Burberry Lately --Quality Questions!

[CocoPetite]

So I finally decided to splurge on a Burberry Heritage trench... and realised that they took down the Westminster line for women. I really wanted it as it has been touted as the most classic of the Heritage styles, but I'm alright with purchasing a Kensington instead.

However... while wading through fit advice, I came across a thread from two years ago on reddit. People are usually pretty honest there, and what stood out to me were these comments from a tailor and another individual:

"I am a tailor, and I recently went into a Burberry to look at their beautiful tenches. I was appalled at the stitching quality, thought the pockets were poorly made and the fabric wasn't very nice. That being said, it wasn't the trench that you are showing, but I was really disappointed at what he company put forth as a "quality" item for such a high end price tag. I even told the sales person when he asked what I thought of it. He had no response."

She goes on to elaborate why she says what she says, but I'm not going to quote that detailed paragraph here.

The other commenter: "To clarify, they WERE awesome. Now they are seriously the same quality as Gap, so might well save yourself $1000. "

For anyone who has bought a Heritage trench lately, what are your experiences and opinions? Are they fully lined? Should I save myself the now $2,000+ cash?

I've been waiting 8 years to get a Burberry trench coat, and I want to get it right!

I appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond and share. ^_^ Ooh, and pictures are always amazing!

 

[fittingpig]

So I finally decided to splurge on a Burberry Heritage trench... and realised that they took down the Westminster line for women. I really wanted it as it has been touted as the most classic of the Heritage styles, but I'm alright with purchasing a Kensington instead.

However... while wading through fit advice, I came across a thread from two years ago on reddit. People are usually pretty honest there, and what stood out to me were these comments from a tailor and another individual:

"I am a tailor, and I recently went into a Burberry to look at their beautiful tenches. I was appalled at the stitching quality, thought the pockets were poorly made and the fabric wasn't very nice. That being said, it wasn't the trench that you are showing, but I was really disappointed at what he company put forth as a "quality" item for such a high end price tag. I even told the sales person when he asked what I thought of it. He had no response."

She goes on to elaborate why she says what she says, but I'm not going to quote that detailed paragraph here.

The other commenter: "To clarify, they WERE awesome. Now they are seriously the same quality as Gap, so might well save yourself $1000. "

For anyone who has bought a Heritage trench lately, what are your experiences and opinions? Are they fully lined? Should I save myself the now $2,000+ cash?

I've been waiting 8 years to get a Burberry trench coat, and I want to get it right!

I appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond and share. ^_^ Ooh, and pictures are always amazing!

i only has 1 trench bought 2 years ago. So I can't really compare this tench with others. I am not a tailor either. What I feel like for trench I bought was thin material, for garbadine material I actually hope it to be a bit thicker. I also check other heritage trench. Same feeling thin material. And when you look closer. It looks like a little bit piling. I am not sure how was the quality before. But for this price tag honestly I would expect a little better quality. Their price goes up every year 2

 

[papertiger]

Check out other classic coat makers before committing. I only have 1 Burberry trench left now but I've kept all of my Aquascutum, YSL, Cordings and Gucci. Everybody needs a trench so you need it to be the best.

 

[jess236]

Quality-wise, I don't think they have decreased in quality. I actually don't think they make the polycotton version anymore and it's all gabardine. They are nice trench coats, if you find one that fits you well. But, in terms of price, they are incredibly overpriced now. Try to find one on sale or second-hand. I agree that you should look at other brands before making your final decision.

And no, they are not the same quality as Gap. That's a ridiculous comment.

 

[letshop]

I have a few trenches myself. Some are over 10 years old and some are about 4-5 yrs old. All my old ones are nicer in every sense: stitches, fabric, and fit. I used to go into the store, looking at them being so beautiful and thought it is worth it. But last few years, I bought only few items because most of stuff I feel they don't look any beautiful, nor great quality stuff for the price that they are. Price is keeping going up and quality seems to keep going down.
Sadly my love for Burberry is no longer. Only basic stuff but big items to me is NOT worth it.

 

[ditchqueen]

I went to Burberry a couple of days ago and the store personal told me about the big online 2017 revel. He said that Burberry now owns their own cows etc for leather and have totally revamped their process. I saw the bags online and when the store called, I almost ordered one but am nervous to the quality. After reading your posts I'm def having second thoughts...

