Theory (fashion brand)

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Current theory company logo

Theory (until February 2015 theory in lower case ; Japanese セ オ リ ー , Seorī ) is a fashion brand founded in New York City in 1997 for women's and men's clothing and accessories in the upper mid-price segment, which has an international network of over 540 (as of 2017) theory boutiques , is sold worldwide through high-end retailers and in the USA , Japan and China also through its own online shop .

The originally US-American company Theory LLC was sold in 2003 to its Japanese licensee Link International , which in turn was bought up in 2004 by the Japanese retail group Fast Retailing , which Theory has owned since 2009 under the name Link Theory Japan Co., Ltd. with headquarters in Aoyama, Tokyo is to 100%. The group also includes the low-price fashion brand Uniqlo and the designer brand Helmut Lang . The turnover of Link Theory Japan Co., Ltd., which has been listed on the stock exchange since 2005 . was around 90 billion yen in the 2016 financial year (the equivalent of almost 700 million euros ).

Company history

The theory company logo used until 2015

In 1997, the American Andrew Rosen (* 1957) founded the women's fashion brand theory and the company Theory LLC in New York with his Israeli- American business partner Elie Tahari (* 1952). Rosen took over the management and Tahari the design. Until 1984, Rosen was managing director of his grandparents' textile company Puritan Fashions in New York City, until 1989 chairman of the board of directors of Calvin Klein (buyer of Puritan) and until 1995 COO of the Anne Klein brand . The company quickly made a name for itself in the upper mid-price segment with contemporary, sleek, functional business wardrobe for women based on the motto "simple, basic, classic", including suit trousers with stretch and was sold in the better department stores such as Neiman Marcus , Bloomingdale’s or Saks Fifth Avenue. In 1999 a men's collection was added to the theory portfolio .

In 2000, the company entered into a license agreement with the Japanese retail company Link International, which was founded in 1998 and was thus allowed to use the name theory for the Japanese market. The retail group Fast Retailing had previously acquired a 47.1% stake in Link. Link made an offer in 2003 for an 89% stake in theory for $ 100 million, which Rosen and Tahari accepted. Rosen kept the remaining 11% of the company, remained COO of the new company, and received $ 49 million; Tahari received $ 53 million and left the company. Rosen did not comply with the original agreement with Tahari to leave the new company after a year. The new company was initially named Theory Holdings and was renamed Link Theory Holdings (LTH) in 2005 . In the same year LTH went on the Tokyo stock exchange and bought the fashion brand Helmut Lang and the German pants brand Rosner (sold again in 2008, owned by Olsen since 2010 ). With the latter, a distribution network for the brand theory in Europe should be built; however, these plans were rejected. LTH has been part of Fast Retailing since 2009. Rosen is CEO of theory and Helmut Lang ; Both brands are assigned to the subsidiary LTH within the Fast Retailing Group.

Theory's American headquarters are located in New York's Meatpacking District . Since the beginning, the brand has presented itself with the ambiguous slogan " In theory anything is possible. "(German:" Theoretically everything is possible. "Or" In theory [clothing] everything is possible. "). In 2010, around 30% of the theory collection items were still manufactured in Manhattan, the rest is produced overseas. In 2012, theory entered into a cooperation called T-Down for down jackets for women, men and children with the low-price chain Uniqlo, which belongs to the parent company .

In 2006, a lawsuit broke out between Rosen and Tahari, who saw themselves being taken advantage of in the 2003 sale, demanding compensation for LTH's IPO and complaining that Rosen did not leave the company a year after the 2003 sale. Tahari's lawsuit was dismissed in a New York court. Tahari has been running its own fashion brand called Elie Tahari since 1974 , to which men's fashion was added in 2006.

The Belgian fashion designer Olivier Theyskens , a former Nina Ricci and Rochas designer, designed an upscale women's line called Theysken's theory for theory at Rosen's invitation from 2010 to 2013 and was appointed creative director of the company with responsibility for all theory collections in 2011. Theyskens left Theory in June 2014; A design team then took on the designs for the collections. In early 2015, the theory women's fashion designer Lisa Kulson and the men's fashion designer Ben Stubbington were appointed co-creative directors of the brand by Andrew Rosen. At the same time, the brand lettering was changed, which has since started with a capital letter.

As of 2012, the company had flagship stores in Manhattan, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul. There were also theory boutiques in Athens, China, Hong Kong and the USA. The company also operated outlet stores in China, the USA, Great Britain and Japan . At the end of 2011, there were a total of 371 theory stores worldwide. So far there are no theory stores of their own in Germany, but stores that carry the collections, such as B. KaDeWe Berlin.

Collections

  • theory - women's fashion line with accessories in the upper middle price segment, since 1997
  • theory - men's fashion line with accessories in the upper middle price segment (officially: theory MEN ), since 1999
  • theory + - sportswear and performance collection for women and men in the upper middle price segment, since 2014
  • theory luxe - variant of the main women's collection in larger sizes reserved for the Japanese market

former collections

  • Theysken's theory - high-priced women's fashion line with accessories, created by Olivier Theyskens for theory, 2010–2014

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Group Companies> Theory fastretailing.com, accessed July 14, 2017
  2. ↑ Group Companies> Theory fastretailing.com, accessed July 14, 2017
  3. ↑ Andrew Rosen: President and Founder, Theory , nycfashionfellows.org, accessed December 29, 2012
  4. ↑ 2012 CFDA Fashion Awards Nominees & Honorees Announced  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , fashionmaniac.com, March 19, 2012@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / fashionmaniac.com  
  5. ↑ Theory Men ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , link-theory.com, accessed: December 29, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.link-theory.com
  6. ↑ CEO Talk | Andrew Rosen, Chief Executive Officer, Theory , businessoffashion.com, September 13, 2012
  7. ↑ Andrew Rosen ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , mas.org, accessed: December 29, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / mas.org
  8. ↑ Andrew Rosen and Elie Tahari Announce Sale of Theory LLC. , PR Newswire via thefreelibrary.com, September 9, 2003
  9. ↑ IPO Profile: Link Theory Holdings Co. , Asia Africa Intelligence Wire via accessmylibrary.com, May 26, 2005
  10. ↑ CFDA Award Honoree: Andrew Rosen , beautifulsavage.com, June 1, 2012
  11. ↑ About theory , theory.com, accessed January 7, 2013
  12. ↑ Made in Midtown: Meet Andrew Rosen, Theory , huffingtonpost.com, March 25, 2010
  13. ↑ Shop It Now: t down by Theory and Uniqlo , marieclaire.com, 14. November 2012
  14. ↑ Theyskens Theory , vogue.de, June 9, 2010
  15. ↑ Theyskens Theory - Fashion for cool girls , elle.de, accessed: December 29, 2012
  16. ^ Theory's New Era , vogue.co.uk, February 12, 2015
  17. ↑ Stars attend opening ceremony of Theory in Seoul , allkpop.com, March 29, 2012
  18. ↑ Fast Retailing Results for Fiscal 2011 and Estimates for Fiscal 2012 (page 30) (PDF; 299 kB), fastretailing.com, accessed: October 12, 2011