Brands & Merch Business News Deals

Beyonce and Topshop kickstart 50/50 sportswear company

By | Published on Tuesday 28 October 2014

Beyonce x Topshop

Topshop is collaborating with the one, the only Beyonce Knowles on a line of street-style sportswear and accessories. Or, as WWD phrases it, an ‘ath-leisure brand’. Take your pick.

The main point is that Bey’s Parkwood Entertainment and Topshop owner Arcadia have formed a 50/50 joint venture – Parkwood Topshop Athletic Ltd – which differs from many of today’s fly-by-night ‘band-brand’ alliances (like the time she ‘designed’ beachwear for Topshop rival H&M, for instance) in that, instead of simply acting as the face of the clothing line and taking a quick fixed fee, Beyonce will, via Parkwood, take back half of the cash the project generates. Smart thinking.

Reiterating the ways in which this particular JV isn’t like all the others, Arcadia boss Philip Green tells WWD: “This not a collaboration. This is about building a brand and building a business – a separate, proper business, with separate overhead and a separate office”.

Tracking back to the origins of the ‘not a collaboration’, Green adds: “Basically, when she was in London in February we arranged to get together. We started talking generally, about doing something together. We’ve been looking at that [athletic] sector for a while. It’s something we need to be in. Based on what she does, how she works out, the conversation got into that category. We started getting into proper conversation in May or June, as to how it would work. It took six or eight weeks to put a deal together. On Friday, Beyonce came to our office for the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle”.

Meanwhile Bey has said of the non collab, which will bridge the style ‘realms’ of dance, fitness and sports: “I could not think of a better partner… I have always loved Topshop for its fashion credentials and forward thinking. Working with its development team to create and produce a technical and fashion-led collection is exciting and I’m looking forward to participating in all aspects of this partnership”.



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