Top-end brands lose their sparkle in recession
Financial Times 10/29/2009
by Vincent Boland and Scheherazade Daneshkhu
The luxury goods industry has just had its worst year since the 2002-2003 period, when it was hit by the fall-out from September 11 and then the Sars health scare. Sales fell by 2 per cent in 2008 and were expected to contract another 8 per cent this year, according to Bain & Company. Many luxury goods companies, such Versace, Chanel, and Christian LaCroix,  have followed their customers in cutting back on spending, mainly through a mixture of job cuts and curbing expansion plans.
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Versace to cut 350 jobs in search of profit
Forbes 10/28/2009
by Colleen Barry
Versace's new CEO said in an interview Wednesday that the fashion house must move quickly on its restructuring plan, including 350 job cuts worldwide, to stanch losses and return the group to profitability by 2011. Gian Giacomo Ferraris took a three-year business plan adopted just weeks before his arrival and sharpened it to reflect the continued gloom in the luxury industry - which Bain & Company expects to contract 8 percent worldwide to euro 153 billion ($228.25 billion) in 2009.
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Pace of failure increases at jewelry firms
The Wall Street Journal 10/28/2009
by Vanessa O'Connell
Another 1,578 jewelry retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers vanished from the U.S. market in the first nine months of the year, a 60% jump from the same period last year, as consolidation and bankruptcies reduced the industry's ranks, according to a new estimate by the jewelry business's credit bureau. Consultant Bain & Company said earlier this month that it expects U.S. sales of high-end clothing, accessories, tableware, cosmetics and jewelry will drop by 16% this year.
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Versace to shed 26% of jobs in shake-up
Financial Times 10/28/2009
by Vincent Boland
Versace, the Italian fashion house beloved of Hollywood celebrities, unveiled a sweeping restructuring on Wednesday that included shedding a quarter of its workforce in a sign of how severely the global economic downturn is hurting the luxury goods industry. In what some fashion industry experts say is the worst recession to hit the business in two decades, Versace's restructuring is the most dramatic by any leading designer during the current downturn, and could prompt others to follow amid declining profits and sales, and high costs. In a report released last week, consultants Bain & Company said the value of the luxury goods sector fell to 153bn euros in 2009 from 167bn euros last year.
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Tough times hit high-end Versace
The Globe and Mail 10/28/2009
by Associated Press
The economic slowdown has taken a bite out of the luxury market, which is forecast to contract 8 per cent from 2008 to euros 153-billion ($228.25-billion U.S.) in 2009, according to a study by Bain & Company. The Versace fashion house on Wednesday announced it will cut 350 jobs worldwide as part of a reorganization aimed at returning the group to profitability in 2011.
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