Designers forgo their multi-million dollar salaries for a year: Ralph Lauren gives up his $11million pay packet and Michael Kors, Donatella Versace and Sandra Choi will also waive their wages as the retail giants furlough thousands of workers
- Ralph Lauren said he would be giving up his $11 million wage; Michael Kors, Donatella Versace and Jimmy Choo’s Sandra Choi all followed suit
- Capri Holdings Ltd said on Monday it will furlough all its 7,000 retail staff
- Retail industry furloughs passed the one million mark in the U.S. this week
- Around 10 million Americans have lost their jobs and filed for unemployment
Designers Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Donatella Versace and Sandra Choi have all pledged to forgo their multi-million dollar salaries for a year.
Ralph Lauren said he would be giving up his $11 million wage after his store employees were furloughed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Capri Holdings Ltd will furlough all its 7,000 retail staff in North America and expects to reopen stores around June 1, the owner of Michael Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo brands said on Monday.
Retail industry furloughs passed the one million mark in the United States this week as the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week has shot to a record 6.6 million.
Ralph Lauren, pictured, said he would be giving up his $11 million wage after his store employees were furloughed amid the coronavirus pandemic
Donatella Versace, right, Chief Creative Officer of Versace, and Sandra Choi, left, Chief Creative Officer of Jimmy Choo, have each voluntarily elected to forgo their salary for Fiscal 2021
Capri, which had a total of about 17,800 employees at the end of fiscal 2019, said the furloughed employees were eligible for unemployment insurance and other government relief programs.
The Jimmy Choo owner said it would need a smaller workforce once the pandemic ends and was applying for national payroll subsidy programs in various European countries to reduce payroll expense.
‘Given our size and scale, we believe that Capri is well-positioned to continue to operate its business despite this unprecedented situation,’ Chief Executive Officer John Idol said in a statement.
The board’s annual cash compensation will be slashed by 50 per cent and several executives, including Idol, designers and Chief Creative Officers Michael Kors and Donatella Versace and Sandra Choi, Chief Creative Officer of Jimmy Choo, will forgo their salary for fiscal 2021, Capri said.
The company, which acquired Versace last year, said it would also look for ways to reduce overall salaries at various levels by about 20% to preserve cash flows.
Designers Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, pictured, Donatella Versace and Sandra Choi have all pledged to forgo their multi million dollar salaries for a year
John D. Idol, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: ‘This is a very challenging time for our business. We are diligently working to address this unprecedented situation by taking measures to protect our employees and maintain the company’s financial flexibility.
‘We do not take any of these measures lightly, particularly with respect to our employees who are the heart and soul of our company. We believe that these actions are necessary in order to enable us to overcome the burdens of this financial crisis.
‘We continue to believe in the power of our three fashion luxury brands and the resiliency of our company to navigate these extraordinary times.’
DailyMail.com has contacted Capri Ltd for comment.
Many store-based U.S. retailers, including Kohl’s Corp, Macy’s Inc and Gap Inc have indefinitely shut their stores and furloughed tens of thousands of employees, while tapping their credit lines to shore up cash to ride out the hit from the outbreak.
A wave of layoffs at restaurants, bars, hotels and airlines has led to a surge in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits.
New claims for unemployment benefits rose to 6.65 million in the week ending March 28, according to figures released by the Department of Labor on Thursday.
The number of first-time applications for jobless benefits was double the previous record of 3.3 million new claims filed for the week ending March 21.
It means that roughly 10 million Americans have lost their jobs and filed for unemployment in the two weeks that the coronavirus started rapidly spreading across the country.
