Victoria Beckham has revealed she wouldn’t enter the fashion industry with the knowledge she now has after launching her eponymous brand.
The 50-year-old fashion designer told Nicole Kidman during an interview for Vogue Australia that she was ‘naive and innocent’ when she started working on her label.
The mother of four admitted that if she had known what it would be like, she might not have the “courage” to embark on the same journey today.
In January it was announced that her once-failing brand Victoria Beckham is finally turning a healthy profit, 17 years after its launch.
Speaking about her early experience with the brand to Vogue, she said: ‘I was always passionate about being in fashion and beauty. I had been in the Spice Girls, of course. I took the plunge, and there was an innocence and naivety. If I had known then what I know now, I might not have had the courage to do it, but I didn’t really know anything about the industry. I came into fashion in a very honest, humble way.
Victoria Beckham has revealed she wouldn’t enter the fashion industry with the knowledge she now has after her experience launching her eponymous brand (pictured 2022)
The 50-year-old fashion designer told Nicole Kidman during an interview for Vogue Australia that she was “naive and innocent” when she started working on her fashion label
‘I just wanted to create clothes that I couldn’t find myself… And now, after 17 years, we can proudly say that fashion itself is profitable, and for a ready-to-wear brand and an independent brand to be able to say that is a huge achievement…
‘And now we’re building. I’ve been working on the foundation for years and now I can start building the house that I’ve always dreamed of. We have fashion that’s not just ready-to-wear, but we have bags and shoes, we have beauty, which is hugely successful in its own right, and now I have perfume, which for me is the halo of the brand. That makes us a real house.’
In October, the designer told Vogue France that the brand had finally turned a profit, more than a decade after she launched her own fashion label.
“This is just the beginning. I have a lot of ambitions and I work hard to achieve my goals. I never wait for things to fall into my lap,” she said.
“It’s such an exciting time. This year we made a profit! That takes time, especially for an independent brand. My perfume is not a license – I own it.
‘Now that I have laid the foundation for the house, the real work can begin.’
In an interview with industry bible Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) in March to mark the news, her brand’s investor David Belhassen provided a rare glimpse into the inner workings of Victoria’s empire.
He said revenues had risen by as much as 42 per cent to £58m – and predicted that when the company files its 2022 financial statements in December, the former Spice Girl would make her many critics eat their words.
The mother of four admitted that if she had had the knowledge of what it would be like, she might not have the ‘courage’ to embark on the same journey today (photo February 2024)
In January 2023, Victoria Beckham Holdings Ltd’s accounts showed a loss of £5,887,036 in 2021, down from £8,581,944 in 2020.
This figure means the company’s total losses since it was founded in 2008 amounted to £66.3 million and the company’s directors, including Victoria and her husband David, received no dividend.
The luxury fashion industry expanded into Europe and the Middle East. Annual reports show the brand also introducing new products, such as leather goods and the VB Body line.
Despite the huge losses, Beckham’s global empire has reportedly doubled its profits.
Accounts filed with Companies House in London show the couple earned £11.6 million in the year ending December 2020, despite the pandemic, compared with £4.5 million in 2019.
In its 2021 accounts, auditors warned of “significant doubts” over the Victorian fashion company’s ability to continue trading, after reporting it had racked up debts of more than £46 million since it was founded.
Friends of the star said at the time that Victoria was determined to continue with her business, even though her detractors dismissed it as a vanity project.
One of them said: ‘This is what gives Victoria her identity, she loves it and despite the obvious obstacles she is a hard worker and extremely passionate about her work.’
The fashion label, which has a flagship store in Mayfair (pictured), made losses of £12.2m in 2018, £4.6m in 2017 and £8.4m in 2016.
In February 2021, it was revealed that Posh’s beauty line, which she founded in 2019, had made a £4.7 million loss.
A spokeswoman for Victoria said: ‘Although 2019 was a challenging year, the business halved its losses – a significant step towards profitability. The launch of the hugely successful beauty range in the same year helped total revenues grow 7% compared to 2018 and both businesses are focused on profitable growth.
‘The presentation of the recent AW21 fashion collection has been well received by fashion critics and the beauty industry has seen several products sell out in recent months.’
The fashion label, which has a flagship store in Mayfair, London and sells items such as coats for up to £2,900 each, made a loss of £12.2 million in 2018, £4.6 million in 2017 and a loss of £8.4 million in 2016.