Item 2019.158 - John Weitz at Burton Corduroy Jacket

Burton became the label for Montague Burton Ltd in 1954 after a company restructure and merger with Jackson the Tailor. This resulted in a complete redesign and launch of a comprehensive new advertising campaign aimed at young male consumers. In 1969 the company became the Burton Group. Its demerger in 1997 led to the establishment of the Arcadia Group. In 2020 the Arcadia Group went into administration and in February 2021 the Burton brand, e-commerce and digital assets and associated intellectual property rights were sold to online fashion retailer Boohoo.

Montague Burton Ltd was founded in the early 1900s by Jewish immigrant Montague Burton (1885-1952). Born a Lithuanian Jew named Meshe David Osinsky, he travelled to the north of England in 1900 and quickly entered the men's tailoring trade, changing his name at some point after his arrival. After starting with a shop selling menswear he began manufacturing and adopted the multiple tailoring model pioneered by the Leeds-based tailoring trade. Multiple tailors had high street stores selling made-to-measure men's suits (and smaller numbers of ready-to-wear) which were cut and sewn in factories owned by the same business. By the end of the 1930s Montague Burton Ltd had over 700 outlets across Great Britain and Ireland and their Hudson Road factory in Leeds was the biggest clothing factory in Europe.

In 1946 the company purchased the Peter Robinson department store and in 1968 it was the top floor of Sheffield's Peter Robinson which was the origin of Top Shop. Aimed at selling fashionable clothes to 15-25 year-old women it was immediately successful and became a retail chain in its own right. Burton attempted to reach young men with the Mr Burt label and stores in the early 1970s but they were not profitable. In 1978 after a major restructure and store closures the company again tried to cater to the young male fashion market with the launch of Top Man - by 1980 they had expanded to 45 shops.

John Weitz (1923-2002) was a German American menswear designer who started his business John Weitz Designs Inc. in 1954. He was born Hans Werner to a German Jewish family in Berlin and completed his education in London including being apprenticed to fashion designer Edward Molyneux. He initially designed women's sportswear and worked for retailer Lord & Taylor from the late 1940s but moved into menswear in the 1960s. He was known for emphasising functionality and practicality in his designs.

He was an entrepreneurial businessman who was one of the earliest American designers to enter into licencing agreements. Between about 1966-1968 John Weitz was contracted by British menswear company Austin Reed to develop a range for their boutique Cue and in the mid-1970s Burton licenced his name with a collection. He became well known in the 1970s for his opinions on men's fashion design. In 1979 he returned to womenswear and he continued to design men's and women's fashion for the rest of his career.