 

[anithic]

To be honest I felt the fabric of some of the trenches aren't as nice as well. I've only had two trenches but got rid of one because the fabric felt flimsy to me. However my Prorsum trench feels divine and I'm never letting that one go!

 

[Annabel's]

I own one trench which is a gift from my sister (I was very reluctant to spend £1000+ on one myself). In my opinion, the stiching and fabric is up to standard (and I believe if there is any issues you can always take it to the store; I did take it back to the store for them to tailor the arm's length for me). However one thing I am not very pleased about is the pocket (or maybe the way the pocket is stitched inside) - whenever I put anything in my pocket (e.g. Phone) it deforms the bottom of the front edge of the coat and makes this front corner of the coat look wrinkly. So to have the clean cut / magazine look I can't put anything in my pocket, which is not ideal. Just something for you to consider - I still believe in a Burberry coat as a timeless woman's classic

 

[ddchicago85]

i own way too many Burberry coats. I have several Burberry Brit quilted coats and a wool duffel and also two Brit trench coats. but I will focus on my two Kensington trenches, both in honey one is medium length and one is short length. I dont know why I was compelled to buy the second one heritage trench in short, my first one was the medium. The short one I thought maybe didnt seem proper as most men dont wear that length trench but i am only 5'9 so the short i actually like a lot but i love the medium too. My coats are in good shape, the short is only a few months old, the medium is a year old. but they have not been used a lot, I live in Chicago and the weather is spotty so we dont get much of a spring. but the medium has held up ok, the fabric still looks really nice, under the collar there is a flap that attaches a piece of fabric to the collar and the coat, its like a tiny thread and it popped off. I went into the store and they repaired it while I waited. the medium coat also had a button pop off, my trenches fit just right they are not too tight so when the button on the back popped off Immediately thought dang this must be like pulling hard when I sit down or something, but I think it was just not attached properly. I brought it in and they fixed the button. The short coat i like because its easy to travel with, the quality is good but I am annoyed by the constant wrinkles in the arms. I know its coat and just because it costs 1700 and 1800 dollars I cant expect magic, but I do expect these coats to last me a long time. I do get several compliments by people when I wear them, they do really stand out.
my pictures refuse to load properly, sorry for the weird rotation cant fix it!

 

[CocoPetite]

Thanks for all your insightful comments ladies and gent(s). I appreciate your sharing your personal experiences, and pictures! @ddchicago85, your coats definitely do stand out. Glad they fixed those issues for you, but I do feel that for the price you paid, they should not have even been there. Maybe you feel the same way too? However, those are easy fixes, so hooray for that! ^_^

Sorry for the late replies, folks. 2017 was not my year, but 2018, I'm coming atcha.

 

[pugprincess]

So I finally decided to splurge on a Burberry Heritage trench... and realised that they took down the Westminster line for women. I really wanted it as it has been touted as the most classic of the Heritage styles, but I'm alright with purchasing a Kensington instead.

However... while wading through fit advice, I came across a thread from two years ago on reddit. People are usually pretty honest there, and what stood out to me were these comments from a tailor and another individual:

"I am a tailor, and I recently went into a Burberry to look at their beautiful tenches. I was appalled at the stitching quality, thought the pockets were poorly made and the fabric wasn't very nice. That being said, it wasn't the trench that you are showing, but I was really disappointed at what he company put forth as a "quality" item for such a high end price tag. I even told the sales person when he asked what I thought of it. He had no response."

She goes on to elaborate why she says what she says, but I'm not going to quote that detailed paragraph here.

The other commenter: "To clarify, they WERE awesome. Now they are seriously the same quality as Gap, so might well save yourself $1000. "

For anyone who has bought a Heritage trench lately, what are your experiences and opinions? Are they fully lined? Should I save myself the now $2,000+ cash?

I've been waiting 8 years to get a Burberry trench coat, and I want to get it right!

I appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond and share. ^_^ Ooh, and pictures are always amazing!

 

[pugprincess]

Sadly, I had the same experience, not with the trench, but with their watch. I love Burberry. i patronize their products for years, i.e. bags, shoes, clothes, make-up, perfumes, etc. (i even have to forced my son and husband to wear their clothing, lol!). That is how I love Burberry. But my last experience was a big disappointment.

