Neil Cole Steps Out From Brother Kenneth’s Shadow With Iconix — Or Does He?
Iconix Brand Group CEO Neil Cole, often called the unlucky kid brother of fashion designer Kenneth Cole, has a history of overpaying for acquisitions — most recently, an eagerness to add breadth to Iconix’s portfolio of apparel, footwear, and household related-accessories. If licensees of Iconix’s clothing and footwear brands, such as iconic names Joe Boxer, London Fog, and Candies, fail to deliver on mandated royalty streams as the recession lingers, what will this mean to the company’s financial health and growth prospects? Cole has built Iconix on a novel licensing-only business model with guaranteed royalty streams from 15 direct-to-retailer distribution partnerships involving such well-known stores as Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, K-Mart, Kohl’s, and Lowes. The attractiveness of this business model, says management, is…
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