According to media reports, Deichmann is paying a low double-digit million euro figure for the acquisition.
This is exclusively about the brand rights, not about the stores and the employees. Deichmann is also allowed to use the brand for fashion – and even receives the rights to the patterns for the collections. However, the company apparently wants to outsource these rights to Theia Brands, a third party, which specializes in reinventing and reviving clothing brands.
Deichmann has already been selling Esprit shoes in its stores for five years, for which it has paid a license fee to Esprit. The two companies have also developed and produced joint collections.
The company had first publicly expressed interest in the Esprit brand in September, but only in the shoe rights at the time. Originally, the British financial investor Alteri, which specializes in retail, was to receive the brand rights in Esprit Germany’s insolvency proceedings. However, the parent Esprit holding company in Hong Kong intervened.
