Brand management and licensing firms continue to solidify their place in the apparel industry with Marquee Brands the latest to strike an acquisition.
The company said Wednesday it purchased San Clemente-based Stance on undisclosed financial terms.
The sock and innerwear company, started in 2009, joins a portfolio of other acquired Marquee labels that include BCBG, Body Glove and Dakine.
Marquee said it tapped United Legwear and Apparel Co. to be its licensing partner for Stance to oversee design, development, retail and e-commerce.
Marquee CEO Heath Golden said there’s room to grow the business globally and expand into other categories, such as activewear, athleisure and footwear.
Stance made waves in the surf and skate industry at launch and is viewed as a pioneer for building a business that propelled a commodity item into a full-fledged lifestyle brand.
It successfully navigated that through licensing partnerships and collaborations with its Punks and Poets program that included Rihanna, pro skateboarder Neen Williams and artists DJ Javier and Russ Pope among many others.
It has 15 stores, including the Glendale Galleria, Victoria Gardens, Citadel, Cabazon Outlets and Irvine Spectrum locally.
Growth Aspirations
The acquisition comes after the 2023 appointment of David Tichiaz as Stance brand president. In August 2024, Tichiaz was elevated to CEO, succeeding John Wilson.
Tichiaz was a veteran of Vans and most recently served as its Americas general manager. His experience at the Costa Mesa footwear company was seen as a boon to help expand Stance’s category lineup.
The Marquee acquisition could very well accelerate those ambitions.
“I think as I thought about what I would do next, it was about doing something that was different and was something that I was really excited about,” Tichiaz told an industry trade publication called Shop Eat Surf at the time of his joining Stance. “[Stance] gives me a great opportunity to build out my career journey and apply learnings from the past into learnings from the future.”
With a new licensee tapped to oversee the lion’s share of operations, it’s unclear how many employees will transfer over to Marquee.
Rise of the Brand Management Firm
What’s become increasingly clear in recent years is the growing strength of brand management and licensing firms as power players in apparel M&A.
Jamie Salter’s Authentic Brands Group is perhaps the biggest and best example of this with the company amassing a portfolio of over 50 brands. That includes the entire Boardriders group (which encompasses Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, RVCA and other surf and skate labels), in addition to Champion, Reebok, Lucky Brand, Juicy Couture and Vince Camuto.
The company had at one time considered an initial public offering, but tabled those plans in late 2021 on account of what Salter told CNBC was a “ridiculous” climate for IPOs.
Bluestar Alliance is another contender in the space, although much smaller than Authentic. The parent of Off-White and Hurley most recently closed on its $600 million purchase of Dickies from VF Corp. earlier this month.
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