RYU Apparel to acquire Kosan Travel Apparel

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Mar 30, 2021

RYU Apparel Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Kosan Travel Company Ltd., a British Columbia-based travel apparel and accessories maker.

The purchase price for the transaction will be $4 million worth of common shares in the capital of RYU. Closing is subject to Kosan raising at least $175,000 in equity financing and is also subject to Kosan having no more than $90,000 in aggregate indebtedness on the closing date.

"We are excited at the prospect of having Kosan join the RYU family. We expect a big resurgence of travel in 2022 and intend to capitalize on the increased demand as consumers emerge from the pandemic,” said Cesare Fazari, CEO of RYU. 

“Whether it is heading out across the country or back out across the world, we believe Kosan's functional travel apparel will be a hit with RYU customers and new customers alike. We also believe Kosan's alignment with our message of “Respect” and its predominantly millennial female audience will augment our brand in a key market that we are focusing on.”

Kosan achieved success on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter where it achieved nearly $1 million in sales over a 35-day period, making it one of the platforms most successful apparel campaigns in history.

The brand was co-founded by Joel Primus, who is intended to remain as the CEO of Kosan in addition to assisting RYU's leadership team and corporate objectives. Primus is equally the founder of  Naked Underwear and is credited for establishing retail distribution at Holt Renfrew, Nordstrom, Hudson's Bay, and Bloomingdales, as well as brokering celebrity partnerships and up-listing the company to the Nasdaq. 

"Kosan was seeing impressive growth before the pandemic hit. With the travel market predicted to return bigger than ever, we hope that by joining up with RYU, we will get that traction back faster than we could on our own," said Primus. "We are confident that RYU's product development platform, distribution network, and marketing channels will enable us to scale growth, reduce cost structures, and exceed our goals for 2022.”