Fashion brand Gianni Versace has signed a preliminary agreement with Italian unions on job cuts and introduced a lower-priced women’s wear collection as part of the new strategy to foster recovery and growth in 2011.
“The aim of the restructuring is to stabilize the company to maintain independence and to have the basic condition to create a future in the company,” the executive said.
As the company reported Euro 30 m operating loss for 2009, the agreement stated 350 positions out of 1,360 worldwide will be eliminated, including the staff that will be laid off in the forthcoming closure of Versace’s three-year-old accessories factory in Burago.
About 40 jobs will go at Burago, mainly administrative and warehousing functions, while 37 employees, who have the product “know-how,” will move to Versace’s ready-to-wear plant in Novara, also near Milan.
The new collection, which is under Donatella Versace’s creative direction, is the women’s ready-to-wear counterpart to Versace’s lower-priced men’s line and is also labeled Versace Collection.
Burago’s closure “does not mean” Versace will scale down its accessories production either. “On the contrary, it will be one of the areas of growth.” Versace expects accessories to generate 40% of revenue in 2010 compared with 35% in 2009.
