Brooks Brothers announces joint venture to expand in China

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Oct 19, 2015

Brooks Brothers Group, Inc. and Walton Brown Group, a subsidiary of Asia’s fashion retail and brand management group, The Lane Crawford Joyce Group, announced that they have entered into a joint venture agreement that will expand the Brooks Brothers brand in China.

The 50/50 joint venture, which will last 10 years beginning in January 2016, will take over Brooks Brothers’ existing stores in the region and will begin an expansion plan to open over 10 stores in the first 2 years in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The partnership will also expand on a multi-channel distribution platform providing wholesale, outlets, travel retail and e-commerce channels.
 
Claudio Del Vecchio, Chairman and CEO of Brooks Brothers, stated, "We are thrilled to be partnering with Walton Brown on this exciting joint venture which enables us to develop long-term growth strategies across multiple online and offline distribution channels especially in China, one of our most important growth markets for our global business. We are confident in China's growth prospects in the premium sector for the coming years and this is the optimal time for us to position Brooks Brothers for long term sustainable growth."

Thomson Cheng, President of Walton Brown, added, "In the 12 years Brooks Brothers has been operating in China, the brand has built a strong following of customers who subscribe to its unique heritage and rich history of design and quality craftsmanship. With the foundation in place, we believe the brand has enormous potential with the new generation of sophisticated and prosperous consumers in China and with the launch of the online business in 2016 we will be able to significantly increase reach with this consumer segment."
 
The companies will establish a corporate office and showroom in Hong Kong in early 2016. Brooks Brothers currently operates over 460 stores worldwide, in which 130 are in the Asia Pacific region and 90 are in Greater China.