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Burberry.

I hate it.

I consider it the uniform of the football hooligan or the fashion essential of ‘Chav’ (along with crap bling and pristine white trainers.) It is to the 00s what Shell Suits were to the early 90s

Sadly though the nation doesn’t seem to agree with me. That naff camel coloured tartan is every where. Umbrellas, scarves, caps, T-shirts heck there’s probably even Burberry bondage gear now. But would it be so popular if people realised it actually isn’t that fashionable? It’s ‘manufactured fashion’ it’s like the Hear’Say of the clothing world.

Firstly it isn’t actually Scottish. Burberry was founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry in Basingstoke. It was a small shop – ‘gentleman’s outfitters.’ Burberry is famous for inventing Gabardine the water-resistant tough fabric a lot of out-door wear is now made from. Burberry supplied a lot of military clothing throughout the early 1900’s

It wasn’t until 1924 that the Burberry check was invented and used as lining on trenchcoats. It wasn’t until 1967 that it was first used as a cloth and was applied to scarves and umbrellas.

It wasn’t fashionable until 1997 when a new management team re-launched it in new collections

But here’s the clincher – this is why it should never be fashionable, the supposed Fashion Empire is actually an offshoot of GUS. Yes the home catalogue company also responsible for Argos has owned Burberry since 1955! Would you consider Argos high fashion chic? Nope, yet loads of chavs still parade the products of its sister company thinking they’re the Beckhams. The last laugh is on you – ‘check’, mate.