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news
Rapha founder Simon Mottram.jpgRapha announces redundancies in bid to cut costs
Rapha has announced a wave of job cuts. The firm itself says 15 people are being made redundant, although The Telegraph 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 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.
Just over a year ago, RZC Investments, which is owned by two heirs to the Walmart fortune, bought a majority stake in the upmarket cycle clothing firm.
Speaking at the time, Rapha founder and chief executive Simon Mottram said the acquisition heralded, “the start of the next stage of our journey and is testament to the growth and potential that people see in Rapha and in cycling.
"Support from RZC Investments will allow us to further expand our active global community of cyclists, develop even better and more innovative products and services to enhance cyclists’ lives and inspire many more people to take up the World’s greatest sport."
The deal reportedly valued Rapha at £200m. At the time of the purchase, the firm’s profit sat at around £1.4m.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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37 comments
Not exactly "cared", but yes I did happen to read it and comment as is obvious? Your point is?
I thought my implied comment was obvious but never mind.
Surely if you couldn't care less about something then you wouldn't take the time to read into it and then take the time to comment? It would be the equivalent of me taking the time to read something about golf and then going on some forum and telling people how I “couldn’t care less”. The act of me doing that would be pointless, needlessly rubbing people up the wrong way and filling up a comments section for people who do care. There are plenty of examples of people like you who jump straight into media articles;
Formula one = not a sport, I don’t care about Hamilton winning yet another race…he’s not British
Athletics = who cares about people running around a track? Mo Farah…he’s not British
Cycling = not a sport, people don’t care about this, surely?
It’s tedious, predicable and it grinds my gears.
I'm done here, even if you're not.
In English next time please Tim.
The range has grown too big and the quality varies too much across it. Core shorts are great, but the Core jerseys are awful. The Pro Team lightweight jerseys are great, but the Pro Team lightweight shorts are awful, to name some examples.
There's a never-ending sale in order to shift it all and now nobody will buy any of their gear at full price.
Classic case of a company losing focus as it expands.
Good for you. Sleep well tonight.
I don't really care too about Rapha and their 3-digit priced plastic jerseys. But when a man returns a Friday afternoon and has to tell his wife that he just got fired is a really tragic moment, so this article is worth reading.
Thats a very fair comment. I think you should maybe talk to the original owners about who they sold the company to and the great staff welfare they are renowned for before trying to put anything on me.
I guess this is one of the reasons why they allowed evanscycles to be sold off.
With the current political climate with the government and local councils constantly banging the drum about how they are doing all 'this and that' to promote cycling, safer cycling and cycling as a viable means of transport but actually doing very little to nothing at all if not interfering with plans that will do what they said they would do then it does not surprise me how bike retailers are heading into financial difficulties.
There's only so many times one person can purchase bicycle lights, apparel, helmets and all the other gubbins associated with the purchase of a bike or bicycle commuting.
Not to forget about how the police are failing to protect vulnerable road users (like cyclists for instance, perfect example! :P) How many times have we seen videos of close passes that left us slightly shaken inside but the police's response is 'no action takendue to lack of evidence' ??
Im sure there werelots of people who did pick up cycling to work because of the goverment promotions but then stopped and left their bikes collecting cobwebs in the shed because they no longer felt safe on the roads after one too many closses passes and confrontations with abusive drivers who think its their God given right to be on the road.
Something needs to be done but nobody seems to be in a hurry to do anything or they lack the resources to do anything at all.
/Rant
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