Burberry taps social media with trench coat site

Luxury goods group Burberry has hooked up with social networking company Facebook to launch a Web site celebrating its trench coat, becoming the latest retailer to use social media in a bid to boost its brand.

The Web site, artofthetrench.com, will allow members connected via Facebook to submit images and stories about Burberry trench coats and share them with one other.

First designed by Burberry founder Thomas Burberry for British army offices in 1914, the trench coat is still one of the company's top-selling garments.

The move puts Burberry among a procession of retailers using social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to get their brands in front of consumers and interact with them.

British mother and baby goods retailer Mothercare runs its own social networking site Gurgle.com, as does online fashion group ASOS with ASOS Life.

Others, like Marks & Spencer which said last month it had 80,000 followers on its Facebook page, have set up pages on major social networking sites.