Acquisition for A-COLD-WALL*

LONDON, United Kingdom — After a busy 2023 that saw significant tie-up activity (Tapestry & Capri, Style Capital & Zimmermann, and Kering & Valentino), the first half of 2024 have been on the quieter side across the board. Add to that, exits for small- and medium-sized brands are generally far and few between, so we were intrigued to hear that nine-year-old brand A-COLD-WALL* announced its sale to London-based showroom-turned-incubator Tomorrow Ltd.

Tomorrow Ltd, also behind Martine Rose and Coperni amongst others, contributed an initial minority investment in 2018 and since then, the menswear label founded by Samuel Ross has grown to over 16 million pounds in top-line sales as of last year. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

A-COLD-WALL* Leadership Team / @acoldwall

In an official statement, the executive team lauded their founder by sharing, “since founding A-COLD-WALL* in 2015, Ross has steered ACW* from a raw concept to a globally established brand, consisting of flagship stores, design studios in London and Milan, experimental collections, and iconic collaborations.”

In our view, it is a major accomplishment to take a brand from concept to reality, and then successfully execute a sale — but on the other side, it begs the question of what happens when these niche culturally-relevant brands change ownership. Despite reiteration that Ross is fully aligned and the core team will remain, the future of A-COLD-WALL* strictly lay with the Tomorrow Ltd shareholders moving forward.

Despite abounding inquiry regarding the impact to design and product quality, the announcement post counts 10K likes and growing, including well wishes from industry peers like Daniel Arsham, Toni Blaze, and Nifemi Bello-Marcus —here’s hoping Phase 2 is its best yet.