The British leather house is still recovering from a difficult luxury market, but its latest trading update suggests the brand may be finding its footing again — with heritage, full-price discipline, and pre-loved bags all playing a bigger role.
Mulberry has had a rough few seasons. The British handbag maker, best known for classics like the Bayswater, Alexa, Lily, and Roxanne, has been navigating the same storm that has hit much of accessible luxury: cautious consumers, lower discretionary spending, a softer China market, and the difficult task of making heritage feel urgent again.
Its most recent audited full-year results showed just how hard the reset has been. For the 52 weeks ended 29 March 2025, Mulberry reported revenue of £120.4 million, down from £152.8 million the year before. The group also reported a statutory loss before tax of £31.8 million, compared with a £34.1 million loss in the prior year. The company announced a £20 million fundraising through convertible loan notes subscribed by major shareholders Challice and Frasers Group to support its growth strategy.
That sounds severe — and it is. But the more recent picture is more nuanced.
For the first half of FY26, the 26 weeks ended 27 September 2025, Mulberry reported revenue of £53.9 million, down 4% from the prior year. But the losses narrowed sharply. Reported loss before tax improved to £6.9 million, compared with £15.7 million the previous year, while operating expenses dropped from £50.7 million to £42.7 million. That tells a more interesting story: sales were still under pressure, but the business was being tightened, costs were being cut, and the turnaround was beginning to show through the income statement.
Then came the stronger signal. In its FY26 trading update for the 52 weeks to 28 March 2026, Mulberry reported total group sales growth of 5.7% at constant currency, helped by a stronger second half in which sales rose 13.6% at constant currency. All of its end markets reported positive like-for-like sales growth in the second half, including the UK, US, Europe excluding the UK, and Asia Pacific.
In other words, Mulberry is not out of the woods, but it is no longer simply a story of decline.
Back to Mulberry Spirit
The company’s current strategy has been framed around what it calls “Back to Mulberry Spirit.” That phrase matters because Mulberry’s most valuable asset is not only leather, stores, or seasonal product. It is memory.
Mulberry sits in a specific place in the luxury ecosystem. It is not ultra-luxury in the Hermès sense. It is not trend-chasing street luxury. It is British, practical, slightly countryside, slightly city, and rooted in the idea that a bag should become part of a person’s life rather than merely a seasonal accessory.
That gives the brand a powerful advantage if it can execute well: it already owns emotional durability.
The turnaround appears to be focused on rebuilding that strength rather than chasing every luxury trend at once. The company has pointed to rebuilding core stock, investing in iconic silhouettes, strengthening wholesale and outlet channels, selective marketing in core markets such as the UK and US, and improving customer engagement and e-commerce tools.
That is the correct direction for a heritage accessories brand. When a company has recognizable icons, the first job is not always reinvention. Sometimes the job is remembering what made the brand desirable in the first place — then presenting it with enough freshness that a new customer feels invited in.
The Bag That Comes Back Around
One of the most charming and strategically smart parts of Mulberry’s current positioning is its resale program.
On Mulberry’s own website, the brand does not hide secondhand bags in a corner. It has a visible Pre-Loved section, including Pre-Loved Bags, along with Buy Back and The Mulberry Exchange. That is quite a cool thing to see from a luxury house: older bags are not treated as competition for new ones, but as part of the brand’s living archive.
Through The Mulberry Exchange, customers can trade in a pre-loved Mulberry bag for credit toward a new one. Mulberry then authenticates and rejuvenates those bags before selling them to a new owner. The company describes the program as a way to ensure a Mulberry bag can have “many lives.”
There is a lovely circularity in that. The bags go around the mulberry bush — from one owner to another, from one wardrobe to the next, gathering history instead of gathering dust.
For a brand built around leather goods, this matters. A handbag is one of the few fashion objects that can genuinely improve with age if it is well made, well cared for, and emotionally valued. Scratches become memory. Patina becomes proof of use. A silhouette like the Bayswater or Alexa can move through different eras because it was never designed to be disposable.
That makes Mulberry’s pre-loved strategy more than a sustainability feature. It is a brand storytelling tool.
Why Pre-Loved Matters Financially
Resale is often discussed as an ethical or environmental idea, but for Mulberry it may also be commercially important.
A strong pre-loved program can do several things at once. It helps authenticate the secondary market. It keeps customers inside Mulberry’s ecosystem instead of sending them entirely to third-party resale platforms. It gives younger or more price-sensitive buyers a lower entry point into the brand. It reinforces the idea that Mulberry bags hold value. And it creates a circular relationship with existing customers who may trade an older bag toward a new purchase.
That last point is especially important. In a difficult luxury market, brands need reasons for customers to re-engage without relying only on discounting. A buy-back credit can create motion. A customer who may not have planned to buy a new bag suddenly has a reason to browse. A bag that was sitting unused becomes part of a new transaction.
For Mulberry, this is exactly the type of program that fits the brand’s identity. It does not feel forced. It feels natural. A British leather house that talks about craftsmanship, longevity, repair, and heritage should be able to make resale feel elegant.
Current Standing: Better, But Still Fragile
Mulberry’s current standing is best described as a turnaround with evidence of momentum, not a completed recovery.
The positives are clear: second-half FY26 sales improved, losses narrowed in the first half, costs were reduced, gross profit held steady in H1 despite lower revenue, and the company has additional capital support from major shareholders. Its brand still has recognizable icons, and its pre-loved program gives it a credible circularity story at a time when fashion is being pushed to think harder about product life cycles.
The risks are also clear. Mulberry is still coming off a year of steep revenue decline. The broader luxury consumer remains selective. The company has had to restructure, close underperforming stores, raise capital, and rebuild demand. A good second half does not erase the need for sustained profitability.
But the brand has something many struggling companies do not: a reason to exist that still makes sense.
Mulberry does not need to become everything to everyone. It needs to make the customer believe, again, that a Mulberry bag is a piece worth keeping, carrying, repairing, trading, and passing on.
That is where the brand’s current strategy becomes interesting. The comeback is not only about selling more new bags. It is about proving that the old ones still matter.
And in fashion, that may be one of the strongest signs of life a heritage house can show.