New York-based brand management firm WHP Global announces an agreement to acquire the IP of luxury fashion brand, Vera Wang. Fashion designer Vera Wang will continue in her role as Founder and Chief Creative Officer and will join WHP Global as a shareholder.
Image: Vera Wang
WHP Global, which owns Bonobos, Rag and Bone and Anne Klein, has acquired the intellectual property of luxury fashion brand Vera Wang. Although the financial terms were not disclosed, Vera Wang will continue in her role as founder and chief creative officer and join WHP Global as a shareholder. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in January 2025.
“I am so excited to announce this new partnership with WHP Global as we embark on an incredible new chapter for the Vera Wang brand, which I began over thirty years ago,” said Vera Wang. “WHP Global’s forward-thinking approach perfectly aligns with my vision for the future. Together, we will push boundaries, exploring bold opportunities to expand into new categories and markets, all while staying true to the legacy of timeless sophistication and the distinctive style that defines Vera Wang.”
“Vera Wang is a legend”, said Yehuda Shmidman, Chairman and CEO of WHP Global. “Her name is synonymous with modernity, artistry and impeccable style. We are honored to partner with Vera Wang and look forward to building on the brand’s remarkable legacy with new business opportunities around the world.”
What made Vera Wang sell her luxury brand to WHP after thirty-five years? “With WHP, I studied the arc of where they’re going and how fast they’ve done it. They also really believed in me as a human being, a brand and a partner and that’s very important — the trust in me and what I’ve built” Wang told Vogue Business. “It’s a unique deal in that I was able to participate myself, and that’s a great thing. It makes me feel as though I have a say and that’s not typical. I just know this is the right time, and with what the company has started. WHP has people on the ground in fifty countries — we don’t have that.”
Vera Wang
The daughter of affluent Chinese immigrants, Vera Ellen Wang was born and raised in New York. Wang attended University of Paris and graduated in art history from Sarah Lawrence College. She began her career as Editor of Vogue in 1971 and stayed on for seventeen years, later joining Ralph Lauren as Design Director for Accessories.
In 1989 Vera Wang wed Arthur Becker. Disappointed with the selection of bridal wear, she sketched the design and commissioned a dressmaker to make her wedding gown. Inspired, Wang opened a salon in Carlyle Hotel in New York carrying evening-wear and bridal gowns and then opened bridal boutiques in New York, London, Tokyo and Sydney, later expanding to fragrance, jewellery, eyewear, footwear and home-ware.
Though Vera Wang is a favourite with celebrity brides including Chelsea Clinton, Ivanka Trump, Alicia Keys- Mariah Carey and Victoria Beckham, she is also acclaimed for designing costumes for figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan, Evan Lysacek and Nathan Chen. Few know that Wang was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2009 for her contribution to the sport as a costume designer.
Vera Wang is also owner of a unit in 740 Park Ave co-op, reportedly the childhood home of Jackie Kennedy. Forbes placed her 34th in ‘America’s Richest Self-Made Women 2018’. Vera Wang was awarded the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2005 and the CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
Last year, Wang won the CFDA Board of Directors’ Tribute Award. She also received ‘André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award’ from Savannah College of Art and Design. Today, the brand generates over $700 million in annual retail sales across women’s apparel, bridal, men’s tuxedos and suiting, fine jewellery, fragrance and home.
WHP Global
WHP Global is a leading New York-based firm that acquires global consumer brands and invests in high-growth distribution channels including digital commerce platforms and global expansion. WHP Global owns a portfolio of consumer brands that reportedly collectively generate over $7 Billion in global retail sales. The company also owns WHP+, a turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform, and WHP Solutions, a sourcing agency based in Asia.
Per WWD, ‘WHP, whose total portfolio generates more than $7 billion in global retail sales annually across fashion, sports and hard goods, looks for Wang to become part of its new premium vertical which includes Rag & Bone, Joe’s Jeans and G-Star. The transaction is expected to close in January. Solomon Partners L.P. acted as a financial adviser to Wang.’
Jasmeen Dugal is Associate Editor at FashionABC, contributing her insights on fashion, technology, and sustainability. She brings with herself more than two decades of editorial experience, working for national newspapers and luxury magazines in India.
Jasmeen Dugal has worked with exchange4media as a senior writer contributing articles on the country’s advertising and marketing movements, and then with Condenast India as Net Editor where she helmed Vogue India’s official website in terms of design, layout and daily content. Besides this, she is also an entrepreneur running her own luxury portal, Explosivefashion, which highlights the latest in luxury fashion and hospitality.
