Francesca’s acquires apparel brand Richer Poorer

American speciality retail group Francesca's Acquisition LLC has acquired LA-based apparel and lifestyle brand Richer Poorer for an undisclosed price to bolster its channel reach and expand product categories.

In a statement, the retail group, which operates a nationwide chain of Francesca's and Franki by Francesca's boutiques offering fashion, accessories, jewellery, and lifestyle product, said that Richer Poorer would be integrated under the Francesca’s Acquisition LLC umbrella as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Richer Poorer focuses on "making the world a more comfortable place" with its elevated wardrobe essentials for women and men, including sweats, T-shirts, tanks, intimates, dresses and loungewear. Currently, it offers its pieces as wholesale and direct-to-consumer, and Francesca's said that the brand will continue to develop those channels, with a full relaunch in 2024.

Iva Pawling, the chief executive and co-founder of Richer Poorer, will continue to lead the brand in her newly expanded role as president of Richer Poorer, Franki, and wholesale.

Commenting on the acquisition, Pawling said: "I am thrilled to see Richer Poorer and our team combine forces with two successful, female-focused brands, Francesca's and Franki by Francesca's.

"We share the same entrepreneurial spirit and couldn't be more optimistic at the growth opportunity ahead for all three brands through this expansion effort."

Francesca’s looking to bolster reach with the acquisition of lifestyle brand Richer Poorer

The acquisition comes two years into a multi-year enterprise growth strategy for Francesca’s after being taken private in 2021 by TerraMar Capital LLC. During that time, Francesca's has continued to prioritise growing its e-commerce channel and customer experience, scaling tween brand Franki by Francesca's, while also expanding physical boutique experiences with the launch of its Fran Club loyalty platform and Forever Fran, a re-sale partnership with ThredUp.

Francesca’s added that following its recent growth it is now shifting gears to focus on “targeted acquisitions and the expansion into a multi-branded company”. Adding that the Richer Poorer acquisition bolsters its channel reach, including leveraging its robust wholesale network, and introduces new product categories to the brand's portfolio mix as it looks to grow its share among the Gen Z and Millennial women's segments.

Andrew Clarke, chief executive of Francesca's Acquisition LLC, said: "I am delighted to welcome the Richer Poorer team into our expanding portfolio and recognise their success in growing Richer Poorer from a start-up into a Gen Z-relevant, sustainable brand, which is a great addition to our ‘free to be you’ company culture.

"Creating this new cooperative of synergistic brands allows us to benefit from a diverse bench strength of expertise, while setting up the whole for greater reach into our target markets. This will deliver increased operational efficiencies, accelerate our omni-channel capabilities and open new revenue streams. We are especially grateful to our vendor partners, landlords and lenders who continue to proactively support our company and the initiatives we are pursuing as a management team."

Joshua Phillips, managing partner of TerraMar Capital, LLC, added: "Completing this acquisition is a meaningful step in the value creation plan for Francesca's that was established in 2021 when we acquired the business.

"We look forward to continuing to evaluate other potential acquisitions in the space and working with Andrew and the Francesca's management team to continue the work towards building the Francesca's platform to recognise its full potential."

The Richer Poorer transaction was completed in partnership with Tiger Capital and financed by Bank of America.