Accessory Network Group LLC is looking to put its latest acquisition, Yak Pak Inc., into two of its mainstay product categories and expand its international business.
In confirming a report in WWD of the acquisition, Abe Chehebar, chief executive officer, said Tuesday, “We know how to take brands and put them into the handbag and cold-weather accessories businesses. And Yak Pak gives us a presence in the teen retail sector beyond anything we’ve had before.”
Chehebar said that the first handbag offerings from Yak Pak, which has made its living on backpacks and messenger bags during its 22 years in business, should be available for spring 2012.
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He added that there’s a “large void” in the market for teen-oriented handbags with retail prices in the range of $65 to $100. “I see this move as opening up possibilities for items like printed nylon bags with special trims, even collaborations with designers,” he said.
In addition to the moves into handbags and cold-weather accessories, he said he also envisions Yak Pak entries in apparel, footwear and accessories catgegories such as watches and sunglasses.
Stephen Holt, the founder and president of Yak Pak, becomes president of the Yak Pak division of ANG, while Stephen Schachtel, a 15-year veteran of the firm, becomes the unit’s vice president with responsibility for sales.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but Holt said that the selling parties were himself; Rolando Cohen, chief financial officer, and Benevolent Capital Partners, a private equity firm. Cohen will remain with the company in a consulting capacity for six months before moving on to other ventures, including business interests of his family.
Market sources placed ANG’s current annual volume at about $150 million, with its own brands accounting for the majority of the business, and Yak Pak’s sales at about $25 million a year.
Chehebar told WWD that, while he had followed Yak Pak’s progress for more than a decade, he’d been particularly impressed with the brand’s ability to attract licensees — numbering five at this point — in areas such as luggage and stationery. This heightened his interest in purchasing the company rather than taking on the name under a licensing agreement.
“When you manage your own brand, every brick is your brick,” he said.
As a growing company with cash, as well as a history of recent acquisitions such as Kooba, Chehebar said he receives an average of five or six pitches a month but passes on the vast majority of them. The company’s first major acquisition was its purchase of Ghurka in 2003. It bought LeSportsac in 2006. Its most recent initiatives — the acquisition of Kooba in late January and the initiation of a license for Overture by Judith Leiber — follow the end of its relationship as the licensee for Calvin Klein handbags.
Holt noted that Yak Pak has distinguished itself through its design, including a wide array of prints which are all trademarked by the company. He described the personality of the brand, geared to teens and young adults, as “optimistic and updated. We took a very different approach to a market that has been fairly monochromatic.”
Yak Pak will open its first store, on Spring Street in New York’s Soho district, this spring, which the ANG ceo feels will provide a fitting showcase for the look and personality of the brand and help promote wholesale volume as well as licensing opportunities.
He’s also looking into further developing Yak Pak’s business internationally. International’s contribution to overall sales is about 20 percent of ANG’s volume “and growing,” according to Chehebar. The parent firm’s extensive contacts in markets such as Japan, China, the United Arab Emirates and South America should provide a convenient platform for global expansion by the newly acquired company, he noted.