Victoria Beckham has been forced to axe 20 members of staff from her fashion company, after being badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The fashion designer is said to be “devastated” over the decision, which was made to cut costs and keep her business afloat.
A source told The Sun: “Victoria is devastated. These are really tough times and no one is exempt from the pandemic’s clutches.”
“This business is her pride and joy. It has never been about money. She hasn’t even paid herself for the past three years.
“She is doing all she can simply to keep as many people in work as possible,” the insider added.
A spokesperson for Victoria has also confirmed the news, telling the Mirror: “Like so many businesses, a challenging retail landscape coupled with the unforeseen effects of the coronavirus pandemic, has adversely impacted the Victoria Beckham business.”
“As a response, we have built a new strategic vision to streamline and future-proof the brand and, very sadly, have to make a number of redundancies to deliver this.”
Victoria’s brand lost £12.3 million in sales last year, a 20% loss from the previous year – and was reportedly offered a loan of £6.4 million pounds to save the business.
Chairman of the business, Ralph Toledano, told The Business of Fashion that the “goal is to reach profitability as soon as possible”.
“I firmly believe that our destiny is in our hands. We have a great talent in Victoria and, if you take that asset with a dream team, we can do it.”
The company has lost an estimated £35 million since it’s launch in 2008, despite major stars like Meghan Markle, Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lopez supporting the brand.
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