Burberry CEO gets replaced after ‘disappointing’ results

The luxury fashion house’s revenue slid 22% to £458 million ($595 million) in its first quarter.

Looks like the game of musical chairs in the fashion world this year is not yet over. It has been one revamp after another, leaving industry insiders and watchers always on the lookout for the latest shakeups.

It was only last June when Virginie Viard announced she was leaving Chanel after five years as creative director, and a total of 36 years, having joined the brand in 1987. It was also last month when Paris-based Lanvin announced the appointment of its new artistic director, veteran designer Peter Copping.

Before that, there was Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, who announced he was exiting the Italian fashion house in March, having been subsequently replaced by Alessandro Michele, who left his position as creative director of Gucci in 2022. In March, Dries Van Noten also confirmed he would be leaving his eponymous label after almost 40 years.

File photo of a Burberry store along Regent Street in central London. Photo from AFP

Burberry joins these fashion labels that have recently revamped their upper echelons. The British fashion label announced on Monday, July 15, the “immediate departure of chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd,” citing “disappointing” results with the luxury sector pressured by weak Chinese demand, as reported by Agence France Presse. The 57-year-old Briton departs after less than two and a half years at the helm.

Akeroyd will be replaced by Los Angeles native Joshua Schulman, a former CEO at American fashion brands Michael Kors and Coach. He was also previously at Neiman Marcus Group as president of luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman for five years. Earlier, he was at Yves Saint Laurent and took on roles at Gucci.

Jonathan Akeroyd, 57, served as Burberry’s CEO for over two years. Photo by Tim Jenkins

In a statement, Burberry chair and Irish businessman Gerry Murphy described Schulman, 52, as “a proven leader with an outstanding record of building global luxury brands and driving profitable growth”. The American luxury veteran, who officially joins the group on Wednesday, said he looked “forward to working alongside [creative director] Daniel Lee and the talented teams to drive global growth, delight our customers, and write the next chapter of the Burberry story.”

In a separate statement, Murphy said the group’s recent “performance is disappointing.” Revenue slid 22 percent to £458 million ($595 million) in Burberry’s first quarter, or three months to the end of June.

Burberry is best known for its trench coats and iconic red, camel, and black check design. Photos by Julien Boudet for Elle

Burberry is famous for its trench coats and trademark red, camel and black check design. The 168-year-old label has recently announced plans to cut costs, which involve suspending dividend payments. Murphy warned that the group risked an operating loss in its first half. Its share price plummeted 14.5 percent to £7.57 following the announcements, making it by far “the largest faller on London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index,” which was flat overall in morning trade. Moreover, Burberrys’ share price has been down 46 percent since the start of the year.

Highlighting troubles across the luxury fashion sector, Gucci owner Kering in April issued a profit warning, citing a weak Chinese economy. China just recently posted lower-than-expected growth of 4.7 percent in the second quarter of the year. That represented the slowest rate of expansion since early 2023, just when China was emerging from a its zero-Covid policy that constricted the world’s second largest economy’s growth.

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