The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Brazil’s footwear and accessories giant has paid 173 million reais ($33.7 million) for one of the country’s largest independent shoe brands. The sale comprises 60 percent cash and 40 percent stocks, with a restriction that shares cannot be sold for up to four years in stages.
Vicenza, known for its youthful and minimalistic style, reported gross operational revenue of $80 million reais ($15.5 million) and 13 million reais ($2.5 million) EBITDA in 2022. The company noted annual revenue growth of 30 percent over the last three years.
Led by creative director Rafaela Furlanetto and her founder father Ariovaldo Furlanetto, Vicenza was launched 30 years ago in Igrejinha, Rio Grande do Sul state. Today it is stocked in more than 700 multi-brand stores throughout Brazil, Europe, the US and Latin America.
The acquisition is Arezzo’s first since its follow-on equity offering of 833 million reais ($157 million) on the Brazilian stock exchange in February 2022.
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Prior to that, Arezzo & Co made several acquisitions including womenswear label Carol Bassi, streetwear brand BAW and Reserva — all part of the company’s lifestyle division AR & Co. The conglomerate’s brand portfolio also includes Arezzo, Schutz, Anacapri, Alexandre Birman, Fiever, Alme and a distribution license for Vans, and the operations of the ZZ Mall marketplace and the resale platform Troc.
Learn more:
Arezzo & Co.’s Plans to Become a Global Accessories Conglomerate
The Brazilian footwear giant’s business model led it to quintuple in size in just 10 years to reach nearly $600 million. Now, it plans to acquire high-potential international SMEs and provide them with the infrastructure and insight to scale internationally.
Local streetwear brands, festivals and stores selling major global labels remain relatively small but the country’s community of hypebeasts and sneakerheads is growing fast.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Senegalese investors, an Indian menswear giant and workers’ rights in Myanmar.
Though e-commerce reshaped retailing in the US and Europe even before the pandemic, a confluence of economic, financial and logistical circumstances kept the South American nation insulated from the trend until later.
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