Denham acquired by two former Tommy Hilfiger Europe executives

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
Dec 12, 2016

Denham has been scooped up by an investment fund. The Dutch brand specializing in premium denim is now under the control of Amlon Capital, which announced it had acquired a majority stake in the jeans label. Launched in 2008 in Amsterdam by British designer Jason Denham, his namesake brand will reap the benefits of its new owners, who boast a strong fashion pedigree. Amlon Capital, which has invested in Karl Lagerfeld and the children's clothing brand Vingino, was recently created by Ludo Onnink and Fred Gehring.

The two managers were the founding partners of Tommy Hilfiger Europe in 1996. At the time, they were at the helm of Pepe Jeans Corporation when it signed the license for Tommy Hilfiger. They then went on to expand the Tommy Hilfiger business and served as COO and CEO until 2014. They now intend to use their experience to develop Denham. Ludo Onnink has been named CEO of the brand and Fred Gehring non-executive chairman. 

"Ludo and I have had a longstanding business relationship and friendship since the mid-90s, and we share a vision for how we can continue to evolve Denham into the future – including a three-year plan to double the size of the business," said Jason Denham in a statement. 

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"I am also incredibly pleased to welcome Fred as Non-Executive Chairman; he has exceptional expertise and an incredible track record in building global brands."

Amidst all these changes, the brand's founder Jason Denham has been named Chief Creative Officer and will focus on the product itself.

"Jason and his team have built a strong, aspirational and pure brand that is about quality and incredible attention to detail," said Fred Gehring. “Our vision for Denham is to continue to develop its global success, leveraging the significant momentum it has seen already in The Netherlands and Japan. In many ways, we feel Denham can be the next big thing’. In many ways, we feel Denham can be the next big thing."

Denham is always very reserved about its financial performance, but did say it plans to leverage its joint venture Look Inc. to grow in the Japanese market, where it already has 22 stores. The brand, already very prominent on Dutch high streets, has fifteen stores in other markets. It also has plans to move into Germany and has named Marco Frenzer as head of sales for Germany, who will be based at the brand's German headquarters in Dusseldorf. The brand will likely also explore the Chinese market in 2017.