Burberry Days, Hardcover

At the end of the 1950s the 100-year-old clothing firm Burberry was a troubled company with an uncertain future, whose new owners did not know what to do with it once they had secured it. Brian Kitson joined Burberry in 1958 expecting a temporary summer job and stayed for over twenty years. His research into the company's distinguished past, encouraged by the last Mr Burberry, began to suggest a possible direction for regeneration... Written with great verve and wit, Burberry Days tells of the author's unexpected adventures as an international travelling Burberry salesman throughout the 1960s and '70s, as well as exploring the origins of the company's emblematic trench coat and the familiar house check. The book also offers some controversial reasons why Britain, with so much to offer - from the Savile Row suit, the Jermyn Street shirt and Scottish cashmere to workforce skills and great design talent - can still only count Burberry in the premier league of international fashion houses.

Born in Sheffield, Brian Kitson graduated in Modern Languages from Cambridge followed by Russian in the Army. He joined Burberry in 1958 and, after promoting export sales notably in the USA, he went on to run the Burberry manufacturing and wholesale business. He left in 1980 to start his own retail and manufacturing business, while also working as a consultant, mainly in Japan. He now divides his time between Suffolk and Arizona.