Tengram Capital Partners has signed an agreement to acquire the Zanella, a menswear brand best known for its offering of handcrafted, sartorial trousers made in Italy.
Zanella sells its classic dress pants through specialty stores and high-end department stores – such as Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Mitchell’s – across the US, Canada and Europe. Zanella will continue to utilize its existing facility in Vicenza, Italy to manufacture the company products. Zanella’s US headquarters are based in New York (www.zanella.com).
“Zanella is an iconic Italian luxury brand that has achieved strong recognition in the US and continues to be one of the most asked for brands in all of menswear across its key retailers. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to restructure this business, as well as drive the brand’s expansion through existing wholesale partners in the US and abroad,” said William Sweedler, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Tengram.
Heading Tengram’s investment in Zanella will be Todd Barrato, the Chief Executive Officer of Luciano Barbera, an Italian ultra-luxury apparel brand that was acquired by Tengram in October 2014 (www.lucianobarbera.it). The founder of Luciano Barbera – who else but Luciano Barbera – was once described as “the most elegant man in the world” by the US media.
Tengram invests in companies in the branded consumer products and retail sectors. Specific areas of interest include apparel, sporting goods, consumer electronics, home furnishings, health & beauty, spirits, and food & beverages. Tengram was founded in 2010 by William Sweedler and Matthew Eby and is based in Westport, CT (www.tengramcapital.com).
“Having evaluated a number of Italian opportunities since our investment in Luciano Barbera, we found Zanella to be one of the few brands with the ability to quickly scale in the US market. We expect this growth to be driven primarily by rejuvenation of the company’s core dress pant business, as well as expansion into select complimentary classifications such as casual pants,” said Brian Thorne, Vice President at Tengram.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 6-17-15