Burberry's Bailey On Catwalk Click And Buy

As London Fashion Week gets under way, the man behind Burberry has told Sky News how customers around the world will be able to buy clothes straight off the catwalk.

Burberry's chief creative officer, Christopher Bailey, has transformed the fortunes of the British fashion house over the past decade and its use of technology has helped revolutionise the brand.

He said: "We have this thing where you can see the catwalk show happening live wherever you are in the world and you can literally click and buy there and then and it comes in seven to eight weeks.

"It's a very quick turnaround instead of having to wait three to four months.

"Technology is speeding everything up. It's challenging everyone to be a little bit more innovative in the way they process and run their companies and show collections."

Bailey insists this is not the end of fashion stores.

"It doesn't mean that we won't see bricks and mortar stores because that's a whole other exciting development.

"But it is another way of communicating to big audiences and for us it's something that's very integrated into the company. It's just an extension of who we are."

Burberry's harnessing of digital media has removed traditional barriers and allowed the industry and customers to engage with the company.

Under Bailey's guidance, the company's revenue has increased by 367% from £0.43bn in 2001 to £1.5bn now, and its share price grew from 167p to 1500p on the back of one of the worst recessions.

The luxury brand devotes over 60% of its annual marketing budget to digital media.

Their social media site, Art of the Trench , has had over 14 million hits since its launch in 2009.

Bailey's latest collection will be showcased in the capital next week.

"It's the most incredible thing doing shows here in London. We always consider them as global shows. We stream everything live.

"It's about every different platform whether online at home with your computer, or on a mobile device.

"Last year we had around a million people that watched the show live. It becomes so much bigger (with technology).

"I love that we're flying the British flag here in London but it's also amazing that we're flying it all over the world."

Some 68 catwalk shows and 37 presentations are due to take place over the next six days, highlighting what we might be wearing for spring and summer 2012.

The fashion industry is worth £21m to the UK economy and it's estimated that orders of over £100m are placed during London Fashion Week each season.

Bailey told Sky that the UK's fashion talent is ahead of the rest of the world.

"We are incredible at looking at things in a diverse way and we excel in all the creative fields whether it is in art or design or music or digital design.

"I love the fact we have these incredible colleges and schools and universities that really excel at trying to pull out people's creativity.

"It's to do with our genes and I think we also celebrate design here very well."