Kangol has a new majority owner.
The headwear brand established in 1938 and well known for its bucket hats has sold a 51 percent stake and the full intellectual property rights to Bollman Hat Company.
Frasers Group will retain 49 percent ownership of the brand and focus on the retail distribution of Kangol across its store portfolio, which includes House of Fraser, USC and Sports Direct.
Terms were not disclosed.
Bollman, the oldest hat maker in the United States, has held the license to develop and produce Kangol headwear since 2001. The deal will now allow Bollman to oversee Kangol’s complete portfolio, which includes apparel and accessories such as bags and wallets.
Kangol has long been a leader in streetwear, popular in fashion, music and culture. It became especially successful in the ’80s with the hip-hop community and in recent years has collaborated with such buzzy brands as Supreme, Kith, Junya Watanabe Homme, Mastermind, Stüssy, Alexander Wang, and Agnes b.
The brand traces its roots to Jacques Spreiregen, a Polish Jew, who produced hats for workers, golfers and soldiers. Spreiregen emigrated to Paris in 1906, then moved to London in 1914, where he worked as an importer and seller of various products that included wool, including berets. Kangol was acquired in 2006 by Sports Direct, the company that is now called Frasers Group.
“This is a very exciting time for us and for the Kangol brand,” said Don Rongione, chief executive officer of Bollman. “Bollman has served as stewards of Kangol, by spearheading the evolution of the brand and its DNA. We have meticulously set the bar for all other Kangol brand development worldwide. It will be exciting for us to be able to apply the same standards to developing and distributing additional categories globally.”
Bollman, which is employee-owned, produces headwear for brands including Helen Kaminski, Bailey, Betmar, Country Gentleman and Trimmed and Crowned.