Authentic Brands Group: The $20B Empire That Makes Nothing
Authentic Brands Group owns Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Champion, Dockers, Forever 21, Billabong, Sports Illustrated, and 40+ other brands. It makes none of them. Inside the $20B licensing model.
Pick up a Brooks Brothers shirt and turn it inside out. Look at the shoulder stitching. If it looks like a rat’s nest of tangled thread done by someone who couldn't give a shit, that's the business model working exactly as designed. Brooks Brothers was founded in 1818, dressed 40 presidents over the following two centuries, and made the coat Lincoln was wearing the night he was shot. For most of that run the name meant one specific thing: quality American tailoring at a price that reflected it. Now think about Eddie Bauer. They used to sell gear with a lifetime warranty, the kind where you…
saved by
related reading
- The enshittification of things (and a list of private equity-owned companies) – Crystal Leecrystaljjlee.com
- 4 grad school friends started a business with $30,000 each—now it's worth $1.8 billioncnbc.com
- Worse on Purposeworseonpurpose.com
- Life After Lifestylesubpixel.space
- Why Did Allbirds Fail? - by Gad Allon - Gad’s Newslettergadallon.substack.com
- After Authenticitysubpixel.space
- Shein: The TikTok of Ecommercenotboring.co
- Built to Own - Colossuscolossus.com
- How Lululemon Dominates High End Active Wearyoutube.com
- What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble's Surprising Turnaround?tedgioia.substack.com
- Stop Thinking in Archetypes, Start Building in Genresfatemaraja.substack.com
- J. Crew and the Paradoxes of Prep | The New Yorkernewyorker.com