Fanatics, the leading American supplier of licensed sports merchandise, has appointed Steve Davis, a global e-commerce veteran, as president of Fanatics International. He was formerly the chief executive of a digital fast-fashion retailer, Rue La La. His task will be to expand the company's vertical retailing model into a global omni-channel platform to help sports brands and teams serve their global fan bases better. He and his team will also build a global manufacturing and distribution infrastructure to support the vertical merchandise model that Fanatics has set up in North America. Fanatics recently acquired Kitbag, a British online retailer that has been partnering with major football clubs like Manchester United, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain and Borussia Dortmund. It also bought a few months ago Majestic, the licensed apparent company previously owned by VF Corporation. Before running Rue La La, Davis oversaw international operations from Spain at GSI Commerce, which was acquired by eBay in 2011, developing synergies with Fanatics.

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