Burberry burns products worth $37 mn so that 'wrong people' don't buy them

Designer fashion label Burberry burns $37 million worth of its luxury products every year to stop "wrong people" from buying them.

Burberry does so to protect the brand and to prevent it from being sold at discount prices on the "grey market" and to the "wrong people", reports thesun.co.uk

According to a report by The Times, the upmarket clothing line, famous for its checked design, has destroyed 90 million pounds of products in the past five years.

Retailers describe it as a measure to protect intellectual property and prevent products from being stolen or sold at discounted prices.

Burberry says it uses special incinerators which harness the energy.

The brand said it took the issue of waste "extremely seriously". The company said the practice of destroying excess stock is common across the retail industry.

"Burberry has careful processes in place to minimise the amount of excess stock we produce," the company said in a statement.

"On the occasions when disposal of products is necessary, we do so in a responsible manner and we continue to seek ways to reduce and revalue our waste." Among the products destroyed was 10.4 million pounds worth of beauty items, which Burberry said was a one-off related to a licence it agreed with beauty company Coty last year.