NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FullBeauty Brands (“FullBeauty” or “the Company”), a first mover in inclusive sizing and proudly inclusive since 1901, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Avenue Stores (“Avenue”) from City Chic Collective Limited (ASX: CCX) (“City Chic”), an Australian publicly traded company.
Avenue is a U.S.-based digital specialty retailer of plus-size apparel, targeting value-conscious women aged 25 to 55. Avenue, which closed its 220+ store portfolio across 35 states in 2019, continues to operate a robust ecommerce business selling through Avenue.com and other websites. Avenue.com will be integrated into FullBeauty’s classic mall, adding brands including Avenue, Aveleisure, Cloudwalkers, Zim Zoe, Loralette, Avenue Studio, Aveology and Avenue Body. The acquisition of Avenue will provide FullBeauty further scale and increased market presence in the women’s plus-size sector, and add to FullBeauty’s traditional, classic digital mall.
“We are excited to welcome Avenue to the FullBeauty Brands family, which we believe will further our leading position in size-inclusive fashion as the one-stop destination for great fitting, quality, on-trend, size-inclusive apparel,” said Jim Fogarty, FullBeauty Brands CEO. “Avenue is a unique opportunity for us to expand our offerings to our classic digital mall customers. Avenue is a well-known plus-size brand with solid, unaided awareness amongst our boomer demographic and we hope to follow our Catherine’s playbook with this Avenue acquisition.”
FullBeauty purchased plus-size brand Catherine’s in 2020, and successfully turned a legacy stores footprint that serviced a boomer demographic into a solid ecommerce brand with strong brand equity.
“We hope to execute the same with Avenue and build on the successes from Catherine’s,” Fogarty continued. “We are building a U.S.-based brand team to singularly focus on delivering for the Avenue customer. We are also rooting for our seller and a strong City Chic brand, as City Chic will continue to be sold both on Avenue.com and by our most recent acquisition, Dia.”
Avenue is FullBeauty’s fourth acquisition in just over a year, following its recent purchases of Dia, a leading, online, inclusive fashion marketplace and flagship personal styling experience; CUUP, a digitally native and category disruptive size-inclusive intimates brand; and ELOQUII, a digitally native vertical brand that offers size-inclusive fashion and on-trend apparel.
As the Company continues adding to its growing portfolio of next-generation size-inclusive brands, the deal will enable FullBeauty to further expand its presence in the $81B women’s plus-sized sector, which is growing three times faster than the broader women’s apparel market.
FullBeauty is on a mission to accelerate its growth with new, diverse demographics. Its traditional digital mall will continue to house all the brands from the FullBeauty portfolio now joined by Avenue, while the new digital mall is home to contemporary newcomers Dia, ELOQUII, CUUP, June + Vie, and Swimsuits for All. The Company’s innovative universal cart technology allows shoppers to browse and buy from all the brands within the digital mall in one seamless shopping experience and transaction.
FullBeauty was advised in the transaction by Guggenheim Securities, LLC and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.
About FULLBEAUTY Brands, Inc.
FULLBEAUTY Brands, Inc. is the industry leader in extended sizes and a pioneer in size inclusive fashions for plus-size women and big & tall men seeking fashion inspiration, style advice, and clothing tailored to their individual needs. Beginning in 1901 with a mission to serve the plus sized customer, the company’s mission continues over 120 years later. The FULLBEAUTY Brands family of premier fashion websites includes OneStopPlus®, the world’s first and largest online shopping destination for plus-size women, Catherines®, WomanWithin®, Jessica London®, Roaman’s®, SwimsuitsForAll®, Ellos®, Active For All®, Shoes For All®, Intimates For All®, KingSize®, Brylane Home®, June + Vie®, Eloquii®, CUUP, FullBeauty® and FullBeauty Outlet®, collectively offering more than 100 individual brands.
About Avenue (avenue.com)
With a history dating back more than 40 years, Avenue is a leading U.S. specialty retailer of plus-size women’s apparel. Through strong consumer penetration with its three proprietary brands, Avenue, Loralette and Cloudwalkers, the Company has amassed a loyal following amongst women sizes 14-32. Prior to the sale transaction, the Company operated across 220+ retail locations. Bolstered by the strength of its brands and loyal customer following, Avenue has been successful in building a solid e-commerce platform, fully capable of standing alone absent support from a brick-and-mortar retail channel. For more information, please visit www.avenue.com.
