Fashion Investments and M&A

Date: October 2024
Buyer: Pembroke VCT and JamJar Investments
Target: With Nothing Underneath
Business: Women’s shirtmaker brand
Value: £2.5m
Details: This is With Nothing Underneath’s first fundraise. With Nothing Underneath and its investors have a shared vision to take the business to the next phase of growth and to expand its presence in overseas markets such as the US, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Date: October 2024
Buyer: H&M Group Ventures, Morgan Stanley, Fuel Ventures and David Wertheimer
Target: Cult Mia
Business: Online fashion marketplace for sustainable luxury fashion
Value: £2,500,000
Details: It is reported that Cult Mia has built an impressive footprint of over 320 independent brands. Cult Mia and its investors have a shared vision to achieve significant growth in the luxury marketplace space.

Date: October 2024
Buyer: TFG London
Target: White Stuff
Business: Fashion clothing brand
Value: Undisclosed
Details: With 113 stores and 46 concessions in the UK, 6 stores and 25 concessions across Europe and trading online, White Stuff has an undeniable international presence in the fashion sector. Finer details about the consideration paid by TFG London have not been disclosed, though in the year to 30 April 2024, the business reported a record revenue of £154.8m and EBITDA of £8.6m. White Stuff and TFG London’s shared aim is to explore new opportunities for growth.

Date: July 2024
Buyer: Frasers Group
Target: Thackerays
Business: Independent fashion retail
Value: Undisclosed
Details: Frasers Group has acquired Northampton-based brand, Thackerays, for an undisclosed amount. Thackerays is an independent, premium fashion retailer, founded in 1972 by Brian and Eileen Richards. The acquisition is the latest in a string of purchases of independent retailers by Frasers in the last couple of years, having previously acquired Aphrodite in 2024, and brands John Anthnony and Zee & Co in 2023.

Date: July 2024
Buyer: Pembroke VCT, Venrex, Active Partners
Target: Tala
Business: Activewear
Value: £5million
Details: Female-founded, London-based activewear brand, Tala, has completed a £5million funding round. The round was led by Pembroke VCT, who invested £3.1million, with Venrex and Active Partners acting as co-investors. Pembroke VCT has long been a supporter of the brand, having invested in a previous funding round in 2021, and since then, Tala’s revenue has increased tenfold. Tala was created in 2019 by influencer Grace Beverley. The investment will help Tala with its planned launch into the US market, as well as establishing brick and mortar retail opportunities in the UK, following an initial physical launch in Selfridges earlier this year.

Date: July 2024
Buyer: EssilorLuxottica
Target: Supreme
Business: Streetwear
Value: $1.5billion
Details: Eyewear brand EssilorLuxottica, which owns brands Ray-Ban and Oakley, has acquired American streetwear brand Supreme from VF Corporation for $1.5billion in cash. VF Corporation, which also owns Vans, Timberland and The North Face, acquired Supreme back in 2020 for $2.1billion. Since then, Supreme has continued to expand internationally, most recently opening stores in Shanghai and Seoul.

Date: July 2024
Buyer: TBC
Target: Kirk & Kirk
Business: Eyewear brand
Value: £150,000
Details: Brighton-based, family-owned eyewear brand Kirk & Kirk has announced its plans to raise up to £150,000 in capital by selling a 7% shareholding in the company via investment platform, Crowdcube. Kirk & Kirk was founded by Jason and Karen Kirk in Brighton in the 1990s; Jason and Karen each retain 36% of the company’s shares, with the remaining 28% held by a mixture of institutional and angel investors.

Date: July 2024
Buyer: Frasers Group
Target: Hugo Boss
Business: Luxury fashion
Value: Undisclosed
Details: Frasers Group has again increased its shareholding in luxury brand Hugo Boss, now holding just under 8% of Hugo Boss’ total issued share capital (with a further 13.8% held via put options over shares). The shareholding is said to be worth £415million. Prior to this most recent investment, Frasers’ stake in Hugo Boss was worth £305million. After first investing in Hugo Boss in 2020, Frasers has both increased and decreased its shareholding in the brand, notably selling several of its shares at the beginning of 2023 in response to weak luxury market conditions, though with 2 further investments this year, Frasers seems keen to retain a chunky minority stake in the brand.

Date: July 2024
Buyer: Hi-Tech Apparel
Target: Unmade
Business: Fashion software company
Value: Undisclosed
Details: Unmade, the London-based, software company whose product is used by New Balance, Ralph Lauren, Decathlon and others to offer customised clothing on-demand, has been acquired by Hi-Tech Apparel. Finer details about the consideration paid have not been disclosed, though Hi-Tech Apparel are said to have valued Unmade at 10 times’ Unmade’s revenue. Sportswear retailer Decathlon will remain a shareholder going forward, and Unmade’s current CEO and COO will remain in place. Unmade and Hi-Tech Apparel’s shared aim is to automate the clothing manufacturing business.

Date: June 2024
Buyer: Armilar Venture Partners, Founders Future
Target: Veeton
Business: GenAI fashion photoshoots
Value: $2million
Details: Veeton, a French startup business which uses generative AI to produce photoshoots and backdrops for fashion brand campaigns, has received a $2million investment from Armilar Venture Partners and Founders Future, as part of a pre-seed funding round. The platform allows fashion brands to create a multitude of different backdrops and visuals to use in photoshoots for products, which are ready to publish immediately, and which often cost 10 times less to produce than traditional photoshoots. Veeton’s existing partners include Microsoft, bpiFrance and Carrefour.