Superdry, the British fashion label, has signed an agreement with South Korean firm Cowell Fashion Company to transfer its assets in Asia Pacific to the firm for US $ 50 million.
Starting from its home market and extending to other regional markets, Cowell will own and use the Superdry brand in Asia-Pacific, including China. Both companies will work together to develop products relevant to those markets.
“This agreement offers the Superdry brand a fantastic opportunity to expand its global reach, whilst providing additional funding to help deliver our turnaround programme in the face of the challenging consumer landscape,” said Julian Dunkerton, founder and CEO at Superdry.
The British company will retain its IP rights in Inaid, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka since the agreement does not include said regions. With this sale, the company can focus on growing its brand and increasing sales in its more established territories where it has the strongest expertise, said Superdry.
After incurring material losses, Superdry exited the Chinese market in 2020 and the brand said it has no plans on re-entering the market in the foreseeable future. To rebuild its previous scale and volumes across the other territories in the region, significant further investment would be required, especially in China, added the company. The company stated that this investment is more likely to be successfully delivered through a third-party partner.
Superdry operates approximately 220 physical stores and 479 franchises and licenses, operating in 53 countries.
“The collaboration between Cowell Fashion can be said to be the beginning of a paradigm shift in the Korean fashion industry,” said Lee Sun-seop, chairman of Cowell Fashion.
Cowell Fashion Company focuses on manufacturing and licencing apparel products for established global brands across product areas including sportswear, accessories and underwear.
