Acne Studios Sells Part Of Equity Designer Brand Development Is Still Difficult?

Recently, the Swedish fashion brand Acne Studios announced that it will sell 41% of the shares, the buyer is private equity IDG capital and Hongkong fashion retail group I.T Group.

After the completion of the paction, IDG capital and I.T group will hold Acne Studios 30.1% and 10.9% shares respectively, of which IDG capital will become the largest institutional shareholder of Acne Studios as the lead party.

Company co founder Jonny Johansson and current executive director Mikael Schiller are still the main shareholders of the company.

Slowdown in performance, seeking buyers

In the 2013-2016 year, the turnover of Acne Studios doubled, and its growth began to slow in 2017. In the 2017/2018 fiscal year ending August 31st, the net profit of Acne Studios was 165 million kronor, which was basically the same as last year. Its net asset value is 654 million Swiss crown.

Due to the slowdown in performance, Acne Studios publicly disclosed the intention of selling 70% to 80% shares of the brand in July last year. In fact, Acne Studios secretly sought buyers in January last year, and finally discussed with 10 candidate buyers, including private equity fund, luxury group, and Fosun international and Shandong Ruyi holding group, which were frequently purchased frequently.

Buyers and sellers' attitude towards the acquisition

For this investment, Acne Studios executive director Mikael Schiller said: "I and Acne Studios co-founder, creative director Jonny Johansson is very excited and very much looking forward to cooperating with IDG capital and I.T group.

We know very well about the two organizations.

With the help of IDG capital and I.T group's deep understanding of fashion, e-commerce and offline retail, we believe that their support will make the brand of Acne Studios go higher and further. "

Alexandre Quirici, partner of IDG capital London office, said: "we are very pleased to join Mikael, Jonny and the whole company team.

Acne Studios not only leads the trend, but also actively applies many technologies.

Their keen sense of fashion and technology has made it popular among consumers worldwide in recent years.

We are excited and confident that we will help expand our global market and achieve greater success.

Through this investment, IDG capital will take advantage of brand investment, a deep understanding of Chinese market and consumers, and many years of experience to support the rapid growth of international brands such as brand Evisu and Moncler. This will help Acne Studios further tap its potential and exert its strength, so as to strengthen its links and communication with Asia Pacific, especially Chinese consumers, and promote the development of related markets.

For this investment, I.T Group Chairman and CEO Shen Jiawei said: "Acne Studios started from a niche brand, and gradually grew into the world's leading and unique fashion brand.

Our cooperation with Acne Studios has been 15 years, and our mutual understanding of fashion has made our connections more and more close.

We expect this deep cooperation with Acne Studios to open up a new chapter for the brand and our cooperation. "

About Acne Studios

Acne Studios is a clothing brand from Sweden. At first, it was a small studio in Stockholm, with graphic design and advertising. In 1996, it was designed under the guidance of co-founder Jonny Johansson.

This Nordic niche brand is getting more and more attention from the fashion industry.

The brand name Acne is derived from the initials of "Ambition to Create Novel Expressions".

In the early days of its creation, Acne Studios was inspired by Andy Warhol's underground factory to create a clothing brand that combines many cultures and art forms.

In 1997, Acne Studios gave their 100 jeans to some influential celebrities at that time. When fashion people, designers, filmmakers and even young hippies put on them, celebrity effects broke out, and people quickly recognized this small brand from Nordic Europe.

At present, the retail channel of Acne Studios is a luxury fashion business platform, such as official website, NET-A-PORTER, Farfetch, and so on. Under the line, it is through I.T, e, Crawford, Harrods and so on.

Acne Studios China's first flagship store

Acne Studios has been labeled as "cool", "cool" and "minimalist", and its unique style has been inherited in its brand store design.

Acne Studios, the first flagship store in Beijing, was opened in Taigu district north of Sanlitun in December 15th. It occupies an area of 190 square meters and is completed independently by Acne Studios internal team.

As the first independent store in China, the flagship store in Beijing, like Acne Studios, is located in other shops all over the world. It has a unique blend of brand design and its environment.

It adopts the original architectural style of straight glass curtain wall elements, high gloss white paint, walls and ceilings, with epoxy and beige flooring.

With the Acne Studios Studios stainless steel walls, railings, tables and shelves, the large sculptures in the front area of the front door of the shop are very expressive Acne Studios pink and give gradation effect.

TFS point of view:

Looking back in 2018, the acquisition and merger of the global fashion industry was extremely active, and the momentum was rapid. The luxury group acted frequently, and the designer brand was the focus of the buyers' attention. Meanwhile, China Fashion Group's international brand and designer brand acquisitions intensified.

Last year, the acquisition of designer brands included: Semir intends to acquire a 11% stake in JASON WU's parent company, Zegna Group acquired $500 million for designer brand Thom Browne, and song's acquisition brand designer Jean Paul Knot Greater China ownership; Belgium designer brand Dries Van Noten was purchased by Puig group.

The acquisition of designer brand by luxury group or large fashion group is mostly aimed at making the group brand younger. Old Zegna's acquisition of designer brand Thom Browne is a young case.

For designer brands, the sale of shares to large brands is also full of uncertainties. If the performance is not good enough, it will be sold first when large groups are in urgent need of pformation.

Designer brand Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane have been sold by Kai Yun group.

In the changing market, the future of designer brand is slim. Every year, a large number of new designer brands emerge and compete with each other. The designer's brand is not mature at present, and the market share is low. The low price strategy of fast fashion and the younger generation of luxury goods are also the factors that hinder the development of designer's brand. In a word, the survival environment of designer brand is facing severe test.

Source: TheFashionShop clothing store