Burberry to cut 540 jobs

London, Jan 21 (IANS) British luxury fashion brand Burberry plans to cut about 540 jobs in Britain and Spain to better cope with the economic slowdown.

Burberry will close a sewing factory in Rotherham, which could result in the loss of 290 jobs. Manufacturing will then be focused in Castleford, Yorkshire, where Burberry trench coats are made, reports telegraph.co.uk.

The other 250 jobs will go in Spain, where the company plans to close its Thomas Burberry business - a brand made mainly for the Spanish market and scale back the rest of its operations.

Burberry's Chief Financial Officer Stacey Cartwright said: 'Customers are willing to spend money on more conservative items such as trench coats and handbags and are restricting their splurging power.'

'It is not a pricing question in the current climate. It is a footfall that consumers are cutting back on the amount they buy and hence it is affecting the sales,' she said.