I have bought their watch, but after a few months (although I rarely used it since I save it for special occasions) I have to send it for repair. After the watch has been repaired, it has stopped working again after a few months. Since the warranty has expired, I brought it in to our local repair shop. To my surprise, the shop informed me that the parts used were of low quality! I was so appalled since I have paid 450 euros for this watch (not much money, yes, but compared to my DKNY and Michael Kors, it is a lot of money!- and these watches have never let me down, ever, for 5 years now). So I called in their their customer service to ask (aka complain subtly). But to my dismay they just informed me that they cannot do anything about it because they have stopped producing watches. Wow! They have the nerve to sell a cheap quality "high-end" watch and project an image of a high-end brand but does not even have a good customer service to back it up. Well, I don't need to hear the whole story why they have stopped producing watches- or should I say, why you got so many complaints! So from then on, I have stopped patronizing Burberry. End of story.

 

[Caits]

I realize this is a significantly belated response, but I thought I should share the following. My husband bought a Burberry coat for me a couple of years ago because I had wanted a heritage trench for some time. Granted, what he bought was not one of the heritage trenches - it was a slightly less expensive model that zipped up. But still a Burberry, rain coat, purchased in a non-outlet Burberry store, brand new. During the first year I owned the coat, I put my house keys in the outer pocket. Within a day or so, the keys had ripped an enormous hole in the pocket because apparently the canvas-like (heavy) material used for the exterior of the coat is only used on the front of the pocket and a thin lining is used on the back. The keys apparently ripped the flimsy lining along the seam where it joined with the canvas. A few months later, the other pocket ripped in the same place because of what I recall may have been a mere business card in my pocket. Fast forward a year or two to last Friday, when, leaving my office, I put the coat on and zipped it up, only to have the zipper pull break off in my hand! Worse still, the zipper would not go down without the pull - only up! I had to ultimately be helped out of the coat because it would not unzip without the pull attached. To say that I have been disappointed with my Burberry coat would be the understatement of the century. I had wanted one so much, but the quality is abysmal- truly it was a piece of junk. Incredibly, the $100 trench coat I bought at kookai in Stockholm a decade earlier held up 100 times better. I have a number of luxury brand goods, and I expect the price tag to be synonymous with superior quality, otherwise what am I paying for? In this case, in my personal opinion, you are paying for the name brand only, nothing more, and I would frankly say, to the person who said that the quality was equivalent to the Gap, that in point of fact, gap clothing holds up better. If you haven’t bought your Burberry trench coat yet, I would say buyer beware. Oh, and if you do get one, and anything goes wrong, as it did with my coat, you will spend many hundreds of dollars to repair something that should cost $50 at your local tailor or risk losing your “authentic” Burberry status.

 

[cloee]

I realize this is a significantly belated response, but I thought I should share the following. My husband bought a Burberry coat for me a couple of years ago because I had wanted a heritage trench for some time. Granted, what he bought was not one of the heritage trenches - it was a slightly less expensive model that zipped up. But still a Burberry, rain coat, purchased in a non-outlet Burberry store, brand new. During the first year I owned the coat, I put my house keys in the outer pocket. Within a day or so, the keys had ripped an enormous hole in the pocket because apparently the canvas-like (heavy) material used for the exterior of the coat is only used on the front of the pocket and a thin lining is used on the back. The keys apparently ripped the flimsy lining along the seam where it joined with the canvas. A few months later, the other pocket ripped in the same place because of what I recall may have been a mere business card in my pocket. Fast forward a year or two to last Friday, when, leaving my office, I put the coat on and zipped it up, only to have the zipper pull break off in my hand! Worse still, the zipper would not go down without the pull - only up! I had to ultimately be helped out of the coat because it would not unzip without the pull attached. To say that I have been disappointed with my Burberry coat would be the understatement of the century. I had wanted one so much, but the quality is abysmal- truly it was a piece of junk. Incredibly, the $100 trench coat I bought at kookai in Stockholm a decade earlier held up 100 times better. I have a number of luxury brand goods, and I expect the price tag to be synonymous with superior quality, otherwise what am I paying for? In this case, in my personal opinion, you are paying for the name brand only, nothing more, and I would frankly say, to the person who said that the quality was equivalent to the Gap, that in point of fact, gap clothing holds up better. If you haven’t bought your Burberry trench coat yet, I would say buyer beware. Oh, and if you do get one, and anything goes wrong, as it did with my coat, you will spend many hundreds of dollars to repair something that should cost $50 at your local tailor or risk losing your “authentic” Burberry status.

