Burberry: fast fashion - FT.com Apple was a big part of life at Burberry even before chief executive Angela Ahrendts announced her departure to the tech company. There are iPads in its stores and iPhones filming its fashion shows. Burberry's enthusiasm for technology is unlikely to change when Christopher Bailey takes over from Ms Ahrendts, but in other ways this is a step into the unknown for Burberry. Mr Bailey has plenty of experience as a designer and as chief creative officer of Burberry. When it comes to trends, fashion shows, stores, and online retailing, he is your man. But when it comes to excel spreadsheets, he is an unknown quantity and he has not, until now, been on Burberry's board. That may not matter. In some industries creative types make far better leaders than bean counters. Just look at Ms Ahrendts" new employer, which was turned around by Steve Jobs. But Mr Bailey will be taking the helm as Burberry is in a state of flux, both in the boardroom and on the shop floor. The finance director has been in place for just three months; the chief operating officer for seven. Sir John Peace has been chairman for over 11 years so change might be on the way there, too. Operationally, there are plenty of challenges. Wholesale revenues have been falling and the company is trying to expand its beauty business. More importantly emerging markets growth is slowing. Earlier this year Altagamma, a luxury industry research group, cut its 2013 forecast for Asia from 17 per cent growth to 10 per cent. So far, Burberry is handling this well. Overall first-half revenues were up 14 per cent. The big question is what Mr Bailey will do if the slowdown becomes more serious, damaging cash flows and hampering Burberry's ability to spend on new stores, new designs and new technology. Capital spending in the year to March 2013 was more than double the level it was in 2010. So far, cash flow has covered that and left lots of room for a dividend. So far. Every change of chief executive creates uncertainty. This one creates more uncertainty than most.