Burch was born in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Reva (née Schapira) and Ira Earl "Bud" Robinson (1923–2007). She was raised with her three brothers in a 250-year-old Georgian farmhouse near Valley Forge National Historical Park.

Her father was a wealthy investor who inherited a stock exchange seat and a paper cup company. Burch is Jewish on her mother's side.

Burch attended the Agnes Irwin School in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, where she was a friend of jewelry designer Kara Ross. Her first job was at Benetton in the King of Prussia mall. She then attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in art history, and graduated in 1988.

Burch began her fashion label – "TRB by Tory Burch", later known as Tory Burch – in February 2004, launching it with a retail store in Manhattan's Nolita district.

As of 2018, it has grown to include 250 stores worldwide; the fashion line is also carried at over 3,000 department and specialty stores worldwide.

In 2015 Burch also introduced a separate performance activewear line, Tory Sport.

In 2005, Burch won the Rising Star Award for Best New Retail Concept from the Fashion Group International. In 2007, she won the Accessory Brand Launch of the year award at the Accessories Council Excellence Awards. In 2008, Burch won the Council of Fashion Designers of America award for Accessories Designer of the Year. Working Mother included her on their list of the 50 Most Powerful Moms of 2015. In 2015, she received the Breast Cancer Research Foundation's Sandra Taub Humanitarian Award.

Burch has consistently been included on Forbes' list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women. As of 2020, she is listed as the 88th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. In November 2019, Burch was named a Glamour Woman of the Year. In November 2020, she was featured in a cover story in Forbes magazine on how her fashion company navigated the COVID-19 pandemic.