Burberry is the most prominent fashion brand known for burning unsold clothes to protect its brand value and prevent counterfeiting. In 2017/2018, the company destroyed over £28 million worth of products. Due to intense scrutiny, they stopped this practice in September 2018.
Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Richemont (the main firm of Cartier) are just some fancy brands that have been in the news for wasting millions of dollars worth of unsold items to keep their brand look.
Burberry is one of the most well-known firms that, until recently, did this. In 2017, clothing worth £28.6 million was incinerated by the company – a figure that made global headlines . By September 2018, following intense media scrutiny, Burberry announced it had stopped incinerating clothes with immediate effect.
Each season, fast fashion retailers like H&M are overproducing clothes by 30-40% — clothing they know won't be sold. In 2019, reporters revealed that mountains of perfectly good H&M garments were being thrown away or burned to be used as fuel for power plants. All this waste comes at a real cost.
At one point, Gucci reportedly chose to destroy around $10 million worth of unsold products rather than sell them at a discount. To most businesses, this sounds irrational. Inventory is meant to be cleared.
For Louis Vuitton, maintaining its prestige means never compromising on pricing or accessibility. Burning unsold inventory is a dramatic, but deliberate, move to protect brand value and ensure that their products remain desirable and rare - not items you'd find on a clearance rack.
Where we do have leftover stock, we partner with trusted charities to ensure any unsold stock is donated, resold or recycled if it can no longer be worn.
H&M clothes generally offer better quality than Shein's. Shein focuses on fast production and ultra-low prices, while H&M provides more durable fabrics and better stitching, especially in its premium lines. If you're sourcing clothing for your brand, you're not just buying trends — you're buying reputation.
As part of our social and environmental commitment, we want to help you extend the useful life of your garments. To this end, we have developed a used clothing collection program. In collaboration with local non-profit organisations, we recover garments that are no longer used and give them a second life.
The "333 rule" in clothing refers to two popular minimalist fashion concepts: the viral TikTok trend of using 3 tops, 3 bottoms, and 3 shoes to create numerous outfits (9 items total) for styling practice, and the more extensive Project 333, where you select 33 items (including clothes, shoes, and accessories) to wear for three months, excluding essentials like underwear, workout gear, and sleepwear, to simplify your wardrobe and reduce decision fatigue. Both methods focus on versatility, quality over quantity, and creating a functional capsule wardrobe.
Yes, British people wear Burberry, but its perception has evolved, shifting from being a symbol of the elite and "Cool Britannia" to a brand embracing modern, diverse Britishness while still retaining its core heritage, seen on everyone from royalty to pop stars and everyday professionals. It's deeply woven into British identity, famously worn by royals and featured in films, but also experienced a working-class association in the 2000s before a recent rebrand emphasizing inclusivity and classic style.
What does Louis Vuitton do with bags that don't sell?
The rumor that Louis Vuitton destroys unsold bags is fueled by the brand's need to maintain its exclusivity. The theory suggests that by disposing of unsold items, Louis Vuitton prevents them from being sold at discounted prices, thus upholding their high value and discouraging counterfeiters.
Nevold isn't a private initiative, either; the circular platform will partner with other brands and companies in the wider fashion industry—beyond the luxury sector—to collect end-of-life materials, unsold merchandise and material offcuts that can be used to develop recycled materials.
Temu scored 0 and Shein 20 out of 100 in Baptist World Aid's newly released Ethical Fashion Report. The best thing we can do as consumers? Help reduce demand and advocate for the Government and large companies to take more responsibility for tackling exploitation.
Temu and Shein are different companies. Temu is owned by PDD Holdings Inc., and Shein is owned by Chris Xu. Temu and Shein both sell items at very low prices thanks to a tax break in American trading law.
Yes, you can put clean, wearable underwear in many clothes banks for recycling or reuse, but it depends on the specific charity or textile recycling program, as some only accept new items or exclude undergarments entirely. Always check the guidelines for your local bank; generally, they take all clean, dry textiles for recycling into fiber, while some specialized charities accept new or gently used underwear for people in need, notes Recycle Now and Zero Waste Scotland.
The "30 wears rule" is a sustainable fashion guideline where you ask yourself, "Will I wear this item at least 30 times?" before buying it, promoting conscious consumption by prioritizing quality, timeless pieces over disposable fast fashion to reduce textile waste and environmental impact. Popularized by Livia Firth, it encourages viewing clothes as investments, reducing impulse buys, and shifting towards a slower, more intentional wardrobe by focusing on longevity and cost-per-wear.
Zara manages unsold clothing 1 through discount sales, outlet stores, recycling programs, and donations. The brand avoids waste by repurposing fabrics, selling leftovers at lower prices, and working with charities to distribute excess stock.
No, this isn't a scene from a fictional movie, but reality. In the past years, luxe brand Burberry faced strong backlash, after it burned unsold products.
