Fred Segal owner Sandow has today announced a partnership with equity investor Evolution Media Partners (EMC) and has hired veteran retail chief Paul Blum (best known for leading the growth of David Yurman, Kenneth Cole and Juicy Couture) to lead the expansion of the iconic California lifestyle brand into a global luxury retail concept.
“Fred Segal has maintained its authenticity for more than 50 years. Working with powerhouse partners like Evolution, CAA, TPG and Participant Media–as well as Paul Blum, an experienced CEO with deep roots in retail–will allow us to reinvent the retail experience across American and the rest of the world,” says Adam I. Sandow, chairman and CEO of Sandow.
The company has already announced several new growth initiatives, including expansion into markets from Las Vegas to Tokyo, as well as branded products and designer collaborations. Together, the partners envision a major reinvention of the luxury shopping experience, under the Fred Segal brand, which will combine fashion with dining, entertainment, cultural events and health and wellness programs in footprints of up to 50,000 square feet. The team is targeting up to 10 next-generation Fred Segal lifestyle centers in the U.S. and abroad over the next five to seven years.
“The convergence of fashion, technology and media has created a great opportunity to leverage Fred Segal’s Southern California celebrity heritage,” Blum offers. Rick Hess, co-managing partner of EMC, agrees: “We see in Fred Segal a special opportunity for a lifestyle brand that has already established itself as one of luxury, fashion and the always imaginative California spirit.”
While sites for the first full-scale Fred Segal lifestyle locations are still being developed, some elements of the new concept can be seen at its new anchor location in the newly-renovated Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, and will be previewed at the Fred Segal Collective, a partnership with SLS Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, opening in Aug. 2014.
