Anthropologie has axed another member of its UK team with the exit of its European head of buying Olivia Richardson.

A spokeswoman for the US retailer, which made its managing director for Europe James Bidwell redundant last month, said: “Olivia Richardson’s departure from Anthropologie is part of the global restructure announced last month to better leverage internal resources in order to be closer to the customer, achieve greater efficiencies and to prepare for future international expansion.”

Richardson, who was formerly head of fashion at Liberty, was tasked with sourcing around 30% of the product sold in its two London stores from local designers.

Anthropologie has reiterated its plans to continue with the strategy. The spokeswoman added that for apparel, womenswear buyer Sarah Burton will be responsible for “identifying the talent within the UK market” while home buyer Kate Butler will take hold the same responsibility for its home offering. Both are part of the London-based team and will be reporting into Philadelphia-based general merchandise managers for the global brand.

Richardson was brought into the business by former Selfridges marketing director Bidwell, who was tasked with managing the roll-out of the brand in the UK and Europe.

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