News + Thought
How to own your brand heritage
Over the last few years, more and more successful brands have started doing something that, a decade ago, felt almost unfashionable: they’re leaning into who they’ve always been.
Not rebranding themselves into something shinier; not chasing the latest aesthetic; not trying to look like a start-up - they’re simply owning their heritage.
And it’s working.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
Not in a “this is a trend” kind of way - more in a “something’s shifting here” way.
Let me start close to home.
Cordings – one of our clients – is a great example of this in practice.
They haven’t suddenly tried to become “cool”, they haven’t diluted what they stand for, and they also haven’t tried to out-Zara Zara.
Instead, what they have done is doubled down on what made them special in the first place: British tailoring, country and city heritage, quality that lasts, and a clear, confident tone of voice.
Commercially, it’s paying off. But more than that, emotionally, it’s landing. Customers don’t just buy from Cordings - they trust Cordings. And that trust has been built over decades. You can’t manufacture that overnight.
Then there’s Burberry. For a while, it felt like they’d lost their way. Too many directions. Too much noise. Not enough clarity.
What’s interesting about their recent turnaround is that they didn’t abandon their past - they returned to it. The trench, the check, the Britishness, the craftsmanship.
They reframed it, modernised it, and made it relevant again, without pretending it didn’t exist. They used heritage as the anchor. It’s a reminder that transformation doesn’t require erasure. You don’t need to burn the house down to renovate it.
Turnbull & Asser - another client we work closely with, offers a quieter version of the same idea. They’ve been making shirts for over a century and have dressed royalty, politicians, and actors. On paper, that could feel outdated.
But it doesn’t. Because they’ve managed to be timeless without being stuck. They respect tradition, invest in quality, and evolve carefully. No hype cycles. No desperate pivots. Just consistency. And in today’s market, consistency is increasingly rare.
This is also deeply cultural. In the UK, we still place huge value on things like Royal Warrants.
They matter. They signal that a business has been doing something right for a very long time. They represent trust, craft, and continuity. Internationally, that carries weight.
British brands don’t need to apologise for this. They should be proud of it, and confident in exporting it.
That’s why the recent acquisition of Russell & Bromley by Next after many years of losses is so interesting. A fifth-generation British brand, founded in 1880, with nearly 150 years of history behind it.
By any measure, that’s an extraordinary asset. And yet, for a long time, that story felt strangely understated. The craftsmanship, the family legacy, the longevity - it was there, but rarely foregrounded. Almost as if shouting about heritage might make the brand feel less modern.
I’m not suggesting this is wrong, of course - there are many ways to build a successful business. But if you have that depth, that credibility, and that accumulated trust, it’s worth asking why you wouldn’t lean into it more deliberately. In a crowded, fast-moving market, those things are differentiators that competitors simply can’t replicate.
Contrast this with what dominated the 2010s out of the US, Casper, Warby Parker, Allbirds. Brilliant execution. Strong products. Huge early growth.
For a while, it felt like this was the blueprint: fast funding, fast scaling, fast expansion. And many of these brands achieved remarkable things. But a number have struggled to build the same resilience over time. They were optimised for speed rather than depth. For acquisition rather than attachment. When conditions changed, there was less structural and emotional loyalty to fall back on.
Heritage brands survive because they’ve already been through disruption. Wars, recessions, supply crises, cultural shifts. They’ve adapted repeatedly and efficiently. They’ve learned patience. They’ve built relationships that last longer than platforms or algorithms.
And when things do eventually wobble, customers return - because there is history there. That kind of resilience can’t be engineered quickly.
So what does this mean for heritage brands today?
Well, in my view, it means resisting the instinct to constantly ask, “How do we reinvent ourselves?” and instead starting to ask, “What have we earned the right to stand for?”
It means looking backwards as well as forwards. Mining archives. Telling origin stories properly. Protecting tone. Respecting craft.
Growth matters. Innovation matters. But not at the expense of identity. The strongest brands I see today are playing a long game. They are building something that could still make sense in 20 or 30 years, and not just in the next funding cycle.
Finally, I'll leave you with this thought: heritage isn’t about being old, it’s about being rooted. It’s about knowing who you are and not being embarrassed by it.
In a world obsessed with what’s next, there’s something powerful about saying "this is who we are, this is where we came from, and we’re proud of it."
The brands that understand that aren’t just surviving, they're building a heritage that can't be bought.
