A Letter to the BoF Community

Dear BoF Community,

Like many other media companies around the world, the Coronavirus pandemic has impacted our business in ways that we could never have imagined. Over the past 4 weeks, our team has remained steadfast in our commitment to open, inform and connect the global fashion community, pivoting our business and editorial strategies to reflect the unprecedented context in which we now find ourselves.

Some areas of our business continue to grow rapidly, especially our BoF Professional membership programme, for which new sign-ups have increased by more than 500 percent over this same period last year, making it the industry’s most trusted guide to navigating this crisis. We believe this is due to the quality of analysis we provide, as well as the global connectivity and community that BoF enables, underscoring that no individual or company can make it through the pandemic alone. In times like these, we need to create new ways to connect and learn from each other, and we are energised to be playing a role in making this happen.

That said, other areas of our business — especially those dependent on physical events and digital advertising — have been negatively impacted, leading to lost revenue that we will find difficult to recoup. Given this impact, we have had to make the difficult decision to go further than our initial cost-savings measures and take actions that impact the heart and soul of our business: our people.

Unfortunately, these measures include limited furloughs and redundancies in the areas of the business that have been most affected. Additionally, we are exploring strategic options for our BoF China business, including its Chinese-language content and franchise events. Finally, senior members of our team are also sacrificing a significant portion of our salaries as part of our collective effort to reduce costs.

These decisions were difficult to make and are not a reflection of the contributions of the highly-valued team members that are impacted. BoF is certainly not alone in having to take such actions, but as a small business going through this kind of crisis for the first time, it is particularly painful for our talented team members who have given so much to this company. I am so grateful for their contributions and for all the hard work they have put into building BoF.

Many of you have asked how you can support a company like BoF at a time like this. To that, I say, you are already doing it, by reading our analysis and subscribing to BoF Professional. For those who haven't already joined, you can support our award-winning journalism by signing up here.

While this change is unexpected and difficult, our team is moving forward by creating more avenues to open, connect, and inform the global fashion industry. This has always been our mission, but the Coronavirus crisis has revealed the urgent need for new solutions, and we are focused on delivering these with renewed innovation, creativity and purpose.

We hope you and your loved ones are keeping safe, healthy and well. Thank you for your ongoing support.