Kitsuné partners with Siparex to finance digital, e-tail expansion

One of the main challenges fashion labels are currently faced with is having access to the financing they need to adapt their business model to ongoing changes in consumption behaviour. Franco-Japanese group Kitsuné has recently found a partial solution to this problem. Kitsuné’s founders, Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki, and its managing director Audrey Castel Oster, have turned to French private equity firm Siparex to access mezzanine financing through the firm’s Siparex Intermezzo 2 investment fund.

Through the sponsorless mezzanine operation they have set up, Kitsuné will receive funds, the amount of which hasn’t been disclosed, via a debt with a rather long-term maturity. A flexible solution that, in these times of generalised cost increases, will enable the group’s current shareholders, and above all the two founders, still firmly in charge, not to water down their stakes in the company.

“The Kitsuné recipe is a clever mix of Japanese art-of-living, Parisian fashion culture and insatiable creative curiosity. Kitsuné’s strength lies in its freedom of action and choice, as well as its agility. Our plans for the brand, the spheres of expression we can explore, and our growth prospects, are still huge,” said Kitsuné in a press release, adding that “Siparex has listened carefully to our wishes and has been able to take into account our specific features, so as to stand alongside us in our future expansion projects without compromising our independence.”

Kitsuné was founded in 2002 and was first active in the music business. It launched into fashion in 2005 with the Maison Kitsuné label, and opened its first Café Kitsuné in 2013. The group claims to generate a revenue of €120 million, 90% of which produced outside France, and has been posting annual growth rates of approximately 30% since 2015. It has 400 employees, and is distributed by over 400 retailers worldwide, as well as having 70 stores and 35 cafés.

The operation carried out with Siparex is designed to enable Kitsuné to pursue “its deployment strategy through a consistent expansion and diversification of its range, as well as the extension of its global distribution network.” Siparex, through the Siparex Operating Team, also intends to support Kitsuné in boosting its digital and e-tail operations. “By mutual agreement, we were able to respond with a sponsorless structure to the founders’ desire to continue to expand the company while preserving their independence,” said Clément Barbier, head of Siparex Mezzanine, in a press release. “We also want to support [Kitsuné] in accelerating the implementation of its digital strategy, which already accounts for a significant portion of its sales, as well as its CSR policy, whose issues are already being successfully addressed today,” added Barbier.

Kitsuné intends to benefit from its strong visibility on Asian markets, where it reportedly generates half of its revenue. The group could also bring to completion the long-standing project of opening a hotel in Bali, Indonesia. After 20 years in business with Kitsuné, Loaëc and Kuroki still have many ambitious plans, as shown by the fact that the duo recently created a company called GIMA, whose purpose is to acquire stakes in other companies. It remains to be seen in which sectors they will want to invest.