Burberry, the British luxury fashion brand, is riding out the credit crunch with £450 wellies, an £11,000 alligator skin handbag and a £3,000 chevron coat worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City - the Movie.

The company, whose trademark check was until recently the unofficial uniform of chavs and football hooligans, said that there was no sign that its wealthy customers were ready to stop spending.

At a time when less-glamorous high street rivals are laying off staff, Burberry said it had sold “several hundreds” of its £11,000 Warrior handbag since January. Sales of men's coats in Britain have been “sensational”, while shoe sales have more than doubled, led by a wellington boot showcased on the catwalk at fashion shows last autumn. Pre-tax profits in the past year are up by 14 per cent to £206 million on sales of almost £1 billion.

Angela Ahrendts, the American chief executive who asked what “chav” meant when joining the business two years ago, said: “Our clientele are treating themselves.”

The figures mark a dramatic turnaround for the 152-year-old business that, until Ms Ahrendts joined, was losing sales in Britain as fashion-conscious hooligans took over as the standard bearers of the brand's red, beige and black pattern.

Burberry became a laughing stock when Daniella Westbrook and her daughter were photographed dressed from head to toe in Burberry check and the look was adopted rapidly across the country as counterfeit copies turned up on market stalls.

The company reacted by slashing the use of the check in its products and calling in the lawyers. A court order forced the band Goldie Lookin' Chain to destroy their “Chavalier”, a Vauxhall Cavalier decked out in Burberry plaid.

Ms Ahrendts insisted yesterday that Burberry had moved on and was now one of the top five luxury companies in the world.

She said: “What happened was a very UK-centric phenomenon. It did not play out in any other part of the world. I hated even being part of the articles and it has nothing to do with the brand momentum we have today.”

She has repositioned Burberry by expanding the business in the US, the Far East and the Middle East. The British operation now generates little under 10 per cent of global sales and relies on rich Chinese and Russian tourists as much as aspirational shoppers in the West End.

Models such as Agyness Deyn have been used to attract a younger customer, while Burberry has also tried to become ever-more luxurious by selling higher-priced items such as the Warrior, introduced last year.

Ms Ahrendts has also sought to insure against a downturn by taking the brand into new product areas such as fragrances, shoes and sunglasses.

Burberry sold more than 300,000 pairs of shoes in the past year but believes that it can generate more than £100 million a year from products such as £150 sandals and £350 ankle boots by 2013 - a tenfold increase.

“From a fashion perspective shoes are just one of the hottest trends right now,” she said. “The girls in the new Sex and the City film, they were wearing our shoes. All of a sudden customers want jewellery, sunglasses and sexy shoes.”

She added that despite more challenging trading conditions there was little to suggest that Burberry would be hit by the effects of the credit crunch.

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