Credit: Getty Images

The small brand is slashing a fifth of its staff.

In another business loss caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, singer-turned-fashion designer Victoria Beckham has announced some staff cuts to her eponymous fashion brand. According to Beckham, the brand will be laying off 20 members of its workforce, which makes up approximately a fifth of its total manpower.

These layoffs come after Beckham managed to dodge a previous round of layoffs back when pandemic lockdown first went into full swing. Beckham attempted to layoff approximately 30 staff members, but was met with heavy pushback, especially because her proposal included the use of public funds from small business assistance. Beckham herself has a net worth of £335m, which prompted employees to ask why she didn’t just use her own money. The issue was summarily dropped.

The jobs from the new layoff will primarily come from the brand’s central dressmaking shop in London. Alongside the layoffs, the brand will be reducing its new options for the spring 2021 collection, an effort that will, according to Beckham, get the company back to basics.

Credit: David M Benett/Getty Images/Annabel’s

“It feels very relevant now to take things back to basics. It has fostered great energy and a real sense of creativity amongst the teams,” Beckham said.

In terms of more pressing concerns, like Fashion Week in September, Beckham and her team are floating “airy” galleries, where small groups of people can walk through and see the new collection first hand.

“I’m really excited about revisiting the intimate approach to showing collections that I had when I first started the business,” Beckham said, noting her preference for a “small, safe” presentation.