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.
CERRITOS, United States — Online retailer Revolve Group Inc. says it offers about 1,000 new fashion items a week for sale. A glance at its website shows 233 new arrivals just dropped.
That rapid turnover and its use of social media have made Revolve one of the best performing initial public offerings this year and created a $1.5 billion fortune for founders and co-Chief Executives Michael Karanikolas and Michael Mente.
Revolve markets its changing lineup of trendy fashions through a network of 3,500 so-called influencers — including Kendall Jenner — and more than 3.2 million Instagram followers. Mente, 38, handles marketing and fashion lines, while Karanikolas, 41, oversees technology and logistics.
Shares of California-based Revolve have more than doubled since its June 6 IPO and were up 4.2 percent to $38.59 at 12:10 pm in New York, giving the firm a market value of about $2.7 billion. Only Beyond Meat Inc. and Cortexyme Inc. had better US debuts this year.
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Karanikolas and Mente own a combined 56 percent stake in the millennial-focused e-commerce company and control more than two-thirds of the firm’s voting shares through a separate entity called MMMK Development. Mente owns an additional 1.4 percent stake outside of MMMK, according to a regulatory filing.
Revolve’s offering follows a September listing by luxury-clothing platform Farfetch Ltd., which raised $855 million in its IPO. Three other e-commerce companies have gone public in the US this year, pulling in a combined $471 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Before starting Revolve in 2003, Karanikolas and Mente both worked at NextStrat, a now-defunct California-based software firm. The pair saw an opportunity in online fashion sales, then spent the first few years persuading clothing companies to let them sell their products on Revolve. They have since added their own lines, with about 79 percent of sales at full price, according to the filing.
Net income increased almost fivefold last year to $30.7 million on sales of $499 million, according to the filing.
Numerous Wall Street analysts offered buy ratings for Revolve last week, citing its financial performance, influencer marketing strategy and international expansion.
“The future includes a lot of what we have right now,” Mente said in an interview last month. “Everything we’re doing right now is working very well.”
By Jasmine Teng; editors: Pierre Paulden, Steven Crabill, Peter Eichenbaum.
As a push to maximise sales of its popular Samba model starts to weigh on its desirability, the German sportswear giant is betting on other retro sneaker styles to tap surging demand for the 1980s ‘Terrace’ look. But fashion cycles come and go, cautions Andrea Felsted.
The rental platform saw its stock soar last week after predicting it would hit a key profitability metric this year. A new marketing push and more robust inventory are the key to unlocking elusive growth, CEO Jenn Hyman tells BoF.
Nordstrom, Tod’s and L’Occitane are all pushing for privatisation. Ultimately, their fate will not be determined by whether they are under the scrutiny of public investors.
The company is in talks with potential investors after filing for insolvency in Europe and closing its US stores. Insiders say efforts to restore the brand to its 1980s heyday clashed with its owners’ desire to quickly juice sales in order to attract a buyer.