Superdry has sealed an agreement with a South Korean firm Cowell Fashion Company to sell its intellectual property (IP) assets for $50 million. This means Cowell will own and use Superdry brand in key APAC markets, starting in South Korea and extending to neighboring countries, including China.
The British fashion retailer and Cowell will work together to develop products relevant for those markets. Superdry believes the South Korean firm is ideally positioned to appreciate and maximize Superdry’s potential across the region. Superdry will provide certain support and know-how relating to its brand to Cowell during the first two years following completion of the sale. It will receive an additional $1 million management fee for these services.
Strategy for Global Outreach
Julian Dunkerton, founder, and CEO of Superdry said this agreement offers the Superdry brand a fantastic opportunity to expand its global reach, whilst providing additional funding to help deliver the company’s turnaround programme in the face of the challenging consumer landscape. He said the sale allows the company to focus on growing its brand and increasing sales in its more established territories where it has the strongest expertise. Lee Sun-seop, Chairman of Cowell Fashion, said the collaboration is the just the beginning of a paradigm shift in the Korean fashion industry.
Superdry has 220 physical stores and 479 franchises and licenses, operating in 53 countries. It exited from China in 2020 due to material losses. Superdry has no plans to re-enter the Chinese market, saying that further investment would be required to rebuild its previous scale and volumes across the other territories in the region, more successfully delivered through a third-party owner.
