Virgio, the fashion startup, recently initiated a workforce restructuring effort that led to the termination of 20 employees, representing approximately one-third of its workforce. A Moneycontrol report reveals that this cost-saving initiative primarily impacted senior staff members.

Established in 2022 by Amar Nagaram, a former high-ranking executive at Myntra, Virgio originally launched as a platform centered around fast fashion trends, drawing inspiration from the now-prohibited Chinese fast fashion giant, Shein. Nevertheless, just recently, Virgio shifted its focus from fast fashion to becoming a sustainable fashion company.

Apart from the workforce reductions, Virgio has reorganized its senior leadership team and is currently in the process of actively hiring to fill the open positions, as mentioned in the report.

The startup is said to have implemented the subsequent modifications:

• Hansa Nigam, the former marketing lead for OnePlus Nord India, has taken on the role of Marketing Head at Virgio, succeeding Sachin Tandon.

• Prachi Sharma, with prior experience at renowned brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, has assumed the leadership of Virgio’s sourcing and design department, succeeding Rajesh Narkar.

• Hansa Nigam, previously the Marketing Lead for OnePlus Nord in India, has taken over as the Head of Marketing at Virgio, replacing Sachin Tandon.

• Suyash Motarwar, who has held positions at Flipkart and PharmEasy in the past, now leads Virgio’s technology division, taking over from Nishant Khurana.

• Ashish Ranka, formerly associated with Flipkart and CoinSwitch, has come on board as the new Head of Product, succeeding Neelesh Soni.

It’s worth mentioning that all four departing executives – Narkar, Tandon, Khurana, and Soni – had previously been part of Myntra during Amar Nagaram’s tenure as CEO of the Walmart-owned company.

At the time of pivot, Nagaram said, “While fast fashion is agile, trendy and caters to the growing needs of the young blood in India, it also promotes over production, over consumption. Fast fashion companies use harmful fabrics and exploit labour to cut corners on pricing and quality fuelling the market with what will be sent to landfills. It’s a global crisis and we all are witnessing it. That’s why we’ve made a conscious choice to move our entire efforts to build a circular fashion brand.”

Since its inception, Virgio has secured $37.8 million in funding from notable investors such as Prosus Ventures, Accel, and Alpha Wave. According to Nagaram, the capital acquired during the Series A round is still in the company’s possession, affording them a financial runway of three years.