Sri Lanka’s Hela Apparel Holdings Plc announced on its LinkedIn page the acquisition of UK-based apparel brand licensing house Focus Brands. “This marks another major milestone in our journey towards becoming a truly comprehensive solution provider for the apparel sector and will further elevate Hela’s service offering to its customers,” the company said.
Focus Brands was founded in 1976 and designs, sources, distributes and promotes sports fashion and lifestyle apparel brands. The company has exclusive license agreements to design and distribute several major apparel brands, including Ellesse, Nautica and Yogi, in the UK, EU and other global markets.
Hela has acquired 100 percent of Focus Brands from JD Sports Fashion Plc. JD Sports first invested in Focus in 2007. Hela paid 8 million pounds (€9.36m), according to Economy Next, citing a stock exchange filing. Hela said the acquisition brings the company much closer to the end customer and expands its service offering into brand marketing and distribution to become a fully vertically integrated service provider to the apparel sector.
Hela will have access to Focus Brands’ six product showrooms in London, Manchester, Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf and Amsterdam, as well as a sourcing office in China and a network of warehouse facilities in the UK and Europe.
According to the company profile, Hela Apparel Holdings offers sustainability-focused apparel supply chain solutions. The company works closely with global brands from design to delivery in the intimate apparel, activewear and children’s apparel product categories. With ten production facilities in four countries and more than 17,000 employees worldwide, Hela claims to lead the industry regarding ethical and sustainable working conditions.
