Kate Hudson is joining the sprint — to Wall Street.
The Fabletics activewear brand, which the actor cofounded with Adam Goldenberg and Don Ressler, co-chief executive officers of TechStyle Fashion Group, has hired big-named banks for an initial public offering.
Fabletics is working with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Bank of America and plans to raise around $500 million in an offering, WWD confirmed. Such an offering could value the brand at more than $5 billion.
The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The brand, founded in 2013, has long been talked about as an IPO contender, positioned in the still-attractive athleisure category at accessible prices and with some celebrity cachet.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson said, “As a company policy, Fabletics does not comment on rumors or speculation.”
Fabletics appears to be one of those brands that powered through last year despite the pandemic.
In October, the company revealed a multiyear deal with Hydrow, a $2,300 rowing machine with connected features.
“We’ve learned doing research during the pandemic, over 70 percent of Fabletics customers are working out three times a week or more,” Goldenberg said at the time. “The other thing we’ve seen is that they are super-interested in the connected fitness products hitting the market. We have 25 to 30 percent of customers saying they are very interested and looking into purchasing one in the near future.”
The roughly 2 million Fabletics VIPs, who opt in to a monthly purchase program from the brand, get access to exclusive content if they buy one of the machines, which are on display in some Fabletics stores.
Fabletics had 51 stores as of October and Goldenberg said it would have 100 stores within a couple years.
He said 2020 felt like “10 years,” but that the brand was “completely on track [with business projections] if not a little ahead of where we’d thought we’d be.”
All together — celebrity, strength despite adversity, a clear plan for growth and a willingness to test new kinds of consumer connections — is a recipe that Wall Street likes.
And, at least as for now, investors seem hungry for more.
After a long drought in fashion, the IPO market has really come alive this year as low interest rates, hopes for a more digital future and a strong-despite-the-pandemic stock market has brands making their move.
Torrid Holdings Inc., Figs Inc., Jessica Alba’s The Honest Co., ThredUp, Dr. Martens, MyTheresa and Poshmark have all gone public this year. Authentic Brands Group is set to go soon and the super-buzzy Allbirds and Warby Parker are said to have confidentially filed their paperwork for offerings of their own.
The getting is still good. The question now is becoming, how long does that last?
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