Joe's Jeans to acquire Hudson Jeans

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Jul 16, 2013

After rumours of a sale, premium denim label Hudson Jeans has found a buyer. Competitor brand Joe’s Jeans has signed an agreement to acquire the brand for the sum of 97.6 million dollars.

The two companies will keep their respective executive and design teams in place. “Once the acquisition is complete, we expect to nearly double the size of our business, meaningfully increase our international and e-commerce penetration, and enhance our overall prospects for growth,” said Marc Crossman, CEO of Joe’s Jeans for whom the acquisition is a “landmark event” in the history of the company.

Joe’s Jeans was founded by Frenchman Joe Dahan in California in 2001. His wife is currently design director at the brand, which caters for men, women and children.

Hudson Jeans CEO Peter Kim – who founded the company in 2002 with Frenchman Benjamin Taverniti - will remain head of the company and will become a member of the board of directors at Joe’s Jeans.

In 2009, Fireman Capital Partners took a majority stake in Hudson Jeans. At the head of the investment fund is Reebok founder Paul Fireman and his brother, Dan. “We are proud of our partnership with Hudson and all that we have achieved together, and are pleased that Hudson has found a perfect home with Joe’s Jeans to take the company to the next stage in its development,” said Dan Fireman.

It has been an eventful year for premium denim wear. Over the past 12 months, California brand J. Brand was acquired by Fast Retailing for 290 million dollars while True Religion was bought by TowerBrook Capital Partners for 835 million.