Emerisque Brands acquires MCS Italia

Global investment firm Emerisque Brands has acquired

Italian clothing company MCS Italia for an undisclosed amount from Red and Black, a company indirectly controlled by British investment fund, Permira and the Marzotto family, which last year sold the Valentino Fashion Group and the M Missoni license to a group of private investors from Qatar.

Originally launched in 1987 under the name Marlboro Classics, MSC We The People’s brand aesthetic mixes American heritage with Italian know-how, and is currently present in 40 markets worldwide, including Italy, France, Eastern and Northern Europe, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Middle East.

Ajay Khaitan, co-founder of Emerisque Brands, said: “We are very pleased to be involved with MCS and look forward to taking the company forward. MCS has an inherited brand signature of a distinctive execution of American West ruggedness, in a refined, contemporary, Italian way that we believe may have the capacity to capture the imagination of a global consumer.

“We hope, as international, growth-oriented brand people, we can help MCS realize the potential it has in its current core markets, in growth channels and in new growth markets.”

Emerisque Brands, founded in 2004, operates from the UK, US and Hong Kong and calls itself a “growth-oriented global investor”, which specialises in the growth and development of medium-sized fashion brands. The group has previously invested in international brands such as Lee Cooper, Hickey Freeman, Bobby Jones, Palm Beach, and Monarchy.

“For some time now, Emerisque Brand has been interested in adding to its portfolio an Italian brand with interesting prospects in emergent markets such as China, Russia, India and the Middle East. With this acquisition we hope to be able to create a platform to invest in other Italian fashion brands,” commented Massimo Gasparini, president of MCS Apparel and representative of Emerisque Brands in Italy.