Burberry made the trench coat a social network, not just a product page

In November 2009, Burberry launched Art of the Trench around its most recognizable item. Vogue described it as a social networking platform for the trench coat, beginning with photographs by Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist.

The Guardian reported that the site mixed Schuman's images with public submissions, comments, sharing and Facebook Connect. Users could browse by weather, color, style, gender or popularity, making the coat a living catalog.

The clever part was quality control. Burberry did not surrender the brand to random posts; it paired crowd participation with curated photography and heritage storytelling, so user content lifted the product instead of cheapening it.

Made by Many later said the platform was built from concept to launch in 16 weeks and that global trench-coat sales rose 85% year over year after launch, with 7.5 million first-year views from 150 countries.

Let owners model the icon

A single heritage product gave the platform focus; every post reinforced the same icon.

Curated professional images made user submissions feel aspirational rather than amateur.

Social sharing turned owners into distribution without asking them to talk like advertisers.

Commerce sat beside content, so discovery and purchase were part of one path.

For an iconic product, customers can be the media if the brand curates them tightly enough to keep the premium signal.

Art of the Trench became an early proof that luxury could use social media without abandoning control. It helped Burberry's wider digital transformation by showing that heritage, commerce and user participation could live in one designed system.