Burberry has announced plans to cut a potential 1,700 jobs worldwide as part of efforts to slash staff costs and return the luxury fashion brand to sustainable, profitable growth.
The company said it was hiking its cost-cutting target to £100 million of savings per year by the 2027 financial year.
These savings will partly come from a reduction in “people-related costs”, the firm said, which could affect around 1,700 jobs globally over the two-year programme.
The British brand revealed it had tipped into a loss of £3 million in the year to 29 March 2025, swinging from a profit of £418 million the previous year.
Burberry delivered revenue of £2.5 billion, with retail store sales dropping 12% compared with the previous year.
It comes as the company weathers major trade disruption in China and the US, as well as an under-pressure luxury market.
After a “challenging” first half, the British business launched a £40 million cost-cutting programme in November. As part of this, Burberry set out to reset brand storytelling, enhance visual merchandising, and align product focus. This resulted in a “significant” improvement in the second half of the year.
The brand launched new marketing campaigns over the past year, enlisting the likes of actors Olivia Colman and Barry Keoghan, helping drive demand for its bestselling outerwear products.
Joshua Schulman, CEO at Burberry, said: “After a challenging first half, we have moved at pace to implement Burberry Forward, our strategic plan to reignite brand desire, improve our performance and drive long-term value creation.
“With improvement in brand sentiment, we will be ramping up the frequency and reach of our campaigns as our Autumn and Winter collections arrive in store. The continued resilience of our outerwear and scarf categories reaffirms my belief that we have the most opportunity where we have the most authenticity.
“While we are operating against a difficult macroeconomic backdrop and are still in the early stages of our turnaround, I am more optimistic than ever that Burberry’s best days are ahead and that we will deliver sustainable profitable growth over time.”
Burberry’s share price has dwindled in recent months as the luxury brand took a hit in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcements in April.
Trump placed steep tariff rates on Chinese exports, which China reciprocated by hiking levies on US exports, raising fears about how trade between the world’s two largest economies will be affected.
The brand has significant exposure to shoppers in Asia, and has been growing its sales in the US amid the popularity of its staple styles including trench coats and scarves.
It had already been struggling against a slump in demand among shoppers in China, one of its biggest markets, which has been dragging heavily on sales.
Nevertheless, Burberry previously said it was moving with “urgency” to turn the business around and return to profit, and that there were early signs these efforts were paying off – as suggested in today’s update.