Burberry to invest in new UK manufacturing plant and consolidate brands

British luxury brand Burberry Group PLC said it will invest more than 50 million pounds ($77 million) in a new manufacturing plant in Leeds, northern England, that will employ more than 1,000 people.

The new facility, which will allow the company to increase production of its trench coat, is "a massive vote of confidence in our plans to build a northern powerhouse," Chancellor George Osborne said.

The British finance minister has been a supporter of developing the economy of northern England which has lagged behind London and the southeast for decades since the collapse of industries like cotton, steel and coal-mining.

The London-headquartered company also said it will unify its Prorsum, London and Brit lines under the Burberry label by the end of 2016. The transition will be phased over the course of next year, becoming one fully unified label by the end of 2016.

The new label replaces the three previous lines simplifying the presentation of Burberry’s full product range in acknowledgment of the way luxury customers like to experience the brand both on and offline. The label also emphasises Burberry’s British design heritage noting as it does that all the products are designed and developed in London, England.

Burberry Chief Creative and Chief Executive Officer Christopher Bailey said: “The behaviour of the luxury customer is evolving, their style is more fluid and this is reflected in the way they shop. The changes we are making allow us to serve this new behaviour more intuitively. By unifying our three lines under one label we can also offer a much more consistent experience of Burberry’s collections.”

$1 = 0.6483 pounds