FORMERLY PE OWNED
Nine West
Includes Nine West Holdings, Jones Group
fashion · New York, NY
- PE Firm
- Sycamore Partners →
- Year Acquired
- 2014
PE bought the parent company, stripped out the valuable brands, sold the best one to LVMH, and left Nine West holding $800 million in new debt.
What Happened
- Sycamore Partners bought Jones Group (Nine West's parent) in 2014 for $2.2 billion — then immediately carved it into six pieces
- Sycamore sold Stuart Weitzman to Coach for up to $574 million and transferred other premium brands to Sycamore affiliates — creditors alleged at prices 'hundreds of millions below fair value'
- What remained — Nine West — was left as a shell holding $800 million in new debt from the deals that enriched Sycamore
- Nine West filed for bankruptcy in April 2018; creditors sued Sycamore alleging 'outright fraud' over asset transfers; Sycamore ultimately paid $120 million to settle
The Damage Done
- All 70 Nine West retail stores closed during the 2018 bankruptcy — a brand that once dominated American women's footwear, hollowed out and discarded
- Thousands of employees lost their jobs as the remaining retail operation was liquidated
- The Nine West brand was sold off in bankruptcy, eventually becoming a licensed name on products with no connection to its original quality or design team
- Consumers watched a household name get dismembered — the best parts sold to luxury conglomerates, the rest left to die under a mountain of PE-created debt
Sources
- Sycamore Partners' Strategy Has Hurt Workers, Generated Poor Returns for Investors — PESP(2025-01-15)
- New LBO Practices May Be Warranted Based on the Nine West Decision — Harvard Law School Forum(2021-01-22)
- Nine West lenders look to sue Sycamore over 'outright fraud' — Retail Dive(2018-11-14)
- Coach to Acquire Stuart Weitzman from Sycamore Partners for up to $574 Million — Coach Inc. press release (SEC 8-K exhibit)(2015-01-06)