Seven For All Mankind, the L.A. based jean designer who first popularized $200+ ultra luxury denim, have decided to sell their business to VF Corp., owners of Reef and The North Face, for $775 million. This marks a windfall for Bear Stearns Merchant Banking, who bought half of Seven for $100 million just three years ago, with the sale now earning them a tidy profit of $287.5 million. Though Seven really engineered the explosion of ultra luxury denim, do they have the cachet to maintain their position in the marketplace in the face of strong competition from Citizens of Humanity, Rock and Republic, and True Religion?
Clearly, Seven has carved out a corner of the luxury denim market with its classic fits and trademark indigo blues. The risk here comes from being the classic "incumbent" brand: competition, and indeed innovation, could lead to this 'classic' denimsmith going out of vogue.
Article at NYT.
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