Lyft Brands Group and California Lake Capital to Re-Launch and Revitalize Iconic Chip & Pepper® Apparel Brand
New York, NY (PRWEB) April 21, 2017 -- Lyft Brands Group LLC and California Lake Capital, Inc. today announced that they have inked a deal to globally relaunch and revitalize the iconic Chip & Pepper® apparel brand.
Under the agreement, Lyft Brands acquired the exclusive right to lead and manage the Chip & Pepper® relaunch, in partnership with California Lake Capital (CLC) and Domac LLC, which jointly acquired the brand in 2010.
Chip & Pepper was founded in the mid-eighties by identical twins Chip and Pepper Foster, who hail from Winnipeg, Canada. The Fosters started the business by selling t-shirts out of the back of a truck in Venice Beach, California, at one point growing the operation to over two hundred million dollars in annual sales.
Reflecting its original inspiration from the Foster brothers’ summers on California’s trendy beaches, Chip & Pepper, which pioneered the denim market in the late 1990’s, is widely recognized for its skate and surf lifestyle apparel, as well as its worldwide loyal following among consumers with active, outdoor lifestyles.
“Chip & Pepper represents an inspirational, yet affordable and highly relevant brand for the modern consumer with high expectations of style and quality,” said Lyft Brands CEO Sara Fernstrom. “Chip & Pepper combines cool and breezy with individualism and affordability in a way that makes the brand truly unique. There isn’t another apparel brand out there with the deep consumer roots and untapped potential of Chip & Pepper.”
Through the relaunch and revitalization of Chip & Pepper, Lyft Brands and CLC are seeking to expand the brand into more than 25 retail chains in Europe, Australia, Canada and Asia. Lyft Brands will manage the Chip & Pepper campaign out of its headquarters in New York, and also plans to open a design studio in Sweden to support the brand’s anticipated European growth.
“C&P began as an apparel brand that established a niche among guys who sought a cool and California casual skate and surf look,” Fernstrom said. “When we looked at licensing and where the whitespace is today, we started to reimagine the brand around California Lifestyle and all the different extensions which the skate-and-surf culture offers. When we did our homework, we saw tremendous potential for Chip & Pepper to grow way beyond apparel.”
“The look is clean, effortless, and nonchalantly chic,” Fernstrom continued. “It’s the new global style of Chip & Pepper – the “New California Casual”, with no bells, no whistles, no feathers and no spikes. Just Chip & Pepper and California Casual with a new, fresh look.”
Drew Craig, President of CLC, predicted that licensing as an expansion strategy will take Chip & Pepper into new markets where it has been unable to penetrate in the past.
“We felt that given Sara Fernstrom’s impressive track record with expanding brands globally, Lyft Brands was the right business partner to take Chip & Pepper to the next level and beyond,” Craig said. “We are excited about Sara’s vision for moving the C&P brand from a vertically integrated business to a direct-to-consumer licensing model with a solid wholesale component.”
Charles Perez, who heads up Chip & Pepper co-owner Domac, concurred with Craig’s assessment, noting that Fernstrom’s prior experiences at CAA and UTA, including turning around several well-known consumer brands, would serve Chip & Pepper well.
“Having Chip & Pepper and its derivatives under one roof with Sara at the point makes the most sense going forward,” Perez stated. “We are excited to have Lyft Brands focused on realigning the brand’s retail channels and scaling them globally.”
Lyft Brands Group was advised by Jeff Weingart of the law firm Meister Seelig & Fein LLP in New York.
About Lyft Brands Group
Lyft Brands Group LLC is a world-class brand management company. Its unique position in the market is made possible by a deep-rooted knowledge of storytelling, industry expertise in consumer products, and years of experience with leveraging licensing channels. The company licenses renown brands across multiple industries and territories to raise their profiles and drive revenue.
Sara Ferntrom, Lyft Brands Group, LLC, +1 (646) 322-2681, [email protected]
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