Steve Madden sells Greats to Unified Commerce Group

Dive Brief:

• Unified Commerce Group has acquired all assets for upscale sneaker brand Greats from Steve Madden for an undisclosed amount, according to a Monday press release.
• UCG will take over operational responsibility for the brand, and Steve Madden, through one of its subsidiaries, will become a shareholder of UCG, per the release.
• Brooklyn, New York-based Greats is the third brand in UCG’s portfolio. In 2023, the retail platform acquired Los Angeles-based athleisure company Spiritual Gangster, and in 2020, UCG launched with the acquisition of Canada-based fashion line Frank And Oak.

Dive Insight:

Steve Madden acquired the privately-held, digitally native Greats brand in 2019, and at the time said the sneaker line had net sales of approximately $13 million in the 12 months ended June 30 of that year.

“Greats pioneered the direct-to-consumer model in footwear, and continues to delight its customers with high-quality, beautiful fashion sneakers,” Dustin Jones, CEO and founder of UCG, said in Monday’s release. “We have admired the brand for a long time, and the clear synergies with our existing apparel brands, along with its valuable customer base presents an excellent opportunity to leverage our operational expertise to drive further scale.”

Also on Monday, UCG also announced a strategic investment in Böhme, a Utah-based womenswear retailer founded in 2006 by sisters Vivien and Fernanda Böhme. Böhme currently operates 14 stores in Utah, Idaho, Montana and Arizona, plus an e-commerce platform, per Monday’s release.

With the acquisition of Greats and Böhme, UCG said in the release that its shared services platform, UCG Hub, is now providing “operational support, leadership and strategy” to four growing DTC e-commerce brands with a combined footprint of more than 30 retail stores and more than 200 wholesale partners.

“We have known Dustin and his team for a number of years, and are very confident that Greats will find a strong strategic fit with the fast-growing portfolio of brands at UCG,” Edward Rosenfeld, chairman and CEO of Steve Madden, said in the release.

UCG is a privately held retail platform, and its advisory board includes Terry Lundgren, former CEO and chairman of Macy’s, celebrity Nicole Richie and musician Joel Madden of the band Good Charlotte.