Burberry destroyed a huge amount of unsold clothes, accessories and perfume worth £28.6m last year to protect its brand.

It takes the total value of goods it has destroyed over the past five years to more than £90m.

They have made this decision to prevent the items being stolen or sold cheaply.

Burberry said that the energy generated from burning its products was captured, making it environmentally friendly.

"Burberry has careful processes in place to minimise the amount of excess stock we produce. On the occasions when disposal of products is necessary, we do so in a responsible manner and we continue to seek ways to reduce and revalue our waste," a spokesperson for the company said.

"The reason they are doing this is so that the market is not flooded with discounts. They don't want Burberry products to get into the hands of anyone who can sell them at a discount and devalue the brand," Maria Malone, principal lecturer on the fashion business at Manchester Metropolitan University. 

"Despite their high prices, Burberry shows no respect for their own products and the hard work and natural resources that are used to made them," said Lu Yen Roloff of Greenpeace.

"The growing amount of overstock points to overproduction, and instead of slowing down their production, they incinerate perfectly good clothes and products.

"It's a dirty secret of the fashion industry. Burberry is just the tip of the iceberg," she said.