This week, we take a look at who’s buying fashion brands these days. Private equity firms have started to pull away from fashion, and many founders aren’t interested in selling to them anyway. Instead, licensed brand management companies have significantly increased their fashion acquisitions.
Despite the slowing down of capital investment for fashion brands compared to the heyday of the 2010s, acquisitions are still happening. Fashion brands are still getting snapped up, but who’s buying? These days, you’re far less likely to see private equity getting into the fashion game, while licensed brand management companies have drastically stepped up their fashion acquisitions.
While private equity firms are still active, especially in areas like healthcare and food and beverage, their acquisitions of fashion brands have slowed. The number of private equity acquisitions of fashion brands this year has fallen 50% from last year, making up under 7% of all fashion deals announced so far this year, according to data released this week by Capstone Partners’ consumer investment banking group.
So, what’s behind this downturn? In talking to experts this week, it seems the appetite for private equity acquisitions of fashion brands has cooled from both ends. Private equity firms are less interested in fashion brands, which are capital-intensive and sometimes low-margin businesses, than in more easily monetizable targets like software companies. Meanwhile, brand founders are leery of the reputation private equity firms have for radically transforming, often for the worse, the companies they buy.
Luca Fontani, founder of the Italian fashion consultancy Grapefox, which has advised hundreds of fashion brands, told Glossy that fashion brands are less appealing to private equity firms in times of economic uncertainty.
“There is a saying in the fashion industry that says, ‘Fashion brands are revenue rich, but cash poor,'” Fontani said. “Fashion tends to be very capital-intensive because you have to buy a lot of products months in advance, making it not only cash-intensive but also cash-flow-negative.”
Private equity firms typically operate on a fast schedule: buy a company, find ways to cut its costs to maximize short-term profits, and then, often, scrap the company once the profits dry up. That business model makes fashion brands — which require capital investment through physical inventory and long lead times on sales and profits, and are subject to volatilities like tariffs — an unappealing target.
For founders, that same rationale is also behind their wariness to sell to private equity: They don’t want to see the business they built from scratch turn into a husk of its former self.
“Private equity firms want to acquire companies to increase the value of their holdings over the next three to five years so that they can sell them again,” said Marty Babayov, founder and CEO of the men’s tailoring brand Suit Depot. “And in most cases, they cut costs and reduce your product’s quality, thus undermining the founders’ legacy.”
Jessica Liao Mayers, the founder of the independent swim brand Slate Swim, recently sold her brand to an independent buyer. Natalie Wisniewski purchased the brand for a seven-figure sum and assumed the role of CEO, while Mayers has stayed on as an advisor and creative designer, continuing to design the brand’s collections.
Mayers told Glossy that she received many offers from private equity firms to buy her brand, but rejected them all. Slate Swim is the kind of high-growth brand that private equity is typically interested in, with 36% year-over-year growth in the last five years.
“I have talked to a lot of potential buyers who wanted us to merge with them, and [there has been] a lot of private equity interest,” Mayers said. “But those conversations were always about the numbers, and the brand wasn’t being prioritized. Natalie is passionate about the brand. She loves fashion, she loves swim, and I liked her vision for carrying the brand forward. All of that is important to me.”
Mayers said that she, like many in the industry, has heard horror stories about brands getting bought by private equity, only to disappear or shutter within a few years. Brands like Wet Seal, American Apparel, The Limited and Dressbarn all came under private equity ownership before shutting down for good in the last decade. She didn’t want to see a company she spent the last decade of her life building go that same route.
There have been some notable private equity successes, however. Private equity firm Permira acquired Golden Goose in 2020, and the brand has done well under its ownership. Revenue in 2025 was over $840 million, up 15% from the year before.
Despite brand wariness around private equity, acquisition deals in fashion are still happening. But instead of private equity, the buyers are more likely to be rival companies, like Andie Swim’s acquisition of Richer Poorer last year, or big conglomerates, like Prada Group buying Versace.
And according to that same Capstone Partners report, licensing-focused brand management companies have radically increased their fashion acquisition cadence. These acquisitions have increased 52% year over year in 2026, making up nearly 70% of the fashion M&A market.
That includes companies like Authentic Brands Group and Bluestar Alliance, which acquire brands and license out their names and IP to different partners. So far in 2026, these types of companies have acquired over 50 fashion brands.
Groups like Authentic and WHP Global have started acquiring relatively healthy fashion companies for hefty sums, with Marc Jacobs selling to WHP Global and Roberto Cavalli to Marquee Brands this month. And Authentic is expected to soon acquire the denim brand Lee. Those same companies have started investing more into the brand equity of their new acquisitions, rather than just licensing out the IP and collecting passive income. WHP, for example, has kept Marc Jacobs himself on as the creative director for the brand as part of the $1 billion deal.
Authentic Brands Group has become the largest company in this space, with over 50 brands in its portfolio and annual sales of over $32 billion.
“Licensing-focused brand platforms have emerged as increasingly active acquirers in the apparel sector, driving M&A activity through their asset-light model of acquiring established brands and unlocking value through global extendibility, distribution and category expansion,” wrote Jesse Betzner, senior director at Capstone and lead contributor to the report.
News to know
- Amazon lost a court battle with the AI company Perplexity as it sought to ban Perplexity’s agents from accessing Amazon websites. It’s the first federal case to address AI agents acting on behalf of users.
- Abercrombie & Fitch is reportedly conducting a review on whether to continue operating in China, according to Bloomberg. The company may sell its assets in China to focus on other markets.
- Shein is reportedly seeking a valuation of between $30 billion and $40 billion ahead of its IPO in Hong Kong later this month.
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