During this time our products also played a role in exploration, adventure and pioneering. Norwegian explorer Captain Roald Amundsen selected Burberry apparel for his expedition in 1911 when he became the first man to reach the South Pole. Captain R.F. Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton wore Burberry gabardine on their Antarctic expeditions. Aviators and balloonists also used Burberry outerwear because of its light weight and resistance to wind and water. In 1919, Captain Sir John William Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown, wore Burberry apparel on the first-ever flight across the Atlantic Ocean. George Mallory also selected Burberry apparel when he attempted his ascent of Mount Everest in 1924.

In 1891, Burberry’s retail business expanded to London when a shop opened in the Haymarket selling outerwear to sportsmen. In 1912, the Burberry store in the Haymarket moved to its present location at 18/22 Haymarket which today serves as the corporate showroom.

In the early 1900s Burberry began expanding internationally. Thomas Burberry began selling his signature fabric through wholesale outlets in New York, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. In 1910, the first French store was opened on the Boulevard Malesherbes, the site of the current store, in Paris. Around 1920, we began to sell our products in Japan. We entered into an agreement in 1964 with Mitsui for the distribution of our outerwear products in Japan. This was followed by a licensing arrangement with Mitsui and Sanyo in 1980. They remain our primary licensees in Japan today.

In 1955, Burberry was acquired by GUS. The 1970s and 1980s were characterised by a period of retail expansion, particularly in the United States, and increased licensing of the Burberry brand.