Oakley Capital acquires North Sails in Europe

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
Oct 6, 2014

It's a logical procession. After having acquired North Sails' sailing gear activity in the United States (North Technology Group) and in Europe (North Sails Europe) in the first semester, Oakley Capital investment house has just gotten a hold of Tomasoni Topsail.

The Italian company is the licensee for the production and distribution of North Sails clothing in Europe and the Asia-Pacific markets. With the acquisition of the Genoa-based company, the house brings together all the North Sails activities under one brand.

The new owner, based in London and a specialist in investments in companies valued between 40 and 150 million euros, does not seem to want North Sails to be a brand reserved exclusively for sailors.

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"We are going to launch two collections: North Sails Blue, a casual line that incarnates the essence of the brand and the sea lifestyle, and North Sails Black, an upscale line that will be available around the world at the best retailers for Fall/Winter 2015," stated Eric Bijlsma (ex. Scotch & Soda), Oakley's partner in this new adventure and the new CEO of Tomasoni. The collections of North Sails clothing should benefit from the cutting edge technologies and materials used in the production of sails.

Founded in 1973 by Léopold Poppi, Tomasoni concluded 2013 with a 48 million euro turnover. It produces and distributes complete collections of North Sails clothing and shoes via a network of 1,500 independent stores and 50 of the brand's own stores.