Chris Burch: Tory Burch Co-Founder, Eagle Eye, NIHI Sumba

Chris Burch is an American entrepreneur and investor, the founder and CEO of Burch Creative Capital and a co-founder of Tory Burch. He started the apparel company Eagle Eye as an Ithaca College student in 1976 with $2,000, and the Swire Group completed its purchase of the business in 1998 in a deal that valued it at $60 million. He went on to back brands including Voss, Jawbone, Poppin and Rowing Blazers, and to acquire NIHI Sumba, the Indonesian resort named the world's best hotel by Travel + Leisure in 2016 and 2017.

Updated October 24, 2026. Originally published June 2016.

Who is Chris Burch?

Chris Burch has spent nearly four decades building and funding consumer brands. He began with a sweater business, co-founded Tory Burch in 2004, and now runs Burch Creative Capital, the New York investment and brand-development firm he established in 2008. The table below summarizes the milestones in his career.

How did Chris Burch start in business?

Burch started Eagle Eye in 1976 while an undergraduate at Ithaca College. With his brother Bob and a $2,000 investment, he bought preppy sweaters for $10 and sold them door-to-door on campus for $15. The company grew into a national apparel business with its own retail stores.

The Swire Group, based in the United Kingdom, completed its purchase of Eagle Eye in 1998 in a deal that valued the business at $60 million. Burch has said the lesson he took from the experience was to build something great and then pass it on.

What was Chris Burch's role in building Tory Burch?

Burch co-founded the Tory Burch fashion brand in 2004 with Tory Burch, who was then his wife. The brand launched with a single Manhattan store and grew into a global accessible-luxury label. The couple divorced in 2006, and Burch has since built his investing career through Burch Creative Capital, separate from the company.

What does Burch Creative Capital invest in?

Burch Creative Capital is an investment and brand-development firm that has backed companies across fashion, technology, workplace products and hospitality. Burch has taken part in the rise of more than 50 companies over his career. Brands connected to him in published profiles include the following.

At the time of the Rowing Blazers deal, Burch described the brand as reminiscent of his first business, Eagle Eye, and said he was certain his team could turn it into a global brand.

What is NIHI Sumba and why does it matter?

NIHI Sumba is the luxury resort on the Indonesian island of Sumba that Burch acquired in 2013, in partnership with hotelier James McBride, when it was known as Nihiwatu. It is the project that moved Burch from consumer-brand investor into hospitality, and it earned the title of world's best hotel from Travel + Leisure in 2016 and again in 2017.

Burch has said he first visited the property with his sons, when it was a small surf village, and that it has become more than he expected. NIHI's own site says he acquired it for his sons Nick, Henry and Sawyer, and describes the Burch Family Foundation as the family's vehicle for extending the work of the Sumba Foundation, which focuses on education, clean water and health on the island. See more luxury hospitality coverage in the travel hub.

What can brand builders learn from Chris Burch?

Three lessons stand out from the Burch career, each tied to something he has done publicly.

1. Start with a simple product and a real customer. Eagle Eye began with sweaters sold directly to students who wanted them.
2. Back founders and let them lead. At Rowing Blazers, the founder stayed on as creative director while Burch Creative Capital added operations, production and distribution support.
3. Think in decades. From Eagle Eye to NIHI Sumba, Burch's biggest projects reward patience, and the Sumba work has run for years alongside the resort.