[2] Burch was born in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania,[3] the daughter of Reva (née Schapira) and Ira Earl "Bud" Robinson (1923–2007).

After graduating from college, Tory moved to New York City, where she worked for Zoran, a Yugoslavian designer,[5] followed by Harper's Bazaar magazine.

She then moved into public relations and advertising positions at Vera Wang,[5][9] Polo Ralph Lauren, and Loewe when Narciso Rodriguez was there.

[27] In 2021, she was named an inaugural member of the advisory council for the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum in Washington, DC.

[51] Among its initiatives, the Tory Burch Foundation offered an entrepreneurial education program, in collaboration with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and Babson College.

[52] The foundation also offers a fellows program providing women entrepreneurs with business-education grants, mentoring, and networking opportunities.

[55] In 2014, the foundation launched Elizabeth Street Capital, an initiative with Bank of America, to provide women entrepreneurs with access to low-cost loans and mentoring support.

[63] In April 2014, the Obama administration named Burch an inaugural member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship, a group of successful American businesspeople committed to developing the next generation of entrepreneurs in the U.S. and around the world.

[70][71][72][73][61] In March 2019, the Embrace Ambition initiative hosted a sequential five-day speaker series in five cities: Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and New York.

[75][76] In June 2020, Newsweek recognized Tory Burch as one of “50 US Companies That Stood Out During the Pandemic”, for providing $5 million of clothing, and 3,000 yards of fabric for face masks and hospital gowns, to frontline healthcare workers.

[78] In 2017, a Facebook Community called La Blouse Roumaine, which promoted Romanian traditional craftsmanship, pointed that an early 20th century Romanian coat displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York was virtually identical to a coat in Burch's Resort 2018 collection which was initially marketed as a garment inspired by Africa.

[80] Burch acknowledged the similarity and responded: "In our effort to summarize the collection, we missed a reference to a beautiful Romanian coat which inspired one of the pieces.

Whether it’s Romania, Uganda or France, we are a brand that strives to celebrate, honor and be inclusive of women from all countries and cultures, in the broadest way possible".

[81] In March 2021, controversy rose over a jumper designed by Burch which closely resembled a traditional fishermen garment made in Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal.

Burch issued an apology in her social media and changed the description of the piece to "Póvoa de Varzim-inspired sweater".

[82] Shortly afterwards, the Portuguese government announced its intention to take legal action and demand compensation for the heritage of Póvoa de Varzim, after which Burch removed the sweater from her website.