According to some trusted reports, Oakley Inc. was about to lay off 167 employees in the Southern California headquarters, among which won 37 employees are from the headquarters at Foothill Ranch. This news was unearthed from a filing made with the California Employment Development Department.
This layoff was the result of Luxottica Group of Italy, being a parent company, continuing to integrate the apparel and sunglass brand into their global business. Some of the cuts were not supposed to go into effect until the ending of June 2016. However, most layoffs which include 22 in Lake Forest and eight employees in Encinitas went valid starting from September, 15.
Related developments
Colin Baden, formerly CEO of Oakley, was shifted to uphold the rule of Chief innovation and product officer alongside Andrea Dorigo, who is a former Luxottica executive. Andrea took over as the president of Oakley’s sports division based in Foothill Ranch according to a spokesperson for the company.
Luxottica, which is a Milan-based company, acquired Oakley for $ 2.1 billion in 2007. In the year’s first quarter, the company began restructuring and reorganizing the sales operations and product systems of Oakley to bring an organizational structure that conforms to the rest of the enterprise.
Furthermore, Luxottica revealed in a media statement that this integration would allow Oakley a chance to leverage the strengths of Luxottica in various fields. From supply and chain logistics to commercial expertise, everything will be at the disposal of Oakley. This move was essential to relaunch Oakley is a brand and accelerates their growth through the use of greater resources.
What were the results of the integration?
Because of the integration, many areas of Oakley’s business were to see an impact that mainly affects small pockets of businesses where there is a duplication of projects is involved. Preserving Oakley’s unique brand image that propelled them to be an iconic leader in the sports apparel arena was considered a must.
Consumer facing functions like manufacturing and product marketing were to proceed from Foothill Ranch, California, in order to shape the brand image. In the company’s second-quarter earnings call, CEO of products and operations – Massimo Vian went on to describe several milestones for the integration of Oakley.
Vian mentioned about “eliminating some key positions in the structure of Oakley from the position of CEO to the global sales channel position.” He also mentioned about repositioning global wholesale, global product development and global retail for Oakley.
Last quarter changes
Back office related functions and infrastructure related to North America went through Luxottica’s wholesale facility located in New York and its distributor center situated in Atlanta. Services including administration and sales operations and IT received a major haul from October 1, as a result of the integration.
Last but not least, Luxottica closed the European headquarters of Oakley in Zurich and concentrated many personnel at its offices in London, Milan, and northern Italy (specifically in the Belluno Area). According to a Luxottica spokesperson, around 400 positions including vacant posts were eliminated globally due to the integration.