How to Date a Vintage Burberry Trench Coat: Burberrys, Labels and Linings

The quickest way to date a vintage Burberry trench coat is the name on the label. "Burberrys", with an s, is the old name: the company changed it to "Burberry" in 1999. So a Burberrys label means the coat was made before about 1999, and a Burberry label without the s means 1999 or later. The cut is much less useful, because the classic trench has barely changed in a century.

We handle Burberrys trench coats and overcoats in our Burberry archive and our wider trench coat collection. This guide covers what the label, the lining and the country of manufacture can and cannot tell you.

Burberrys or Burberry?

For most of the twentieth century the company traded as Burberrys. In 1999, under chief executive Rose Marie Bravo, it changed to the single word Burberry, and a new logo was designed to mark the change. The Irish Times reported the shorter name in August 1999, and the Hackney Museum's record of Burberry's Hackney factory gives the same year. The Vintage Fashion Guild's label page says "probably 1998", so treat the change as late 1990s.

That makes the s the single most useful clue. A coat labelled Burberrys is at least about 25 years old. It does not tell you whether it is from the 1960s or the 1990s; for that you need the other labels and the coat's details.

The check lining

Burberry's camel, black, white and red check was introduced as a lining for its rainwear in the 1920s, according to the company's own history; the Vintage Fashion Guild gives 1920. It only moved onto scarves, umbrellas and other accessories from 1967. So a check lining is consistent with almost any date from the 1920s on, and on its own it proves neither age nor authenticity. Read it together with the label.

The knight on the label

The Equestrian Knight emblem, a mounted knight carrying a flag, was first used in 1901. You will see it on many vintage labels, but because it ran for most of the century it narrows the date less than the spelling of the name does.

Where it was made

Burberry's Heritage trench coats are made today at its factory in Castleford, West Yorkshire, which it has run for more than 50 years, from cotton gabardine woven at its own mill in Keighley; the same mill weaves the check lining. Thomas Burberry developed gabardine in 1879 and patented it in 1888. A Made in England label is what you expect on a trench from the main British line.

Japan is the exception worth knowing. For several decades until 2015, the Japanese company Sanyo Shokai held a Burberry licence there and created Japan-only lines, Burberry Blue Label and Burberry Black Label. The licence ended on 30 June 2015, and both lines were renamed under Sanyo's Crestbridge name. A Blue Label or Black Label coat is a licensed Burberry piece, not a fake, but it is not the British-made trench either, and it is usually priced lower.

What the label tells you

On the label	What it suggests
Burberrys (with an s)	Made before the 1999 name change
Burberry (no s)	1999 or later
Equestrian Knight emblem	Used from 1901, so little help on its own
Check lining	Used as a lining from the 1920s; consistent with any later date
Burberry Blue Label or Black Label	Japan-only licensed line, made before the licence ended in 2015
Made in England	The main British line; Heritage trenches are made in Castleford today

How much is a Burberry trench coat?

New, the Long Kensington Heritage trench was listed at $2,850 on Burberry's US site in October 2026; a European department store listed the Kensington at €2,150. Vintage Burberrys trenches sell for a fraction of that, depending on cut, size and condition. In our archive in October 2026, a Burberrys A-line trench in cream with a check lining was about €290. Prices are approximate and change as pieces sell.

Before you buy a vintage Burberrys trench

• Read every label, not just the main one: the name, the country of manufacture and the fibre content.
• Check the wear points: collar edge, cuffs, pocket mouths and the hem, where gabardine frays first.
• Make sure the parts are there: the belt, its buckle, the cuff straps and, if the coat had one, the button-in liner.
• Ask for flat measurements, because sizing has changed and many older trenches were cut for wearing over a jacket.

A trench is water-resistant rather than waterproof, and our guide to whether a trench coat is warm or waterproof covers what that means in winter. For the coat's history, see trench coats by decade.