Australian-born streetwear brand Culture Kings has helped drive a 6 per cent lift in group sales for its US-based parent company A.K.A. Brands in the Australia/New Zealand market for the first quarter of 2025.
The sales lift across AU/NZ follows a 9.6 per cent fall in local sales for the US group in the fourth quarter of 2024, and an 11.1 per cent fall in sales for the full-year last year.
The recent bump-up also added to a total sales lift for A.K.A. Brands – which also owns two other Australian-born brands Princess Polly and Petal & Pup. Global group sales for the first quarter, predominantly in the US, lifted 10.1 per cent to US$128.6 million (~A$198.76 million), with its US market recording a 14.2 per cent lift to US$88 million.
Its AU/NZ region hit $35.5 million in the first quarter.
"We delivered a strong start to the year, with outstanding first-quarter performance driven by our team’s disciplined execution across our brands,” A.K.A. Brands CEO Ciaran Long said. “This marks our fourth consecutive quarter of growth, underscoring the effectiveness of our strategic initiatives.”
Alongside the sales lift, A.K.A. Brands also lifted its gross margin to 57.2 per cent, up 100 basis points from the first quarter of 2024, which ultimately helped the business deliver US$2.7 million in adjusted EBITDA, up from just US$900,000 early last year.
Long added that the business also achieved nearly 8 per cent growth in its active customer base over the last 12 months, which he called a clear indication of strong demand for its brands.
“Our omnichannel expansion plans are also on-track and exceeding expectations,” he continued. “Princess Polly opened its seventh store during the first quarter in Soho, which was our strongest opening to date, and plans to open six additional stores this year, bringing the total to 13 by year-end.
“The existing store fleet continues to outperform our revenue expectations, while also creating a halo effect on surrounding online markets.
“In addition, we are encouraged by the early reads from Princess Polly and Petal & Pup's wholesale debuts across Nordstrom's entire store fleet.”
Following the latest result, A.K.A. Brands expects full-year net sales to hit between US$600 million and US$610 million, with an adjusted EBITDA of between US$24 million and US$27.5 million.
This outlook contemplates the estimated impact on tariffs enacted during 2025, A.K.A. Brands reported.
"As we approach the evolving trade environment impacting our U.S. business, we are confident that our strategic actions, swift execution and flexible business model will enable us to navigate this period and emerge even stronger,” Long said.
“Importantly, we continue to see solid demand trends in the first six weeks of the second quarter, in-line with our outlook for the year.”