the problem with his line. To buy things from Lee's Burberry, you'll have to really want it to consider buying it at all otherwise there's many cheaper alternatives from more people's "go-to" brands that are regarded to be much more upscale. They completely lost it with this strategy, have they started it at Tisci's tenure by slowly raising the price i think it would have worked since he has/had a cult following. Just needed a bigger marketing push.

they can still do it with Daniel Lee.
Daniel has with him a very successful Bottega Veneta in his resume, (and I dare say more impact than the current designer). So it is entirely possible, they just need to thread it very carefully.
The problem for me with Burberry is the perception of the brand, too diluted by all the non high fashion items and usually worn by people whose styles I dont look up to ( then again, I think these days, even those people have stopped wearing the Burberry check anymore, like I dont think fake Burberrys are a trendy item anymore, vs say LV, so that is actually a good thing).

Some of Daniels runway pieces actually look good, marketing is reasonably good too, pricing are not so I guess they need to work harder to make people realise and subsequently go buy the born-again Burberry. Like what Lola said, the quality is top notch, so it shouldnt be competing with the likes of Acne/ APC but with LV/ BV/ Dior/ Hermes and the likes. Now, we just need to be convinced, more testimonials from people like Lola will help.

ps. I am in Japan and I went to their website on Google chrome and it got stuck at the `accept all cookies` page, annoying to say the least. Better fix it, especially for such a big luxury market like us here.

 

[Lola701]

This will always be the problem with his line. To buy things from Lee's Burberry, you'll have to really want it to consider buying it at all otherwise there's many cheaper alternatives from more people's "go-to" brands that are regarded to be much more upscale. They completely lost it with this strategy, have they started it at Tisci's tenure by slowly raising the price i think it would have worked since he has/had a cult following. Just needed a bigger marketing push.

You know what, I think that the pricing is an issue now because people actually wanted the pieces. There was a genuine interest in this new Burberry. Riccardo’s stuff was already expensive but because his vision did not worked with Burberry and paradoxically was a success in Asia, the rest of the world did not catch up. And they went on public sales too.
I don’t know wh

they can still do it with Daniel Lee.
Daniel has with him a very successful Bottega Veneta in his resume, (and I dare say more impact than the current designer). So it is entirely possible, they just need to thread it very carefully.
The problem for me with Burberry is the perception of the brand, too diluted by all the non high fashion items and usually worn by people whose styles I dont look up to ( then again, I think these days, even those people have stopped wearing the Burberry check anymore, like I dont think fake Burberrys are a trendy item anymore, vs say LV, so that is actually a good thing).

Some of Daniels runway pieces actually look good, marketing is reasonably good too, pricing are not so I guess they need to work harder to make people realise and subsequently go buy the born-again Burberry. Like what Lola said, the quality is top notch, so it shouldnt be competing with the likes of Acne/ APC but with LV/ BV/ Dior/ Hermes and the likes. Now, we just need to be convinced, more testimonials from people like Lola will help.

ps. I am in Japan and I went to their website on Google chrome and it got stuck at the `accept all cookies` page, annoying to say the least. Better fix it, especially for such a big luxury market like us here.

i agree with most of what you say but in terms of perception, it’s nearly impossible for them to compete with Hermes/Vuitton/Dior.
They can compete with Versace, with Coach.
Burberry is an upscale brand, an aspirational brand. I know more men who owns a Burberry Peacoat or trench coat than a Dior. And for them it’s a status symbol but also a quality symbol.

Distribution is what separates those brands in terms of perception. Hermes has even other layered mystique but why Vuitton, despite the banalization of luxury is still for example seen as more exclusive than Gucci? Their distribution. You can only buy Vuitton at Vuitton. Even their fragrances are not available outside of their stores…Whereas you can buy Chanel or Hermes fragrances (except the exclusives) at Sephora or others.

The suits at Burberry needs to understand that if you want to play in that arena, you have to play by the rules.

We are seeing Kering handle the distribution of it brands.
And the people at Burberry are not ready for this kind of sacrifices! They have to adjust the prices! It’s ridiculous!

 

[vetements]

You know what, I think that the pricing is an issue now because people actually wanted the pieces. There was a genuine interest in this new Burberry. Riccardo’s stuff was already expensive but because his vision did not worked with Burberry and paradoxically was a success in Asia, the rest of the world did not catch up. And they went on public sales too.
I don’t know wh

i agree with most of what you say but in terms of perception, it’s nearly impossible for them to compete with Hermes/Vuitton/Dior.
They can compete with Versace, with Coach.
Burberry is an upscale brand, an aspirational brand. I know more men who owns a Burberry Peacoat or trench coat than a Dior. And for them it’s a status symbol but also a quality symbol.

