(Photo By MakeUp.Com)
Even though his brand just went up fairly recently, someone has already capitalized on Marc Ecko's misfortune. Apparel licensing company Iconix just finished up a deal, that gives them a 51% stake in the Ecko brand.
To be specific, they get the majority stake in Ecko's private portfolio and it only cost them $63.5 million. That was the reported figure for the finalized deal. The people of Iconix are not worried about Marc Ecko's bad luck either. They expect a return on their investment by the end of next year already. They are looking at Ecko to bring in about $42 million, which will give them about $26 million. Reps from Iconix said that they believe in the return so strongly, because of the way the Ecko company is built. They feel the diversity and it's 12 different lines (Lady Ecko, Ecko Red, etc.) will keep it going strong and making money. Also, they feel that Ecko has a strong reputation and solid history with consumers. Marc Ecko even gets an additional benefit in this deal besides a bail out. Iconix plans to keep him on as the company's chief creative officer. This is the first big deal that Marc Ecko has had since his G-Unit Clothing venture, that stemmed from 2003-2008. The Ecko brand has been around for 16 years, as it was started back in 1993 as a small hip-hop apparel company. Today, it stands as one of the biggest cross over brands out there. This will be Iconix second dealing in hip-hop clothing. They are also the manufacturers of Rocawear.
Glad to see that things worked out for Marc and his company after all. It still sucks that he lost it, but things could be worse. He still has a job and the brand will retain it's hip-hop roots, as it is in the hands of a company that knows the hip-hop clothing business. I don't think your going to get much of a better ending than that. People in the business need to start taking some serious financial courses or something. This is starting to get ridiculous. -MinM
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