Welcome to the blog at Fashion Business Report, a comment section to further facilitate the discussion around the news on, and the issues affecting, the fashion business. Please click on the headline above or below to take you to the latest post. My latest thoughts are on fashion's most influential in 2009 ...
Archives
Charles David
Focuses On Fresh
Product, Value
Rock & Republic Retools For Recession
Hilco Could Take Investments Public Within Two Years
To Survive Downturn, Citizens of Humanity Sacrifices Sales
Levi Strauss: As Reliable As Its Jeans
Nicole Miller Could Consider Future IPO
Perry Ellis: Nature To Be An Acquirer
Michael Kors Sets Aside Plans For Sale, IPO
Urban Outfitters
Views Climate As
Ideal For Buys
Duckie Brown: Design You Can Invest In
Defiant During Tough Times: Tuleh
What's Essential About EO? Its Customer
Murad Celebrates 20 Years With Growth
Fashion
Briefcase
Business Briefs
From The Web
Bankrupt Munich-based Escada AG is to be acquired by the Mittal family trust, according to news services.
Bankrupt Yohji Yamamoto received a lifeline from Tokyo-based investment firm Integral, financing the fashion company's restructuring through an acquistion of it, according to news services.
Equibox Holding SpA, a special-purpose acquisition vehicle, acquired a 60 percent stake in Fashion Box SpA, the parent of Replay, according to news services.
Alberto-Culver, the Melrose Park, Illinois-based beauty care business, acquired the U.K.-based skin care company Simple Health & Beauty for roughly $390 million, according to news services.
Japan-based Cross Company increased its stake in New York-based men's wear label Thom Browne from 20 percent to 67 percent, according to news services.
FL Acquisitions and FOF Inventory Holding acquired the assets of bankrupt fine jewelry business Fred Leighton for $25.8 million, according to news services.
Boston-based private equity firm Advent International acquired publicly held retailer San Diego-based Charlotte Russe for $380 million, according to news services.
Hong Kong-based Li & Fung acquired New York-based Wear Me Apparel, parent of Kids Headquarters, for an up-front cash payment of $100 million, plus performance-based payments over the next five years, according to news services.
Steiner Leisure bought spa and skin care business Bliss World Holdings from Starwood Hotels & Resorts for $100 million, according to news services.
Suffern, New York-based The Dress Barn acquired Tween Brands in a $157 million stock transaction, according to news services.
Bankrupt urbanwear business Against All Odds, which had revenues of roughly $121 million in 2007, was sold to New Deal, according to news services.
Consumer products giant Unilever made a binding offer to acquire the personal care business of Sara Lee for about $1.87 billion, according to news services.
Private equity firm Windsong Brands acquired accessories business Carlos Falchi, which has approximately $10 million in turnover, according to news services.
Syms Corporation acquired the assets of bankrupt Filene's Basement for $65 million, according to news services.
A deal to sell Hartmarx, the bankrupt Chicago-based apparel group, to London-based private equity firm Emerisque is completed, according to news services.
Listed Amazon.com acquires private Las Vegas-based shoe e-tailer Zappos.com for roughly $850 million, according to news services. An industry observer described the deal as a strategic buy of a category leader.
Tory Burch sells minority stake to Mexico City-based private equity firm Tresalia Capital, according to news services. The private footwear maker had reportedly been seeking an investor the past several months, it is understood.
Eddie Bauer, which had sought bankruptcy protection, is won by San Francisco-based private equity firm Golden Gate Capital with a $286 million cash bid, according to news services.
Listed personal care conglomerate Procter & Gamble acquires men's grooming products businesses Zirh and The Art of Shaving, according to news services.
3.1 Phillip Lim:
Fashion’s Next
Mega Brand?
By Richard Collings
Published:
3.1 Phillip Lim has emerged in but a handful of years as a brand that will soon generate $50 million a year in wholesale revenue, capitalizing on designer Phillip Lim’s sensibility for creating desirable sportswear and Wen Zhou’s experience with boutique luxury manufacturing in
These days, fashion is having a love affair with
This is not news to Zhou, who leveraged her years of experience building deep relationships and knowledge of sourcing in her native China—once known primarily for producing quantity, not quality—to jumpstart the label 3.1 Phillip Lim back in 2004.
It was her focus on manufacturing luxury goods in
For The Full Article, Click Here.
______________________________
Andy Thê-Anh Sees
Life After Recession
Tariffs Make It Prohibitive
To Produce Overseas
By Richard Collings
Published:
It was just over a year ago that Andy Thê-Anh, the private Montreal-based fashion business, changed ownership, bringing on board a group of private investors that would provide the resources to propel future growth, said Etienne Lecompte, the company’s president.
But when the recession hit, sales at its retail stores dropped substantially. As a result, the apparel business had to restructure, or rather, structure the business in response to the economic downturn, and “return to the basics.” Business plans that were to lead to a hoped-for increase in revenues were nixed, Lecompte explained.
For The Full Article, Click Here.
______________________________
By Richard Collings Published: J Brand, the private Los Angeles-based denim company that has recently teamed with renowned designer Hussein Chalayan, is likely up for sale, said industry sources. The company is thought to be represented by investment bank Sage Group out of its ______________________________ Maria Pinto Grows
For
As Investment Bank
For The Full Article, Click Here.
By 40 Percent
Could Consider Private Equity
Investment In The Future
Maria Pinto, the private Chicago-based fashion business, which was made famous by the simple chic sheaths that adorned First Lady Michelle Obama on the campaign trail last year, has seen its revenues jump by 40 percent this year, designer Maria Pinto said.
Although the company’s revenues are below $10 million, it is thriving through the downturn thanks to support from the likes of Mrs. Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Marcia Gay Harden.
For The Full Article, Click Here.
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Nanette Lepore
Could Reconsider
Private Equity
By Richard Collings
Published:
Updated:
Nanette Lepore, the private New York-based apparel company, could reconsider private equity investment in the future, but has shelved plans for the time, said Robert Savage, the company’s co-owner.
Savage, who is also designer and co-founder Nanette Lepore’s husband, said the company came very close to inking a deal in 2008 after two years of due diligence. He described the process as running another business.
But the deal fell through as the financial crisis unfolded and the investment firm attempted to renegotiate the terms, particularly the valuation.
For The Full Article, Click Here.
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Karen Sabag Rises
To The Occasion
By Richard Collings
Published:
Designer Karen Sabag could provide a tutorial to young aspiring designers hoping to make their way into the fashion business.
By focusing on an underserved area of the market, custom-made wedding gowns are her specialty, and setting up shop in a neighborhood of
For The Full Article, Click Here.
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For Custo Barcelona, Color Is Key
Published: Building a business around a passion for the t-shirt may not seem particularly innovative, but in 1981 when brothers Custo and David Dalmau co-founded what is today known as Custo Barcelona, that was exactly the idea. Out of that passion, the brothers built a modest global brand that generated revenues last year in excess of about $110 million, with 70 of its own bricks-and-mortar stores located around the world, and a successful U.S.-based e-commerce Web site. For The Full Article, Click Here. ______________________________ As Fashion Industry Adapts, Hopes And By Richard Collings Published: In the words of one industry executive, the past eight months have been the most challenging of his career. The same could be said for fashion as whole, since perhaps the Great Depression. And although key officials such as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke are optimistic about the economy’s recovery, there is still the belief a rebound will be slow and unemployment will be high for at least a year. A number of executives remain concerned that increasing and lingering unemployment and problems in commercial real estate could further drag down retail sales and revenues.
By Richard Collings
Fears Mingle
For The Full Article, Click Here.