Lacoste wants to buy out Pentland's stake in joint footwear business
Lacoste is about to buy the stake held by its long-standing partner, British group Pentland, in the joint-venture company set up by the two in 2018 to run Lacoste's footwear business, FashionNetwork.com has learnt. The French sportswear brand is keen to design and produce its footwear range entirely in-house, and has told FashionNetwork.com it wants to buy the 50% stake held by Pentland as a Lacoste licensee in the Pentland Chaussures Ltd company, taking full control.
France's competition authority has been mandated to assess the operation and the potential threats to fair competition, and is set to make a decision soon. If the authority grants approval, it will mark the end of a lengthy cooperation between the two companies. Lacoste first teamed up with Pentland 34 years ago, in 1991. The British group is a sportswear specialist and currently owns or has stakes in brands and chains like JD Sports, Speedo, and Berghaus.
Thriving Lacoste, now aiming for a more upmarket positioning, is keen to bring the whole product cycle for its footwear range in-house, from design to the retail distribution, as it has already done for apparel. Lacoste was founded in 1933 by René Lacoste and André Gillier, and was acquired by Swiss group MF Brands in 2012. Its recent growth rates would be enough to make many fashion names happy.
After doubling in size in less than a decade, Lacoste recorded an 8% revenue rise in 2024, just shy of the €3 billion mark (of which €500 million were generated in France), and is expected to cross the €4 billion threshold between 2028 and 2030.
Footwear is the second-largest revenue generator for Lacoste after ready-to-wear, and its scope is vast: it includes chic urban sneakers, more directional trainers, and several performance lines specific for tennis, running and golfing. The range also includes a less publicised line of outdoor sport shoes, as well as pool slides and sandals.
For the other licensed categories, Lacoste is still working with its existing partners: Interparfums for beauty, Marchon for eyewear, and Haddad Brands for the childrenswear range.
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