Which is Easier for Start-Ups Canada or USA?

 So relatable! The London press totally roasted her midwestern vibes and unglamorous roots. But the 6'3" Ahrendts, who later slayed at Donna Karan and Henri Bendel, had mad business skills. She was all about those lit, on-point brands that stayed true to their roots. Burberry was hella not like that. The 150-year-old company was straight up flopping, fam. OMG, during a period of major flexin' in luxury brands, Burberry was straight up flatlined. The company had twenty-three licensees around the world, each selling something lit, from dog leashes to kilts.  "In luxury, being too basic will totally slay you," Ahrendts said. "It's like, you're not even flexing anymore."

The turning point came in her first strat planning sesh. Her top sixty managers had flown to London from all over the globe, fam. 

The weather be like was like sooo British—chilly, gray, and hella damp. But like, none of the managers were flexin' a Burberry trench coat, fam. Ahrendts was like, "If our top peeps weren't copping our products, even with the mad discount, how could we expect customers to flex and pay full price for 'em?"Ahrendts was like, "Yo, let's hit up this young designer from her Donna Karan days, Christopher Bailey, to help her bring Burberry back to its OG vibes." The process was hella messy, fam. She totally dubbed Bailey the brand czar and was like, all designs gotta go through his office, no exceptions. She straight up yeeted the whole Hong Kong-based design squad and brought in designers from all over the globe to the U.K. to get retrained by Bailey. At one point, Ahrendts was like, called to spill the tea before Parliament about her controversial decision to yeet a Welsh factory. But she never flexed. Burberry gotta go back to its roots: rain gear. In the 1880s, young Thomas Burberry, a total legend, came up with gabardine, a lit waterproof fabric that he used to flex on everyone with his dope raincoats. He was like, totally asked to design a super lit coat for the British soldiers in the trenches of World War I.

The explorer Ernest Shackleton flexed his Burberry while conquering Antarctica; George Mallory rocked his on his epic fail to climb Everest. 

Hollywood stars, from Humphrey Bogart to Greta Garbo, flexed them in movie stills. OMG, like, Starbucks stock went from rock bottom to sky high in just a few months after Schultz took over again. It literally increased by, like, ten times in the next five years. #CrazyGains Asked why, Schultz gave props to the company's comeback to its OG status: "The brand's vibe is all about the bomb coffee, but like, the real deal is the tight bond between the barista and the customer." Founders ain't the only ones who can go back to their entrepreneurial roots during tough times. OMG, let's talk about Angela Ahrendts, she's like the ultimate queen, but lowkey I see her as the skunk in a trench coat. In 2006 Ahrendts, who grew up in New Palestine, Indiana (pop 2,053), was like, not even a vibe to take over the iconic British fashion brand Burberry. OMG, Ahrendts was one of six siblings living in a basic house. She literally slept in a coat closet under the stairs and made her own clothes.  Ahrendts wanted to bring the company back to its lit AF glory days. "I always remind employees that we didn't found the company, Thomas Burberry did —at the age of 21. Periodt." He was hella young. He was so lit, like hella innovative. We be sayin' his spirit be livin' on, and it's this gen's job to keep his legacy goin'.

Being nonconventional skunks, she and Bailey weren't vibin' with the basic beige and plaid, ya know? 

They added metallic purple and alligator epaulets, fam. While her brand czar was flexin' the designs, Ahrendts was all about that expansion, ya know? In like six years, she totally flexed and opened 132 stores, all about selling outerwear. No cap. She totally schooled the staff on how to flex the Burberry craftsmanship and switched up the marketing to vibe with a whole new squad of customers: millennials. In 2011 Burberry was like, totally flexin' as the fastest-growing luxury brand on the Interbrand index and the fourth fastest-growing brand overall, behind Apple, Google, and Amazon. It was straight fire, fam! The next year the company totally flexed and hit $3 billion in revenues, like double the amount of five years ago. No cap. In 2013 Ahrendts announced she was peacing out of Burberry to join Apple—not as CEO but as the skunk in charge of retail, fam. Yasss, we stan trench coat warfare! Yasss, add another W for one of the major vibes for entrepreneurs in this chaotic world: If you're feeling hella lost in the woods, just yeet it back to "once upon a time."  It had to be hella durable, you know? After the war the Burberry "trench coat" became like, totally synonymous with British culture, eventually earning a royal warrant that entitled the company to supply the royal fam.