The British luxury fashion label wants to prevent unsold clothing items from falling into the ‘grey market’ (an unofficial market in products that have not been obtained from an official supplier) and being bought by the ‘wrong’ customers’.
In the last couple of years, due to a continued downturn in sales, the high-end clothing brand has seen an increase in the value of its waste by 50%. It appears that more than £90 million (approximately 117 million CHF) worth of Burberry products have been destroyed in the last five years.
Insiders of the luxury industry suggest that more luxury brands destroy their unsold products to ensure protection of their intellectual property and brand value, as they do not want their products sold to the ‘wrong’ type of customers, thus devaluing the brand.
This kind of action has angered the environmentalists however; Burberry defended their decision stating that it is an industry practice, and that they are using specialist incinerators that harness the energy produced.
Source: https://bdnews24.com/Fashion/2018/07/19/burberry-burns-28m-of-unsold-luxury-clothes-a-year
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