- Business
- Global Brands Group Holding Limited (0787.HK) is an investment holding company engaged in the design, development, marketing, and sale of branded apparel, footwear, fashion accessories, and related lifestyle products across men's and women's fashion, kids' wear, footwear and accessories, and brand management verticals. The company offers products under owned and licensed brands including Spyder, Aquatalia, Frye, Sean John, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Herve Leger, and others such as David Beckham, Katy Perry, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Drew Barrymore collections; these are distributed through department stores, hypermarkets, off-price retailers, independent chains, specialty retailers, and e-commerce channels in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. It also provides brand management services to expand client brands into new categories and geographies, licensing support, sourcing, logistics, and related activities like intellectual property exploitation and retail operations. Founded in 2005 as part of Li & Fung and spun off in 2014, the company is headquartered in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
In recent years, Global Brands Group has undergone significant restructuring amid financial distress, including the U.S. subsidiary's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in July 2021 to auction assets such as the Aquatalia brand for $17.3 million to WH AQ Holdings and other brands including Ely & Walker, Airband, MagnaReady, Yarrow, b New York, and Juniperunltd; sales of Spyder to a Korean investor for $19.5 million, Frye and Spyder inventory, and earlier divestitures like North American assets to Differential Brands Group in 2018. Licensing deals encompassed partnerships such as the 2014 David Beckham joint venture Seven Global, 2016 Katy Perry collections, 2019 Dirk Bikkembergs footwear, and the 2016 CAA-GBG Global Brand Management Group joint venture, from which Creative Artists Agency acquired full ownership in 2022. Trading of its shares was suspended by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2021 due to failure to file results, culminating in delisting and liquidation in July 2022 after the Bermuda court ordered wind-up proceedings owing to ceased operations and inability to resume.