Howies bought by management team
The management team at Howies has acquired the sports clothing company from its former US owner, VF Corporation. A spokesman for the Cardigan-based business told Insider the buyout would allow the company to focus on core Howies products and "the essence of the brand".
The terms of the deal and identity of the management team's backers were undisclosed.
Howies was set up by David and Claire Hieatt in 1995 before being bought by Timberland in 2006. Timberland was subsequently acquired last year by Wrangler owner VF in a £1.3bn deal.
"Being a smaller part of Timberland meant we followed a lot of their guidelines and CSR (corporate social reponsibility policies)," a spokesman for Howies said.
"The way they manufacture things is really good but also it meant filling in a lot of paperwork for such a small business and being accounted for in particular ways.
"We thought it would be better for us, to keep true to our roots, to bring it all back in-house again. By making the offer and buying the company back it gives us more flexibility and a quicker response in terms of developing things we think are more of a core Howies product."
The change of ownership would enable the company to "go back to the essence of the brand", the spokesman added, while thanking Timberland and VF for financially helping the company through "some incredibly difficult times".
Howies is now looking to move into new markets with a French and German specific version of its website ready to launch early this year.
The company has chosen to close its former flagship Carnaby Street shop in London as a result of escalating costs. Howies said it had been hit with a rent increase of more than 30 per cent, which it said was unaffordable.
