Photo by Deanna Alys on Unsplash
Vera Wang Sells Namesake Brand to WHP Global After 35 Years
December 17, 2024
After 35 years as one of the leading bridal designers in the world, Vera Wang has sold her namesake brand to WHP Global.
Management group WHP Global has acquired the IP of the brand. As part of the deal, Wang will stay on as founder and chief creative officer of the label, while joining WHP as a shareholder.
Woman’s Wear Daily reports that Wang felt it was the “perfect time” to work with Yehuda Shmidman, chairman and chief executive officer of WHP Global. She is excited about the future of the brand she grew to one of the most trusted and beloved bridal companies worldwide.
“I’ve got to be honest: I felt it was the perfect time for Yehuda and for me and for our brand — the synergy and his belief in me. They are in a full growth mode, and I mean it,” Wang said. She founded the brand in 1990, and today, Vera Wang’s brand generates over $700 million in annual retail sales across categories such as bridal, women’s apparel, men’s suits and tuxedos, fine jewelry, fragrance, and home.
Vera Wang added, “Frankly, I know that we’ve generated a lot of branding over the past six or seven years, and I think it’s the perfect time for me to execute in ways that I could not have done before. With their enormous support, this gives me an opportunity to grow in a way that I could never have done on my own.”
Vera Wang Credits Her Father’s Refusal to Fund Design School for Igniting Her Drive to Succeed
In an interview with Vogue, Vera Wang said she heeded the advice of her father, Cheng Ching Wang, when it came to her determination to succeed. When she first realized she had a creative streak that lent itself to design, she asked her father to pay for design school. He said no.
With no intent of giving up her dream, Wang decided to find her way in the world and is thankful her father turned down her plea. “He’s the reason I have a company. I asked him to pay for design school and he said no — he told me to go get a job.”
She continued, “I went to Vogue and I loved it, then I went to Ralph and I loved it. Then, I began to create everything in my bridal store so that it was 100 percent us. I own a factory in West Palm Beach. I’ve trained sewers. They are the artists, how they translate the clothes and the sketches.”
“All of these things have not been easy, but as hard as it was to found the company, it was harder to maintain. Bit by bit we built synergistic licensees for everything. It’s been a long 35 years. This was brick by brick and bride by bride,” Wang concluded.
Per WWD, WHP Global is a global management firm cofounded by Yehuda Shmidman in 2019. Its portfolio of brands includes Bonobos, Joe’s Jeans, Rag & Bone, and G-Star as well as Anne Klein, Joseph Abboud, Isaac Mizrahi, Warners, Toys“R”Us, and Babies“R”Us.
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