LONDON – Tomorrow, an agency that owns and distributes fashion brands, has sold A-Cold-Wall to Four Marketing, a distribution agency backed by Mike Ashley‘s Frasers Group, less than a year after acquiring full control of the company from founder Samuel Ross.
Ross no longer has any ties to the company, and in September revealed a new, slow fashion project, called Samuel Ross_Atelier. Tomorrow had originally acquired a minority stake in A-Cold-Wall in 2018, and purchased the remainder of the shares from Ross last year.
Tomorrow’s initial investment in A-Cold-Wall was part of its strategy to expand beyond wholesale distribution to become a fashion business “accelerator.” Over the years, it has also acquired stakes in Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, and Martine Rose.
Tomorrow chief executive officer Stefano Martinetto said his relationship with Four Marketing CEO Ben Banks played a key role in the sale and brand’s “transition into such capable hands.”
Banks said “the strength of Four Marketing’s supply chain operations, strong retail presence and direct-to-consumer expertise will be pivotal as A-Cold-Wall embarks on its next stage of growth.”
Tomorrow will continue to distribute the brand outside the U.K.
Four Marketing, founded in 1997 and headquartered in London’s Kings Cross, is the distributor of a number of labels including Stone Island, C.P. Company, Albam, Evisu, Kappa, and Woolrich.
It is also the owner of Present, a digital creative agency, and once a multi-brand retailer with locations in King’s Cross, Shoreditch, and Piccadilly.
Frasers Group initially acquired a 25 percent share in Four Marketing in 2015 and increased its stake to 49 percent in May 2019.
Flannels, a luxury multi-brand retailer owned by Frasers Group, stocks many of the brands that Four Marketing represents.
Last month, A-Cold-Wall opened a store in Zhangyuan Shanghai, an ongoing urban regeneration retail complex developed by Swire Properties.
