Burberry is reorganizing its structure and creating 3 distinct business units: Ready to Wear, Footwear and Accessories. The brand is also calling Adrian Ward-Rees, an old acquaintance of the brand, to head the first BU. The Footwear BU will be assigned to someone already in the brand’s organizational charts, while the head of Accessories is still to be found from the outside. Meanwhile, Bank of America (BofA) promoted Burberry as the only luxury company to have a cost-saving program.
3 business units
“We plan on creating 3 business units and a competent internal pool to improve our product focus – recites Burberry’s official note -, increment our agility and elevate the quality”. Each division will have its own commercial plan, merchandising and R&D team. According to what reported by WWD, the new Footwear division will be assigned to an internal resource still to be identified, while Accessories will be given to an external hire. Meanwhile, Adrian Ward-Rees was chosen to lead the clothing BU. Its 1st day at Burberry will be July 20th. Mr. Ward-Rees, ex director of men’s clothing at Burberry, had left the British brand in 2011. During the last 4 years it has covered the role of Sr. Vice-president and CEO of Dior Homme.
Gobbetti’s welcome
Ward-Rees was welcomed by Marco Gobbetti, CEO of Burberry Group, who commented: “The changes we are implementing ensure the proper structures, while we enter in the next phase of our strategy”. The British brand that was promoted by BofA will publish its quarterly data on July 15th. As reported by MFF, analysts believe that Burberry, also considering the reduced marginality of the segment, is the only company with a cost-saving program.
Read also:
