New York City, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai — Brooks Brothers Group, Inc and Walton Brown Group, a subsidiary of The Lane Crawford Joyce Group, Asia’s premier fashion retail and brand management group, have established a joint venture that will open more than 10 points of sale for Brooks Brothers in the first 2 years.
The 50/50 joint venture, with an initial term of 10 years commencing January 2016, will leverage the strengths and capabilities of Walton Brown in strategic retail brand management in Greater China and the global appeal of Brooks Brothers, augmenting its dynamic growth across the Greater China region.
The joint venture will take over the management of Brooks Brothers’ existing retail network of 90 stores in the territory and will activate a strategic expansion plan to open more than 10 points of sale in the first 2 years across key cities in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
“We are confident in China’s growth prospects in the premium sector for the coming years and this is the optimal time for us to position Brooks Brothers for long term sustainable growth,” says Claudio Del Vecchio, chairman and CEO of Brooks Brothers.
“In the 12 years Brooks Brothers has been operating in China, the brand has built a strong following of customers who subscribe to its unique heritage and rich history of design and quality craftsmanship,” says Thomson Cheng, president of Walton Brown. “With the foundation in place, we believe the brand has enormous potential with the new generation of sophisticated and prosperous consumers in China and with the launch of the online business in 2016 we will be able to significantly increase reach with this consumer segment.”
Following the formation of the joint venture, Brooks Brothers and Walton Brown will establish a corporate office and showroom in Hong Kong in early 2016.
Brooks Brothers today operates more than 460 stores worldwide including over 130 retail stores in the Asia Pacific region, 90 of which are in Greater China.
Brooks Brothers was established in 1818. For more information, visit www.brooksbrothers.com.
Walton Brown is a full service strategic retail platform which partners with large-scale international brands to grow their businesses in Greater China. Walton Brown manages the Juicy Couture and Kate Spade New York brands in Greater China. Walton Brown also currently operates the chain of flagship luxury Maison Mode in Chengdu, Changsha and Urumqi with more than 800 brands across 800,000 square feet. Its portfolio also includes an outlet business with large retail complexes totaling more than 600,000 square feet. A 1.3 million-square-foot site is under development for an outlet in Changsha to open in 2016, with more outlets to follow across Tier 1 to Tier 4 cities in China.
The Lane Crawford Joyce Group is Asia’s premier fashion and brand management group, which operates luxury department stores and boutiques, freestanding branded stores and e-commerce and omni-channel operations. The Group currently operates 620 points of sale across 50 cities in Greater China and Southeast Asia, with total retail space of more than 1,600,000 square feet.
SOURCE: Brooks Brothers