Distribution is what separates those brands in terms of perception. Hermes has even other layered mystique but why Vuitton, despite the banalization of luxury is still for example seen as more exclusive than Gucci? Their distribution. You can only buy Vuitton at Vuitton. Even their fragrances are not available outside of their stores…Whereas you can buy Chanel or Hermes fragrances (except the exclusives) at Sephora or others.

The suits at Burberry needs to understand that if you want to play in that arena, you have to play by the rules.

We are seeing Kering handle the distribution of it brands.
And the people at Burberry are not ready for this kind of sacrifices! They have to adjust the prices! It’s ridiculous!

well said about the distribution, totally agree on that and the possibility to turn around the branding perception is almost impossible.

I think when they hired Daniel, the thought process (and salary levels) of him must be, we will pay him more, we will revamp it, we will produce it properly with high quality material, and make it an upscale luxury brand, we will charge higher....All good and make sense theoretically except they missed out that few missing puzzles. A shame, and I really dont wish to see Daniel getting fired after a few seasons...

 

[tourbillions]

they definitely need to get out of all the discount stores and make people forget about the cheap things associated with burberry. Even their fragrances are not regarded the same as the other brands in their new price points. Its too late to lower prices now, so lee better bring more desirable enough pieces to attract new loyal burberry clients who would rally for the brand. I would love to but I cannot see the point of spending 4k$ on burberry trousers.

i definitely believe that everything is made top-notch but it was always the case with burberry specially with their more high-end collections.

 

[Olaffo]

I can speak only for trench and pair of shoes from his collections and the quality is really good - it's just unjustifiably expensive lol I wouldn't go for full prices, my friend's discount is working there so that's my trick. I feel like Daniel needs to step his p*ssy up along with design department but that's as much as he can do - suits can rise the prices endlessly and in case of any backlash the designer is always the one to blame. Burberry needs to have steady and far-reaching plan otherwise we will end up with revolving doors and growing frustration on each ends.

 

[lookatme]

I just took a look at the Burberry instagram, and I have to say I think there’s something that’s working there.

The products look nice and I think they’re highlighting the more classic items nicely. I still have an issue with the shoes - I really want to see just a straightforward brown leather, round toe pump or something. Bottega was a place where being a bit artier and “intellectual” worked, but Burberry is not the brand for that.

The runway shows seem to be where the issue lies. The styling is completely wrong, the casting isn’t working, and the production is too cold and unremarkable. If he can work on making the catwalk show a bit cozier, warmer, friendlier and more charming I think he’d be in a better place.

 

[90sFan]

I pass by their store in Paris sometimes, and it always takes me 3 takes to understand it's a Burberry store. Looks like some random chain for British high-street shoppers. Sad.

 

[Thefrenchy]

The noise about his Burberry not working is getting a bit too loud, I've a feeling he's going to get sacked soon.

 

[Olaffo]

The noise about his Burberry not working is getting a bit too loud, I've a feeling he's going to get sacked soon.

He was appointed in Sep 2022, joined Oct 2022 so I guess he has time until Oct 2025 / Q1 2026.

 

[Frederic01]

The noise about his Burberry not working is getting a bit too loud, I've a feeling he's going to get sacked soon.

It’s not working because it’s too expensive. The design part is not the issue, it’s the price point and the mass distribution.

Riccardo’s tenure at the house ruined the image of the brand even more, due to the amount of streetwear and cheaply made logo stuff they were producing to the point where it was overkill.

What they need to do is adjust the prices, limit the distribution, invest more into the beauty side, and also focus on building up their leather goods, because the moment they are probably the weakest player in that department which is ironic given Lee’s previous success at Bottega.

 

[susseinmcswanny]

One of the reasons why idgaf is because these complete rebrands are so frequent that is too clearly obvious that there's no legitimate interest in someones vision anymore, just wanting to make quick shiny new things to sell a high volume of sh*t to short attention spanned people. I am very sure in the not so distant future there will be a new creative director at Burberry a with a new logo and a new look and everything. Yes they all exist for the purpose of making money but at least others have some semblance of integrity. I would much rather buy something from someone cringe who firmly stands behind what they make rather than from "Daniel Lee's Burberry" built on a foundation with the intention to sell merch. BORING. All business no pleasure.