October 28, 2026 |
Once upon a time, fashion was so focused on looking forward that even the most historic houses rarely kept anything from their pasts. History was baggage. Today, the story is different. Heritage is a house’s most valuable asset. Archives are no longer considered to be dusty storage facilities. They have become the beating heart of many brands, allowing them to safeguard heritage, inspire creative teams and capitalise on their origin stories. We go inside five of fashion’s finest.
Carly Eck, Burberry’s VP, brand curator, archive and heritage, wears Burberry AW26
BURBERRY
Founded in 1856, Burberry is the very essence of a heritage house, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that it’s former managing director, David Quelch, began a formal archive as a retirement project. There had been smaller iterations of the archive before, but Quelch had the foresight to bring together historic garments, accessories and documents alongside personal possessions of founder Thomas Burberry and his family. “We are indebted to him,” says Carly Eck, VP, brand curator, archive and heritage, who joined the house in 2011. “I was initially brought in to give it an evaluation for insurance purposes,” she says. “Nothing was catalogued, nothing was digitised. There was no inventory. It was boxes from floor to ceiling, rails of items.” Her first task was to figure out what was there, then design a plan to look after and store everything appropriately. Only then could she figure out how to leverage the archive as an asset for the business. Eck called in a specialist company to digitise the archive.“We had three different shifts going on, 24 hours a day. Now, the database is highly searchable,” she says.
From left; a book of check linings offered by Burberry in the early 20th century; a vintage trench
It’s an ongoing job. Eck’s constantly on the lookout for new historic acquisitions (mostly from auction houses, but she recently acquired a Burberry mac belonging to royal couturier Hardy Amies). She also archives every catwalk piece as well as special collaborations like this summer’s Hunza G swimwear collab, and any custom red carpet looks that weren’t gifted to the celebrity.
She’d love to have more examples of women’s sportswear. “There was a cohort of women in the early 20th century who were doing amazing things,”she says, citing Mildred Bruce, the first woman to fly around the world solo in 1931, who was outfitted by Burberry. “Unfortunately, their stories haven’t been written into history, so we have a role to write them back in,” says Eck.
From left; close-up of a Christopher Bailey check trench coat from AW05; the brand archives ad campaigns and catalogues in the extensive paper archive
In the 15 years since she joined, Burberry has built a collection of 25,000 clothing pieces and around 20,000 adverts, plus documents, books, fabrics and items relating to the Burberry family. The paper archive is kept at the London HQ, while the clothes are kept in a large, temperature-controlled facility in Northumberland, where most of the preservation work is done, and the brand is currently building a dedicated heritage exhibition space in its head office where some pieces will be displayed. Eck worked with the V&A on the exhibition The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon, which has opened this month.
The heritage department’s role is “to guide, inform and inspire,” says Eck. “We’ve evolved from being almost a service to the business to more like a strategic partner.” Her department has become a touchpoint for almost every aspect of the brand. A day at work can include “having a meeting with Daniel [Lee, the creative director], then going to the architecture department, then maybe presenting to finance or IT, then being back with a team to look at a new acquisition, trying to study it and decipher what we can from it. Even HR will come and ask about Thomas Burberry and his values,”she says. She also visits Burberry’s network of stores, sharing the historic inspiration behind key products with staff. “We want to make sure they’re armed with stories to inspire our clients,” she says.
From left; Riccardo Tisci’s AW22 trench ballgown; an AW10 aviator jacket by Christopher Bailey
Stories like how the Tropical Gabardine fabric that Lee recently re-introduced into the collection was first used by Burberry in the 19th century and became popular for sportswear because it was so light, easy and comfortable to move in. Lee was also fascinated by the Dual Burberry, a reversible coat (gabardine on one side, tweed on the other), which was originally made in the 1920s for the aviator Alan Cobham. “He loved It because when he flew from London to Australia, he would wear the gabardine side on the plane. But then when he had to disembark and look respectable and meet dignitaries, he then had an overcoat.” Lee tweaked the proportions and it’s now a bestseller.
From left: a red leather flying cap from the 1920s; archive designs close up
Throughout the season they remain in constant contact. Eck will let Lee and his design team know about any new acquisitions and provides research. “It’s an ongoing dialogue and a two-way relationship. You know, he’s got to trust you to find these gems, as much as you’ve got to attune yourself to what you think he might like.”
At the beginning of each creative cycle, Eck has a kick-off meeting with Lee and his team. “It involves me pulling items I think he needs to see, but he will also give me a couple of themes he wants to look at. I’ll call [up from the archive] things relating to those themes and some of the house favourites. And then we also include new acquisitions.”A 1920s map inspired the prints in the AW26 collection.They also looked at a lot of archive leather pieces, which “heavily came through in the show,” says Eck. The past informs the present
Taken from 10 Men Issue 64 – FUTURE, LEGACY, HERITAGE – out NOW. Order your copy here.
ARCHIVE WORKS
Text CLAUDIA CROFT
Production SONYA MAZURYK
Photographer ELLIOT MORGAN
Talent CARLY ECK
Hair and make-up KOSEI KITADA at Debbie Jones Management
Special thanks to SARAH COFFEY and Burberry team
