Dutch fashion label McGregor to relaunch in 2019

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Dec 19, 2018

Dutch fashion label McGregor will be back on the market in the spring of 2019. Fred Gehring, former CEO at Tommy Hilfiger and Ludo Onnink, former CFO/COO at Tommy Hilfiger and executive chairman at Denham, have acquired the McGregor trademarks together with the Dutch investor DM Equity Partners.

The label said that it has undergone a large-scale rebranding and that the collections will have a new look. In March 2019, McGregor will unveil its new online store, followed by monobrand stores, franchises and a network of wholesale partners in the fall of 2019. The fall 2019 collection will be on view at the new Amsterdam-based McGregor showroom and headquarters from January.

The 2019 comeback will mark the second relaunch for McGregor, which has been part of two group bankruptcies in 2016 under the McGregor Fashion Group and an year later as part of the Doniger Fashion Group.

The 2016 bankruptcy was a result of a reported loss of €26 million in 2015. The company was taken over by previous shareholders Jeroen Schothorst and Ben Kolff, alongside investor Marcel Boekhoorn and NIBC bank. The group changed its name from McGregor Fashion Group to Doniger Fashion Group and kept 1,100 of its original 1,250 jobs.

However, in September 2017 Doniger Fashion Group, which was also the parent company of labels Gaastra, ETP and Adam, was declared bankrupt. The company had filed for court administration, but failed to meet its obligations. A few weeks later Du Soutien Beheer, an investment fund set up to relaunch the group, was established. However, the fund soon abandoned the relaunch project after discovering that the fashion brand’s problems were worse than anticipated.

The newly relaunched McGregor will be part of American Icon BV and led by Fred Gehring and Ludo Onnink as chairman and vice chairman. Coen Gehring, another retail veteran with former positions at Tommy Hilfiger, Denham the Jeanmaker, and Hunter Boots will oversee the daily management of the company.