Cowell Fashion acquires Superdry’s Asia-Pacific IP rights for $50 mn

South Korea's innerwear company Cowell Fashion Co. has acquired the Asian rights to the British fashion brand Superdry for $50 million and plans to enter the Asian market, including China, from next year.

Cowell Fashion announced on Thursday that it has signed a contract with DKH Retail Ltd., a UK company that owns Superdry’s Asia-Pacific intellectual property rights (IP) and has business rights and export contracts in the Asia-Pacific region. Superdry’s global sales last year were 690 million pounds ($847 million).

Cowell Fashion is a company that mainly sells innerwear by importing the rights to global fashion brands such as Reebok and Adidas and has contracts with more than 20 brands and sells products through home shopping and offline discount stores.

The company plans to cultivate Superdry as a domestic large brand based on the planning, design and production know-how it has accumulated so far.

It aims to launch domestically next year and plans to sell products through online and offline sales channels such as department stores, sales agents and online stores.

Write to Jung-Cheol Bae at bjc@hankyung.com