The Milanese showroom-turned-accelerator has taken a 46 percent stake in the Tokyo-based brand development and creative consulting agency.

In recent years, the wholesale market has faced an identity crisis as big brands prioritise direct sales, sending multi-brand retail into decline. At the same time, showrooms like Twentyfourseven have repositioned themselves as brand accelerators, targeting high-potential emerging labels, in which they sometimes take financial stakes, with new services from production to brand management.

Founded in 2014, Seiya Nakamura 2.24 Inc., which also has offices in Shanghai and Paris, has adopted a similarly wide approach, handling press, branding and creative development, as well as distribution, for brands like We11done, Mame Kurogouchi and Marine Serre.

“Before the start of the pandemic, the fashion wholesale world was rather flat. Buyers and brands would travel to Paris, visit showrooms, place their orders and repeat the process ... Now, with many being unable to travel, we see markets becoming more internally focused. Partnerships such as the one between ourselves and 247 are more necessary than ever before,” said Seiya Nakamura, founder and chief executive of Seiya Nakamura 2.24.

Following the deal, Twentyfourseven and Seiya Nakamura 2.24 will retain their separate identities, but integrate their operations. Together, they aim to grow combined sales to between $320 million and $350 million this year, up from $290 million in 2021.

“This venture will lead us to become a real global structure that can help brands to develop and scale globally,” said Twentyfourseven co-founder Giacomo Piazza. “We are going to be an accelerator for Seiya, and this deal will also be an accelerator for us in the Asian market,” added Twentyfourseven chief executive Tommaso Bosco.

Going forward, the two companies will jointly invest in brands, said Piazza, with Seiya Nakamura 2.24 “scouting the talents in Asia and us scouting talents in our different platforms and via our connections in Milan, in Paris, in London.”

Also on the roadmap are new outposts for Seiya Nakamura 2.24 in Seoul and Los Angeles, and a Twentyfourseven office in New York.

Learn more:

How Twentyfourseven Is Reinventing the Showroom

Twentyfourseven, a showroom turned full-fledged design platform, is pushing for a new kind of sustainable growth in the industry.