The Melbourne-headquartered brand house recently signed on as local Diesel licensee, replacing outgoing licensees Theo Onisforou and Lisa Keighery. Onisforou revealed Pacific Brands acquired the Diesel licence for a five-year term, with the deal incorporating management of Diesel's four local retail stores, 50 wholesale accounts and all local branding.
Onisforou said he had been approached by “many” serious buyers during the sale of the licence, but it was Diesel's head office in Italy that chose Pacific Brands as his successor. The purchase price of the deal was not disclosed.
The licensing deal appears to signal Pacific Brand's reinvestment in the denim and outerwear category. While “critical” streetwear labels Mooks, Mossimo and Superdry have all been re-signed to the business in recent times, Pacific Brands spent 2009 and 2010 letting go of other labels including denim specialists Lee and Wrangler. The divestment strategy was motivated by a desire to “reduce complexity and cost”, the company said in its 2009 half-year results. The same half-year report revealed Pacific Brands' top 20 brands accounted for 67 per cent of sales, while over 200 small brands combined to produce less than two per cent of sales.
The acquisition also brings to an end Onisforou and Keighery's long-standing relationship with Diesel. Keighery's husband Mark first brought Diesel to Australia in the 1980s, and Onisforou became a private investor in the business not long after. Lisa Keighery and Onisforou took on the local licence for Diesel following Mark Keighery's death in 2008, but Onisforou confirmed the Pacific Brands contract meant he now no longer has any stake in Diesel Australia.
Pacific Brands declined to comment on its purchase of the licence.
Erin O'Loughlin