Outdoor Voices Heads to the U.K. and Europe Under a Focus Brands Deal
Outdoor Voices, the activewear brand owned by Consortium Brand Partners, is expanding into the United Kingdom and the European Union through a partnership with Focus Brands, a U.K.-based brand development and distribution company, according to WWD.
Under the deal, Focus Brands will lead the development and distribution of Outdoor Voices across the U.K. and Europe. The work will start with wholesale, which means selling in bulk to shops that resell the products, and with e-commerce, meaning online sales. The arrangement is a licence, a contract that lets one company make and sell goods under another company's brand name.
The European expansion is the brand's second move overseas. Outdoor Voices has already expanded into Korea, China and Southeast Asia.
Focus Brands already holds licences for Nautica, Ellesse, K-Swiss, Patrick and Reebok. Richard Marshal is its managing director. Consortium Brand Partners describes itself as an investment manager that backs consumer brands with a loyal following and an authentic message. Michael DeVirgilio is one of its founding partners.
Ty Haney founded Outdoor Voices in 2013. The company's motto is "Doing Things." The brand built its name on workout clothing sold through its own stores and website, and it was once valued at $110 million, according to Yahoo Finance.
The business then shrank sharply. In March 2024, Outdoor Voices closed all 16 of its retail stores to focus solely on online sales, and it let go of most of its corporate staff, according to MyTotalRetail. Fortune reported that Consortium Brand Partners bought the brand about three months after those store closures and layoffs, in June 2024. Tiger Group's advisory services division helped arrange that sale, according to ABF Journal.
At the time of the purchase, Consortium said it planned to open new stores and move into neighbouring product categories. It also owns Draper James, the American clothing label, according to Retail Dive.
Ty Haney has returned to Outdoor Voices since the Consortium acquisition, according to WWD. No financial terms have been disclosed.
For readers outside the fashion trade, the sequence is simple. A brand that once had stores and a high valuation sold its shops, cut staff, and was then bought by an investor. Now it is handing the European and British business to a company that already sells other licensed sports and lifestyle brands. How much the new partner will sell, and where, is yet to be shown.
