BCBG petitions for global license agreement with Global Brands Group

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Apr 9, 2017

BCBG last week petitioned the US Bankruptcy Court in New York City to approve a licensing agreement with Global Brands Group. A New York bankruptcy judge may approve the agreement on April 27 during a hearing.

 
The company in March filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, in order to restructure its business as an e-commerce entity and to focus on licensing and wholesale.
 
The new license agreement, which is part of BCBG's plan to leverage licenses to increase revenue, will include the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of BCBG Max Azria and BCBGeneration product offerings, including footwear and accessories, jewelry and home furnishings, and the BCBG Paris footwear collection in all regions with the exception of the Republic of Korea. The BCBG Paris license would cover the spring 2017 and fall 2017 collections and would end on February 3, 2018.

In addition, Global Brands Group upon approval will receive royalties payable at signing, and the company will pay BCBG royalties of net sales on regular goods, off-price merchandise and home products. Global Brands owns licenses with Under Armour, Calvin Klein, Frye, Kenneth Cole and Cole Haan.
 
Ten days after filing for bankruptcy protection, BCBG promoted Bernd Kroeber to EVP and Creative Director, overseeing BCBG Max Azria, BCBGeneration and Herve Leger. The German designer worked with Hussein Chalayan, Donna Karan and Elie Tahari before joining BCBG in 2007, where he relaunched BCBGeneration.
 
Founders Max and Lubov Azria are also suing BCBG for an alleged wrongful termination of Lubov, whose employee contract was part of an out-of-court deal with Guggenheim Partners.