Dive Brief:
- WHP Global, a brand management firm, will acquire a majority interest in denim brand G-Star Raw, the companies announced Tuesday.
- G-Star CEO Rob Schilder will continue to operate the brand’s marketing and product development functions, as well as wholesale, retail and e-commerce distribution, from its Amsterdam headquarters.
- Earlier this year, WHP Global paid $50 million to acquire the Bonobos brand in a joint deal with Express, which acquired the Bonobos operating assets and assumed the related liabilities for $25 million.
Dive insight:
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
G-Star is working to become an online-first company, Schilder said in the release, and the partnership with WHP Global could help “expedite G-Star’s global expansion” by strengthening its U.S. presence and opening in new geographies and product categories.
Under the new deal, G-Star’s existing shareholders, including founder Jos van Tilburg, will retain a stake in the brand.
"In WHP Global, we experience the right strategic and financial partner for further global and sustainable growth in the decades to come, while staying true to our signature product, our dedicated teams, and our loyal business partners,” van Tilburg said in the release.
The addition of G-Star brings WHP Global’s total portfolio retail sales to more than $7 billion. Its other fashion holdings include Anne Klein, Joe’s Jeans, Joseph Abboud, Isaac Mizrahiand a 60% interest in the Express brand.
G-Star has 13 brand retail stores in the U.S., according to its website. It previously operated 31. The company declared bankruptcy in 2020, which it partially attributed to its inability to negotiate rent during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. It later cut 10% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan.
G-Star, which was founded in 1989, defines itself as a brand that pushes “the boundaries of denim design, manifesting our own future of denim.” It has dabbled in innovation in the sustainability space and earlier this year launched a series of artificial intelligence-designed pieces.
