Japan’s Wacoal acquires U.S. lingerie brand Lively Wacoal International Corporation, parent company of Wacoal America, announced it has acquired Intimates Online, the brand better known as Lively.
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The Japanese underwear manufacturer has added the millennial-focused U.S. lingerie brand, founded by Victoria’s Secret alum, Michelle Cordeiro Grant, to its fold, effectively immediately
The sale was processed for $85 million (approximately 9.2 billion yen) as Kyoto-based Wacoal looks to boost its growth in North America.
“The Lively brand has worldwide business potential that may be achieved with Wacoal corporate support globally,” said Bob Vitale, president and CEO of Wacoal America.
“As one of the digitally native brands that are positively disrupting the U.S. intimates’ business, Lively has quickly established an incredible following. Our collaboration with
Lively will no doubt result in dramatic sales growth and market share gains in the Americas, enabling both brands to engage and win the important millennial customer, and market more effectively in the evolving digital world,” he continued.
Launched in 2016, Lively is a digitally native and size- inclusive lingerie brand. It started out marking “bras and undies that blur the aesthetic lines of lingerie, active, and
swim,” according the brand description, and in three years has expanded into loungewear, active bras, and swimwear. It also boasts a social media community of
over 80,000 ‘brand ambassadors’.
Michelle Cordeiro Grant, founder and CEO of Lively, will remain in her role beyond the acquisition by Wacoal.
“We invest in our community and customers to empower them to celebrate their individuality and enable them with products to look and feel their best,” said Cordeiro Grant.
“Wacoal’s core values have a beautiful synergy with Lively’s, enabling us to come together, not just to take market share, but to also create market share,” she continued.
Founded in Japan in 1949 by Koichi Tsukamoto, before launching in America in 1985, Wacoal lingerie is stocked in U.S. department and specialty stores, with a flagship boutique located at The Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey.
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MMG Advisors, an investment banking and advisory firm servicing the consumer products, retail, and fashion industries, represented Wacoal in this latest acquisition.