Apple Is Coolest Brand As Fashion Fights Back

Apple has retained its title as the coolest brand in Britain as big luxury names returned to the top, according to the CoolBrands annual survey.

Aston Martin, last year in third, was second, and Rolex, a no-show last year, was second. The sportswear brand Nike took fourth place.

The big fashion houses have made a comeback with Chanel, Prada and Alexander McQueen, charting at 13, 14, and 19 respectively this year.

They replace a number of more everyday items such as ice cream brands, which have been knocked off the list. Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's, which were at 13th and 15th place on the 2012 list, are nowhere to be seen this year.

Department stores Selfridges and Liberty, last year at 14 and 10, have also dropped off.

The Glastonbury festival was fifth on the list and, after a summer when almost no celebrity was seen without a pair of Wayfarers or Aviators, it is unsurprising that Ray-Ban turned up at number 10 - the brand failed to pass muster for the top 20 in 2012 .

Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the CoolBrands council, said: "While Apple remained number one this year, question marks remain as to how long they might hold this position in the face of an increasingly competitive set of rivals.

"Overall the top 20 saw a definite swing back to luxury brands as the affordable everyday brands slipped back.

"Fashion brands came back to the fore, with sport and music brands becoming more conspicuous.

"Whether it's due to strong heritage, product quality or quite simply a correlation with the reviving British economy, this year's CoolBrands list shows an increasing number of luxury brands are back at the top of the cool list, reversing last year's trend of affordable everyday luxuries dominating."

The list is voted by 3,000 consumers and a panel of 38 "key influencers" such as the television chef, Gizzi Erskine, and model Daisy Lowe.

YouTube has dropped to sixth from second place, while Google and Twitter both dropped from their places in last year's top five to seventh and eighth places respectively.

BBC iPlayer dropped from last year's sixth position to 16, Skype fell out of the top 20 altogether, while music streaming service Spotify is the only new digital entry at 20.