SYDNEY: Billabong has been revealed as the company behind the eleventh-hour power offer which competed to acquire denim brand Ksubi, according to the successful bidder.
Bleach director Mark Byers said the winning deal pitched by Bleach and Quiksilver founder Harry Hodge had offered “more protection” for Ksubi’s founders than the opposing Billabong proposal. The two parties acquired Ksubi for $5 million plus accrued interest on its secured debt with Westpac bank and employee entitlements.
“A certain part of the old Ksubi [team] will also be a shareholder in the new company,” Byers said, but declined to comment on whether both founders Dan Single and George Gorrow had a financial stake in the new Ksubi business.
Under the new structure, Single and Gorrow will serve as creative directors and non-executive directors of the brand.
“They’ll be in charge of the creative teams; they will remain the face of the brand; they will be allowed to concentrate on creative and design endeavours rather than back office and business endeavours,” Byers said.
“A lot of normal director responsibilities will be taken off their shoulders and they will just be the free spirits they need to be to make the brand as quirky as it used to be and should be.”
Byers said Hodge will serve as chairman in the company, with an active role in overseas operations. The Ksubi team has been relocated to the Bleach offices in Rosebery, where Bleach labels Insight and Something Else by Natalie Wood are created.
“[There will be] flow between our design teams — not to influence each other’s programmes but a bigger creative team feeding off each other,” Byers said.
He said the Ksubi design team was relishing this change due to more funding for sourcing trips, fabrications and innovations. “All of that has just freed them up so they can be creative gurus.”
Ksubi business development staff have largely been retained under the new ownership, including international and domestic sales and marketing staff. The company is aiming to boost Ksubi’s international distributor base, looking at potential synergies between the three labels in terms of retail stockists. It is looking at stores where it makes sense for the brands to be sold together, Byers said.
On a local front, Bleach is aiming to rebuild Ksubi’s position by proving reliability with delivery.
“For 2010/01 [winter 2010] we’ll deliver about 97 per cent on time – that’s pretty much a standard Bleach delivery ratio,” Byers said.
Bleach manufacturing capabilities will enable small quantities of specific Ksubi product to be produced, such as aspirational catwalk styles.
“For example, if David Jones ordered 60 of something and they were the only ones who ordered it, we would probably produce it for them,” Byers said.
Ksubi’s current stable of three domestic stores will continue to operate, with any future stores likely to open on a licence basis. Byers could not confirm the fate of the label’s New York store at this stage.
Ksubi is preparing to reclaim its presence with a catwalk show at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May. Byers claimed the parade would show “a significant elevation in the design content of the range” and mark the brand’s return to form.
Melinda Oliver