That’s quite unfortunate. I always have my keys in my trench pocket and have been using it during fall and spring for the last 5 years or so without any issues.
Zippers are another issue alogether. I have 2 jackets with zippers and both have issues. One of them has buttons so I basically just use the buttons now. The other one already had the issue when I was purchasing it and they no longer had stock so I asked them to have the zipper replaced. Glad I did because my friend who got the same style also ended up with zipper issues.
These incidents still haven’t stopped me from purchasing Burberry though as I do like their stuff.

 

[rugratsfc]

I realize this is a significantly belated response, but I thought I should share the following. My husband bought a Burberry coat for me a couple of years ago because I had wanted a heritage trench for some time. Granted, what he bought was not one of the heritage trenches - it was a slightly less expensive model that zipped up. But still a Burberry, rain coat, purchased in a non-outlet Burberry store, brand new. During the first year I owned the coat, I put my house keys in the outer pocket. Within a day or so, the keys had ripped an enormous hole in the pocket because apparently the canvas-like (heavy) material used for the exterior of the coat is only used on the front of the pocket and a thin lining is used on the back. The keys apparently ripped the flimsy lining along the seam where it joined with the canvas. A few months later, the other pocket ripped in the same place because of what I recall may have been a mere business card in my pocket. Fast forward a year or two to last Friday, when, leaving my office, I put the coat on and zipped it up, only to have the zipper pull break off in my hand! Worse still, the zipper would not go down without the pull - only up! I had to ultimately be helped out of the coat because it would not unzip without the pull attached. To say that I have been disappointed with my Burberry coat would be the understatement of the century. I had wanted one so much, but the quality is abysmal- truly it was a piece of junk. Incredibly, the $100 trench coat I bought at kookai in Stockholm a decade earlier held up 100 times better. I have a number of luxury brand goods, and I expect the price tag to be synonymous with superior quality, otherwise what am I paying for? In this case, in my personal opinion, you are paying for the name brand only, nothing more, and I would frankly say, to the person who said that the quality was equivalent to the Gap, that in point of fact, gap clothing holds up better. If you haven’t bought your Burberry trench coat yet, I would say buyer beware. Oh, and if you do get one, and anything goes wrong, as it did with my coat, you will spend many hundreds of dollars to repair something that should cost $50 at your local tailor or risk losing your “authentic” Burberry status.

That’s quite unfortunate. I always have my keys in my trench pocket and have been using it during fall and spring for the last 5 years or so without any issues.
Zippers are another issue alogether. I have 2 jackets with zippers and both have issues. One of them has buttons so I basically just use the buttons now. The other one already had the issue when I was purchasing it and they no longer had stock so I asked them to have the zipper replaced. Glad I did because my friend who got the same style also ended up with zipper issues.
These incidents still haven’t stopped me from purchasing Burberry though as I do like their stuff.

I love Burberry coats/jackets. I have a Kensington heritage in honey (I think), which I used almost non-stop daily in my 4 week holiday to Europe in Oct. Held up really well, no issues. Carried two phones in the pockets, wallets with keys, printer paper, etc etc. Basically treated it as an extension of my bag, as my day bag was a Chanel mini which only carried a small amount of my items for day trips.

Also have a red Burberry brit trench coat - and I've had that one for 4 yrs maybe. Again, have had no quality issues with it and I have used it a lot.

I have a maroon Burberry wool/cashmere blend coat too. Have not used it as much as the others - but also carried it to Europe and have had no issues with it.

I recently bought a new Burberry jacket, a puffy one. And I can understand what you mean with the pockets' internal lining being too thin. I put one thin piece of credit card size wad of paper in it, and it almost tore the lining - or at least I felt like it was going to tear. Even a smooth item like my phone (have an iPhone 11 max) felt like too much of a sharp object to put in it.

So I think it really depends on which jacket/coat it is. Like cloee said, I don't think it's gonna stop me from buying any more Burberry items in the future, but I will be more wary and check for things like that.