True announces strategic investment in UK's Apparel Brands Limited

Through this investment True will accelerate the growth and expansion of ABL’s brands domestically and internationally. ABL has seen strong profitable growth since inception, growing at a 3-year CAGR of 52 per cent.

Led by Peter Wood, founder and CEO, ABL has successfully positioned itself as an important partner for retailers. True's investment will provide ABL with the necessary resources, expertise, and strategic guidance to scale its operations through the acquisition of branded intellectual property, alongside channel and category expansion to enhance the growth opportunities available to the business, the company said in a press release.

“There is a defensible model at ABL and we see a compelling opportunity to rapidly scale its branded offering by adding complementary properties to its existing portfolio across different price points from value to premium,” said Ejike Onuchukwu, director at True, who led the investment process.

"We’ve been developing our relationship with ABL over the past couple of years and are excited to partner with Peter and the team, supporting their relentless focus on providing value to their customers,” Paul Cocker, CEO and co-founder of True, added

“I am delighted to partner with True,” said Peter Wood. “Their deep understanding of brands and the consumer and retail market, coupled with their vast experience in nurturing and scaling successful businesses, will be invaluable as we embark on our next phase of growth."

True is leveraging its extensive consumer and retail senior executive and adviser network and will be supported on this investment by industry veteran Carl Davies, CEO at Perry Ellis Europe as a non-executive director. Carl’s deep commercial, operational, and strategic expertise across a range of categories, channels, markets, will be a great asset to the business as it executes its long-term plan.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)