A New Owner for Vince

Kellwood Co. (St. Louis) has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of CRL Group LLC (Los Angeles), owner of the popular new sportswear brand, Vince.

CRL was owned by partners John Paul Richard, Rea Laccone and Christopher LaPolice. Vince, sold at select specialty stores and luxury retailers such as Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's, is expected to achieve sales in excess of $45 million in 2006. It was also introduced in Japan this summer, in a licensing agreement with the Itochu Corp. (Tokyo), and next fall will start a men's Vince collection.

Laccone will continue as ceo and LaPolice as president of Vince, which will operate as part of Kellwood's Western Region division.

“Vince is one of the premier collections in the contemporary women's market,” said Kellwood chairman, president and ceo Robert Skinner. “We believe very strongly in the excellence of their management team led by Rea and Christopher. We have gotten to know each other over the past year, and have the same philosophy on how to build the Vince business. We both feel there are excellent opportunities to increase our penetration in existing accounts as well as expand our international distribution.”

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of October.

“Christopher and I are thrilled with the success of Vince. We are confident that with Kellwood's support we will be able to realize the many plans we have for the brand,” Laccone said.

Vince, an invented name, was created in 2001 by Laccone, previously founder of the Laundry by Shelli Segal brand, and LaPolice, who sold for Laundry and the Melrose brand and managed the Ann Taylor flagship store in New York.

Kellwood has recently acquired a number of apparel brands, including Briggs New York, Group B Clothing, Romance du Jour, Phat Fashions and Gerber Childrenswear. It also owns the Koret and Sag Harbor womenswear lines, among several others.