Brioni reveals re-launch plan this Tuesday

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Mar 22, 2016

Times are hard at Brioni. Strikes and demonstrations have multiplied since the Italian brand specializing in formal luxury menswear announced at the end of February its intention to reduce its workforce by one third to 1,200 people, cutting some 400 positions according to its trade union. A bargaining table has since opened with the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.
 

On Tuesday March 22, a new meeting with the ministry has been scheduled to take place between the trade union and the head of the company which was bought by Kering in 2012. At this meeting, the luxury house will present its new industry plan. “We will present a series of steps aimed to make the business currently in a situation of oversupply, more efficient through a smaller structure,” explained a Brioni spokesperson to FashionMag.
 
For the last four years, volumes have dropped by over 30 percent from 45,000 pieces to 30,000 in 2016. What’s more, many of these suits have not been sold, notes a Brioni spokesperson: “with such overproduction, the company could not continue at this rate.”

In 2015, Brioni was “affected by low spending by Russian tourists in Western Europe and the Middle East,” according to Kering’s annual report.