Yoox Layoffs Threatenโ Over 200 Jobs in Bologna and Milan
Bologna,Italy โฃ – Over 200 employees at Yoox Net-A-Porterโ (YNAP) in Bologna and Milan โface potential layoffs following the company’s sale to German online retailer MyTheresa,finalized this spring. The news has sparked alarm among โworkers and unions, who โคcriticize the lack of warning and proactive measures to mitigate theโ impact on employees, many with long tenures at the once-leading luxury e-commerce platform.
The impending jobโค losses represent a โnotable blow to the Emilia-Romagna region, where YNAP, founded by Federico Marchetti โin โ2000, was a flagship technology and fashion success story. Workers, some who joined โฃthe company during itsโ early “unicorn” phase, now โคface an uncertain future, potentially losingโฃ their jobs without opportunities for retraining or redeployment. “The first request is now that social safety โฃnets are used,” stated Mariano Vendolaโ (Filcams Cgil Bologna). “We live in a territoryโฆโฃ in which it is โขunacceptable thatโค such an โขimpacting dismissal is announced without having opened social safety net โขprocedures, without a cig, a solidarity, without some protections.”
YNAP revolutionized online luxury fashion, merging with British โNet-ร -Porter in 2015 before being acquired by Swiss luxury goods conglomerate โคRichemont in 2018, owner ofโฃ brands like โCartier and Montblanc.โ Richemont announced the sale to MyTheresa in October 2024, a deal completed in โฃthe spring of this year.
Union representatives report being consistently downplayed concerns regardingโ the company’s economic trajectory. “We often asked about the economic trend and the framework โฃhad been minimized โขto us,” a union source explained.The situation underscores growing anxieties surrounding theโค futureโ of Italy’s tech sector โคand the needโฃ for stronger worker โprotections during corporate transitions.