Iconix Buys Rocawear
New York–based urban brand Rocawear will join the 63 lineup of labels at Iconix Brand Group Inc., which includes Candie’s; Bongo; Badgley Mischka; Joe Boxer; Rampage; Mudd; London Fog; Mossimo; Ocean Pacific; and, most recently, Danskin.
New York–based Iconix will pick up Rocawear for $204 million in cash and $35 million in Iconix stock (contingent on the brand exceeding certain predetermined performance goals over the next three to five years).
Rocawear was co-founded by musician and producer Jay-Z (nee Shawn Carter) in 1995 and has grown to become a major brand with annual sales of more than $700 million and a distribution network that includes department stores and specialty retailers.
Jay-Z will continue to oversee product development, marketing and licensing for Rocawear, and the company’s senior management team in licensing, marketing and product development will also join Iconix. The operating company that produces Rocawear’s menswear will continue to work under the ownership of Jay-Z, Alix Bize and Norton Cher and will ink a long-term license agreement with Iconix for young men’s apparel.
According to Iconix, Rocawear will bring in approximately $43 million in royalty revenue in its first year under the Iconix umbrella.
Iconix also struck a separate joint-venture agreement with Carter to form a new brand-management and licensing company to identify brands to be acquired and/or developed by Iconix. The joint venture’s first brand will be a luxury brand called the Shawn Carter Collection, which is scheduled to bow in 2008. —Alison A. Nieder
