The company also has sites in Worcester and North America
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Up to 200 workers have been told they are being made redundant from England's oldest pottery firm just four weeks before Christmas.
The Royal Worcester and Spode group said the cuts are due to customers choosing to buy pottery made outside the UK, which is cheaper.
The redundancies, which come into effect in January, are at the firm's Stoke-on-Trent site.
A spokesman for the Unity union said staff would be "absolutely distraught".
Garry Oakes, deputy general secretary for the union told BBC News: "It is another tragic blow for our industry and at Spode.
'Secure the future'
"They say it is because of a downturn of orders in the UK.
"We have not heard any reaction from workers yet but I am sure they will be absolutely distraught."
The company, which has additional plants in Worcester and North America, had already announced plans to move to a different location in Stoke-on-Trent to try to reduce operating costs.
A spokesman said the losses were an attempt to secure the future of the group.
The firm, which has 700 staff overall, was chosen to provide the Prime Minister's present for the Queen's 80th birthday in the summer.
Josiah Spode began manufacturing his wares in about 1770.
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