Brand News

The shoe market gets a shake up. Wolverine Worldwide, Blum Capital and Golden Gate Capital announced to buy Collective Brands.

Wolverine Worldwide will acquire Collective Brands’ Performance + Lifestyle Group (PLG), which includes the wholesale and retail operations of the Sperry Top-Sider, Saucony, Stride Rite and Keds brands, and will continue to operate out of Lexington, Massachusetts. PLG had revenue of more than $1 billion in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012.
Investment firms Blum Capital and Golden Gate will jointly acquire the operations of Payless ShoeSource and Collective Licensing International (CLI), which together will operate as a standalone entity. Payless will continue to be headquartered in Topeka, Kansas and CLI in Englewood, Colorado. Payless and CLI had combined revenue of approximately $2.4 billion in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012, operating over 4,300 Payless retail stores globally at year end.

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. already has a portfolio of brands like Hush Puppies, Sebago, Bates and licenses from brands like CAT, Harley-Davidson and Patagonia.

The next brand to move into hospitality via brand license is Baccarat.

Baccarat Hotel & Residences New York are scheduled to open in 2014, with additional locations planned around the world.
The license is held by a joint venture of Starwood Capital Group, which invested in hotel brands like Le Méridien, Sheraton, St. Regis, W Hotels.

Baccarat S.A. was created in 1764 by decree from King Louis XV. The company still operates and manufactures its products in the town of Baccarat in France. The brand is known for crystal objects, mostly home decorative products.

The first location is NY, at 20 West 53rd Street, just off Fifth Avenue, with  114 rooms including 26 suites, as well as luxury residences.
Other planed Baccarat locations are Rabat, Foshan, Dubai, Marrakech, and other locations in the Middle East and Asia.

Markenwelten erlebbar machen kann viel Geld kosten. Und welches einbringen.

Laura Ashley eröffnet demnächst sein “brand showcase” Hotel.

Für eine Marke, die ursprünglich aus der Heimtex Branche kommt, ein sinnvoller Schritt.
Neben der Nutzung als “Schulungs-Zentrum” für Mitarbeiter, Kunden, Lizenznehmer und andere, können sich hier auch Verbraucher wohl fühlen und inspirieren lassen.

Trinity Ltd. übernimmt Gieves & Hawkes für maximal 92,5 Mio Pfund. Die an der Börse Hong Kong gelistete Firma besitzt bereits Cerutti 1881 und gehört der Familie Fung.

Der Familie gehört ebenso Li & Fung Ltd., einer der größten Lieferanten von Textilien weltweit. Sowohl Li & Fung als auch die Familie Fung kaufen seit Jahren Marken in Europa und den USA, zuletzt Sonia Rykiel.

Trinity Ltd. has agreed to buy British brand Gieves & Hawkes and its business for up to 92.5 million pounds (US$147 million), the high-end menswear retailer said.

The Hong Kong-listed Trinity is controlled by the Fung family, which also owns Li & Fung Ltd.
Trinity already owns Cerruti 1881.

The Fung family / Li & Fung continue buying American and European brands, the last acquisition has been Sonia Rykiel.