Rapha announces redundancies in bid to cut costs

[Ross]

Rapha has announced a wave of job cuts. The firm itself says 15 people are being made redundant, although The Telegraph(link is external) quotes a former employee who said the number was between 60 and 70. Another insider said the figure was nearer 80.

A Rapha spokesman said: “As we entered 2018, we adjusted our trading strategy, prioritising long-term profitable growth above short-term sales. As part of this, we are simplifying certain areas of the business, in order to reduce costs, and consolidate and strengthen our position. These actions will result in the reduction of a limited number of positions in our London headquarters.”

BikeBiz(link is external) reports that one of those to have left the company is head of R&D, Simon Huntsman.

The news comes after a series of uncharacteristically protracted sales over the summer. Many items have also been listed on the discount clothing website Sportpursuit.

https://road.cc/content/news/248095-rap ... -cut-costs

[MichaelB]

Wonder if the company that acquired it have suddently realised that they paid waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over the odds for it

[hamishm]

The problem with being a fad is that your customers quickly move on to the next fad brand. Just look how many of these brands are on the CyclingTips emporium for example.

[Thoglette]

Wonder if the company that acquired it have suddently realised that they paid waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over the odds for it

I'd wish it were so. My observation is that these sorts of acquisitions are valued on the basis of "synergies" or "our business acumen" which are both euphemisms for "we're going to cut the guts out of your operation and outsource the remains to a third world country".

I used to support certain software products and you could see in the code exactly where and when the takeover had happened. And the comments from the 3rd world coders were most enlightening - things like "this is a quick hack, needs to be fixed properly but no time allowed".

[Thoglette]

Eben snarked

I didn't realize Rapha had changed their image:
This is a few months old now, but apparently they've abandoned the whole "glory through suffering" schtick and are now doing the whole "bros-n-sisses having good times together" thing that's so hot with the millennials nowadays.

[biker jk]

Rapha records a £20m loss six months after being acquired by Walmart heirs.

https://road.cc/content/news/252862-rap ... mart-heirs

[g-boaf]

The problem with being a fad is that your customers quickly move on to the next fad brand. Just look how many of these brands are on the CyclingTips emporium for example.

Except that those of us who do clock up huge amounts of kms tend to find rapha kit is great for that. Call it a fad if you will, but I'm doing week in, week out 450-500km, comfortable cycling kit makes all the difference. I have some Rapha kit, one decent set of Castelli shorts and some Cuore kit.

I did like the local Rapha store in Sydney - they were a decent lot. I only went there infrequently however.

Eben snarked

Translation for those of us who don't do urban-millennial trendy speak?

[Thoglette]

Eben snarked

Translation for those of us who don't do urban-millennial trendy speak?

Origin of snark2
1910–15; dial. snark ‘to nag, find fault with’; apparently identical with snark, snork ‘to snort, snore’, probably < Dutch, Low German snorken ‘to snore’

e.g. I could be accused of snarking if I had responded with "which millennium?"

I do hope that they do remember why the brand became iconic (if beyond the finances of this little duck) and don't dash it onto the rocks of a "it's just another luxury brand" approach.