LONDON — The Burberry trench, practically a national treasure in the U.K., has been thrust into the spotlight once again with an ad campaign marking the brand’s 170th anniversary.
“The Trench, Portraits of an Icon” breaks Monday and shows how versatile the trench can be, and how different it looks depending on who’s wearing it.
Photographed by Tim Walker as a series of black-and-white portraits, the campaign features 23 stars from film, music, sport and fashion, many of whom walked the runway, or sat in the front row, at Burberry’s trench-heavy fall 2026 show at Old Billingsgate market last week.
Models include a mix of new and old Burberry friends including Agyness Deyn, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Erin O’Connor, Hikaru Utada, J.Y. Park, Jack Draper, Jonathan Bailey, Karen Elson, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner, Kid Cudi, Kristin Scott Thomas, Little Simz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Sora Choi, Teyana Taylor and Wu Lei.
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Burberry said the cast forms “a cross-generational portrait of contemporary culture, with each one bringing their own perspective to the coat.” The campaign is the first in a series of special events and moments marking the anniversary.
The campaign looks are from the heritage collection, which carries a Royal Warrant from King Charles III, and which Burberry makes at its factory in Castleford, Yorkshire. The newer, cropped Mayfair style also appears in the campaign. It’s ultra-popular, and was copied immediately by high street retailers the moment it hit designer Daniel Lee‘s runway.
The focus on the trench is no accident. Since he arrived, chief executive officer Joshua Schulman has been accenting the brand’s signature designs, namely the scarf, the check and the trench, as part of his thesis that Burberry “has the most opportunity where we have the most authenticity.”
The house was built on Thomas Burberry’s gabardine trenches, which were popular among British Army officers who bought and wore them during World War I. Not only did the gabardine protect against the appalling conditions in the trenches, they also looked great, and no doubt boosted morale all round.
The British explorer Ernest Shackleton used Burberry gabardine during his Antarctic adventures in the early 1900s, relying on its weatherproof qualities to protect his men — and his machines. During the Nimrod Expedition, which ran from 1907 to 1909, Shackleton used a sheet of Burberry gabardine to protect the engine of his motor car from freezing over.
During an interview at Burberry’s Horseferry House headquarters in Westminster, Schulman said the gabardine trench has come a long way over the past century.
“It has really transcended its original, functional purpose and has become not only a staple of fashion, but a vehicle for self-expression. What made me so excited about this campaign in particular was the fact that you can see the trench as a living, breathing part of the fashion universe, worn by some of the most engaging personalities in the world,” he said, adding, “It is our most recognizable and most enduring icon.”
On Schulman’s watch, the trench has also been driving sales and the turnaround at Burberry. In the three months to Dec. 27, sales of outerwear and scarves both rose in the double digits, driving overall retail revenue up 3 percent at constant exchange to 665 million pounds.
Gen Z customers in China were among the engines fueling those sales in the key holiday quarter, while the new cashmere trench was one of the bestsellers during the holiday period, according to Schulman. The Kensington as well as the Waterloo, Chelsea and the Camden car coat are regular top performers.
Schulman added that for him, a highlight of the campaign is an image of Moss wearing the Kensington trench.
“I was so excited that Kate was in the campaign, wearing a Kensington trench today that looks as relevant and as modern as that photo from over 20 years ago,” he said, pointing toward an image outside his office of the supermodel wearing a Kensington trench in a campaign from the early 2000s.
Lee was the creative director for the very British campaign. It was styled by Katy England and has an accompanying film that features “Sing” by Blur, and unscripted exchanges between the cast and crew. The campaign is the latest in a series highlighting British humor, culture and great sense of self-deprecation.
Lee described the campaign as “a tribute to Burberry — a symbol of British style and craftsmanship — and a thank-you to the skilled individuals behind every coat.”
Each heritage collection coat and jacket is made in England at the Castleford manufacturing site, where specialist tailors have produced Burberry rainwear for more than 50 years. The cotton gabardine was developed for a crease-resistant structure, ensuring a neat finish, and is lined with beige house check.
The trench fabrics, from the shower-resistant outer shell to the cotton lining, are woven at the Burberry mill in nearby Keighley, Yorkshire. Burberry said the main material and body lining of each coat contain 100 percent organic cotton.
Although the campaign’s focus is on the heritage styles, there are many more iterations on offer. They include the Fitzrovia trench and the Ellingham fit-and-flare car coat, both of which add volume with wider sleeves and a fuller skirt that’s cinched at the waist.
Burberry has also re-introduced a lightweight tropical gabardine for warmer climes, in a palette that takes in sugar pink, stone and graphite.
The campaign will appear in window displays and specially curated pop-ups, with signature trench silhouettes standing alongside large portraits from the campaign. Burberry said it wants to create bold, “gallery-like moments” that invite customers to experience the designs alongside the campaign’s cast.
Pop-ups will feature at key global locations, including Regent Street London, Isetan Shinjuku Tokyo, Lotte Main Seoul and 57th Street New York.
The trench fest won’t end with the campaign, or with Burberry’s anniversary year.
For the fall 2026 show, Lee explored the trench further and put a feminine spin on many of the styles, adding dramatic ruffled collars to some trenches and sparkly fringe, like streaks of rain, to the hem of faux fur ones.
There were elongated knitwear trenches, too, with leather belts and epaulets, bouclé and leather styles, and ones with woven checks and fur collars. A standout from the collection was a trench with a vintage map of the City of London woven into the fabric, in a typical Burberry fusion of British heritage and history.
