A Goth clothing company has told all its remote working employees it has to relocate to Brighton or accept redundancy.
Killstar employs about 40 people in the UK, and until about a year ago, positions were typically advertised as remote working.
But this year, they have told staff that they want to bring people back into the office, based in Middle Street, Brighton.
Over the last few weeks, Killstar employees have been posting that they have been made redundant on Linkedin – but meanwhile, the company is hiring a range of roles based in Brighton, described as hybrid remote.
The 11 positions currently advertised include jobs in marketing, logistics, product development e-commerce and wholesale.
One employee, who did not wish to be named, said: “They were originally a predominantly remote only company, which meant that they hired people from all over the UK.
“However, they have recently announced that they are now a hybrid-based company. They gave everyone a choice between relocating and redundancy. This has resulted in multiple redundancies.
“I think it is disgusting that a company would do unnecessary redundancies during a recession, because they’ve suddenly changed their mind about remote working. I think it is even more disgusting that Killstar want this to go unnoticed by the public.”
Killstar is owned by parent company Draco Distribution Ltd, which was founded in 2013 by Tequila-Rose Hanses. It was previously joint owned by Mrs Hanses and Dennis Bence, but sold in November 2020 to Centicore UK Acquisitions Ltd, whose director is Tom Beerle.
Mr Beerle, who is based in the US, is also a current director of Draco Distribution Ltd, along with Barry Cuthbertson.
In 2022, Killstar released a line of clothing designed by pop star Avril Lavigne, which Cosmopolitan magazine described as “giving punk Barbiecore”.
It featured a pink skull-shaped suitcase, a black skeleton maxi dress and a pink bodycon dress with a barbed wire print.
Killstar was approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.
god forbid you point out that this company is actually bringing jobs to brighton as a result! this is good for brighton surely?
some councils give big tax cuts to attract businesses and employment, bet that hasnt happened here lol
So you read an article about a company treating their employees disgracefully, and you think this is a good thing? If potential employees of Brighton know their worth, they’ll avoid this company like the plague.
how do u know theyve been treated disgracefully? an unnamed source shares an opinion about this and it’s taken as fact? Come on, this isnt even ethical journalism, its just rage bait or whatever they call it and youve fallen for it
Assuming its true the only facts here is that they tried to bring people to their office – thats there choice to make, loads of businesses have to do this because remote doesn’t work and covid isnt a big deal any more, and they are hiring new jobs in brighton? Cost of living effects everyone mate, better than the company closing down and everyone getting done surely
Think your missing the point here. They were not hired locally and at some point told, work from home it’s cool because there is a pandemic, now come back to the office pandemic is well and truly over. Lol .
They were hired from places across the UK as remote work. Why should they have to relocate, wasn’t in their contract. Equally I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to make a redundancy and the rehire within 2 years of the role going. Some people are going to get sweet as payouts if they go to ACAS.
Ah, it won’t unfortunately, because the role is “new” technically, being in a new city. But I agree with the spirit of that though, it’s morally not great.
The team that were affected were based in Scotland, it’s either be made redundant or move to a completely different country.
As someone on the inside, they have treated their employees disgracefully.
Read again, they were given options NOT dumped, also jobs kept in the UK which is a big surprise, if companies stagnate then they have to adjust, not always a benefit for the ones left out but not illegal,, better than going broke and they are still employing people.
The only option they were given is move to Brighton or get laid off. Get real.
I think redundant means something else….. involving money. That’s REAL. Jobs for life do not exist… get real.
I have written a series of articles about how badly the company is doing. What you have failed to mention is that a private equity firm called Bertram Capital bought a share of the company to inject cash into it so that it could be restructured to run more smoothly. They didn’t buy the company. That is who Tom Beerle works for. Private equity companies only exist to make their investors a lot of money and that is why Killstar have been pumping out line after line of really badly made products. I have done a lot of research into how badly this company is run and have written several articles about it on my blog.
Everything I’ve bought from Killstar is well made and I have issues with quality, stop talking nonsense.
Imagine coming to the defense of a company with questionable business practices. Hun, they aren’t going to give you free gear for defending them. They are grown adults, if they want to defend themselves they can come on here and do it.
Remote to hybrid logically makes little sense. It’s saying it works remotely, most of the time. Generally seen as a backwards step.
Killstar also have also got progressively worse over time in terms of quality of product, while the price keeps going up. This is Shein goth quality at this point. Please support other alternative businesses in Brighton