Society Brands, an e-commerce aggregator built for and by founders, today announced it has acquired its first three brands, led by lifestyle boutique Damn Near Kilt 'Em (DNKE). The other two brands are in the specialized chair/stool for children segment, and the consumer electronics space. The three brands mark the first of many acquisitions in the pipeline by Society Brands with further announcements soon.
"Since launch, we have seen overwhelming interest from a variety of e-commerce founders and brands who are deeply interested in our unique proposition and are eager to join our community," said Michael Sirpilla, CEO of Society Brands. "We are in a favorable position to acquire brands that share our vision and value proposition of deploying best practices and resources, while leveraging well-experienced and knowledgeable executives who have a track record of growing brands. Society Brands has created a strong momentum in a short amount of time, and we're excited to continue our course of making smart acquisitions of amazing brands in the future."
DNKE, a brand looking to mainstream the steep-in-tradition kilt by way of high quality, good looking and affordable kilts and accessories, was among the first acquisitions and serves as the roadmap for the future success brands will enjoy under the Society Brand portfolio. Since acquisition, the Society Brands team developed a three-phase product expansion roadmap including legacy performance products, as well as the expansion to classic heritage and highland kilts and accessories. In addition, DNKE has gone through a complete visual rebrand including new brand logos, marks, colors, typography, and photographic styles to elevate the brand's visual identity and messaging. Coupled with a website refresh to provide a rich customer experience, DNKE has enjoyed an increase in SKUs and uptick in sales revenue.
Society Brands executives saw the unrealized growth potential of DNKE and the value Society's model could bring to increase sales and profitability. A well-established brand in a niche category, the brand represented high-quality and strong reviews, but was in dire need of improved marketing, expense reduction and product development.
With DNKE, Society has proven the strategy it set out to accomplish can be successful and shows tremendous promise for future acquisitions. The other two brands acquired represent the same attributes of DNKE -- high quality, strong reviews, engaged customer base and year-over-year growth. And both stand to benefit from Society Brands' model of expanding complimentary product lines, marketplaces, distribution channels both DTC and brick-and-mortar retail and via geographical locations.
"Future brand acquisitions will have compelling attributes that can seamlessly integrate into our platform, attract a similar customer base and enjoy collective brand assets that can be leveraged across each brand," said Sirpilla. "We are truly creating a 'society' of brands to share best practices and where the sum of the whole benefits the one – the classic mastermind effect. We believe the acquisition is merely the first step in the process to success and have assembled a strong founding team to support and grow these brands we acquire to the next level of success."
Society Brands, launched in October 2020, announced an institutional capital raise of $205M led by i80 Group in March of this year. A combination of debt and equity, the raise positioned the company as one of the best-funded e-commerce aggregators in the world, and in a prime position to grow its portfolio to over $1 billion in revenue in the next few years.