Marquee Brands buys back BCBG Max Azria and BCBGeneration licenses

By

Robin Driver

Published
May 20, 2020

Following Centric Brands’ bankruptcy filing, Marquee Brands has announced that it is taking back control of the BCBG Max Azria and BCBGeneration licenses, as part of its efforts to launch the Marquee-Direct platform.
 

With Marquee-Direct, NYC-based Marquee Brands intends to bring all of its e-commerce operations in house, including all site design and development, merchandising, content creation and customer engagement.
 
In this way, the platform will serve as an important pillar in Marquee’s growth plans and will support scaling by facilitating the addition of new businesses. Brands recently added to Marquee-Direct include Motherhood Maternity and Pea in a Pod, under the Destination Maternity Umbrella, a business which Marquee has since transformed into a primarily DTC operation.

“Taking back the BCBG business and integrating it on to our Marquee-Direct platform with a heightened focus on product and our global partners will no doubt result in profitability that exceeds what could have been achieved through the prior license,” said Jonathan Greller, Marquee’s head of strategy and corporate development, in a release.
 
The company first acquired BCBG Max Azria Group LLC out of bankruptcy in June 2017, with Global Brands securing a licensing agreement for the BCBG Group and taking responsibility for the labels’ wholesale and retail platforms in North America.
 
Global Brands sold a significant portion of its business, including the BCBG Group license, to Differential Brands in 2018, a transaction which resulted in the creation of Centric Brands.
 
Owner of brands including Zac Posen, Hudson, Robert Graham, Swims and Avirex, Centric filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, White Plains Division, on Monday.