As reported on WWD.com on April 24th ,2025
Xcel Brands seeking to extend its reach globally, has brought in Shanghai-based United Trademark Group as a strategic investor.
UTG, a brand development and licensing company producing a range of products, has invested $9 million in Xcel, WWD has learned.
“We have been looking for a strategic alliance to make Xcel Brands global,” said Robert W. D’Loren, chairman and chief executive officer of Xcel, which specializes in building influencer brands through livestreaming and social commerce.
“This transaction brings together two leaders in brand management, supply chain management, licensing and video and social commerce to create what we hope is a global powerhouse,” D’Loren said. “They have distribution in Europe, Middle East and Asia, and that’s something we’ve been missing. For us, this is strategically very important.”
Investors liked the deal and traded shares of Xcel up 31.6 percent to $3 on Thursday, leaving the company with a market capitalization of $7.1 million.
The CEO said the partnership “positions us nicely as we continue to announce more of these creator-type brands.”
UTG’s investment helped Xcel refinance debt and provides some working capital. The investor was also given warrants at different strike prices. Asked if the $9 million investment is a preliminary one by UTG, D’Loren replied, “The thought is for UTG to grow with us.”
Xcel owns the Halston, Judith Ripka and C. Wonder brands, as well as the Tower Hill by Christie Brinkley cobranded collaboration. Xcel also holds noncontrolling interests in the Isaac Mizrahi brand and Orme Live, the short-form video marketplace for social shopping. And it owns and manages the Longaberger brand through its controlling interest in Longaberger Licensing LLC.
“This week, we passed 40 million social media followers across our portfolio,” D’Loren said. “We believe we will very shortly [exceed] 50 million social media followers across our portfolio brands, which now include categories from fashion to home to kitchen to pets and all of the classifications and categories that go with those broad industry segments. Our goal now is to get the portfolio by the end of 2026 to 100 million followers.”
The family-owned UTG is involved in design, manufacturing, distribution and retail and works to connect consumers with brands through emerging media, social platforms, retail technology, influencer collaborations and “experiential” retail. The company manufactures jewelry, accessories, pet products and other categories of merchandise.
“In the future, by having UTG as a partner, if there’s something that we believe is a good acquisition opportunity, I think together, it becomes a lot easier for us,” D’Loren said.
UTG, a $2 billion company, has a master license for Jeep in China and operates about 1,000 Jeep stores selling Jeep performance wear, casualwear and other Jeep products, but not Jeep vehicles. A 8,600-square-foot Jeep flagship recently opened in Shanghai.
The company also owns the Roberta Di Camerino women’s fashion, accessories and footwear brand sold in Italy and China, has an emoji license and is eager to acquire brands. “We want to be more of an owner,” said George Liu, cofounder of the 15-year-old UTG.
Asked what attracted UTG to Xcel, Liu said, “What really excited us is the synergy.”
Liu also said they have a shared passion for social commerce, which is much bigger in China than it is in the U.S.
He also said Xcel can build its business by having the benefit of UTG’s supply chain expertise. “We think Bob is a pioneer in the industry,” Liu added.
UTG’s goals in the short-term is to help Xcel optimize its supply chain, grow the business it has with its existing brands and build its cash flow. In the medium term, Liu sees the possibility of UTG and Xcel acquiring brands together. Roberta Di Camerino is the only brand UTG currently owns.
“We are excited to work with Xcel Brands,” said Alex Wang, cofounder and chairman of UTG, in a statement. “By combining their expertise in social commerce and our shared vision and commitment to product and innovation, we look forward to building the next generation of great brands.
“There is tremendous synergy between our companies’ goals, missions and visions for the future of the global consumer sector,” Wang said. “With UTG’s global expertise and our shared commitment to innovation, brand building and leveraging pioneering new technologies, we see great opportunities on the horizon and look forward to unlocking new possibilities together.” Consensus, an investment bank focused on the consumer products sector, advised UTG on the Xcel transaction.
Xcel recently announced a flurry of launches, including:
- “Trust-Respect-Love by Cesar Millan,” a collection including pet essentials, toys, training tools and accessories. The brand is scheduled to launch spring 2026. Millan is a dog behaviorist, best-selling author and television celebrity.
- A bakeware and cooking brand with renowned baker, chef and author Gemma Stafford, marking Stafford’s first venture into developing her own product line. The line is scheduled to launch spring 2026.
- A food and kitchenware brand with Latina home and lifestyle creator Jenny Martinez, launching this fall. She is a national best selling cookbook author and creator of Happy Bellies by Jenny social media brand.
With Xcel importing much product from overseas, including Turkey, Pakistan and China, D’Loren addressed the issue of tariffs, saying: “We think over the short run, we’re going to see some price increases. Some of the increases will be borne by the factories, some by the retailers, some by the consumer, some by the wholesalers. In our case, with some of our brands, we have enough inventory already in warehouses for the rest of the year, so we’re actually in good shape, particularly with jewelry inventory. What’s in our warehouses suddenly became more valuable. But we do now need to start to address spring of ’26. Retailers have things on hold until we all get some clarity.”
Asked to what degree Xcel brands are exposed to China, D’Loren said: “Not very. QVC [an important sales channel for Xcel] has done a good job with their private label programs over the last two to three years to reduce concentrations in their supply chain in China, so I think they’ll manage through it as well.” Xcel doesn’t itself produce products. It works with licensees or through retailers.
D’Loren believes that over the next 90 to 120 days: “We’re going to see a lot of different [tariff] deals being made around the world. China is a little more complicated, but China and the U.S. are, in my opinion, too important to each other for this not to get resolved in some satisfactory way.”
Xcel has been showing some improvement in its profitability, despite revenue declines. Total revenue for the nine months ended Sept. 30 fell 54 percent to $7.1 million from a year earlier. This decline, the company said, was predominantly driven by the decrease in net product sales due to the company’s discontinuance of its wholesale businesses as part of its “Project Fundamentals” plan in 2023.
The net loss for the nine-month period was $15.3 million compared with a net loss of $14.3 million for the prior year period. The current nine-month period includes significant one-off non-cash items, including a $3.8 million gain on the divestiture of the Lori Goldstein brand, a $3.5 million charge related to the exit and sublease of the company’s prior office space and a $6.3 million charge related to the sale of a majority stake in the Isaac Mizrahi brand to WHP Global.
Adjusted losses before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization totaled $2.7 million for the nine-month period, compared with losses of $4.6 million a year earlier.
Xcel is expected to report its fourth quarter results next week.
For the original article:
https://wwd.com/business-news/retail/xcel-brands-brings-in-united-trademark-group-as-partner-1237100111/