Bebe Stores may have terminated its store leases this month, but the company is not totally out of commission. The retailer announced on Thursday that it is partnering with Global Brands Group to relaunch the Bebe e-commerce platform and its international brick-and-mortar stores.
Global Brands has been a licensee of Bebe, alongside Bluestar Alliance, which forged a joint venture with Bebe in 2016. Bluestar Alliance CEO Joseph Gabbay said that Global Brands will focus on e-commerce while Bluestar will “continue to build out the wholesale and department store distribution for the Bebe brand,” as well as continue managing the brand.
Gabbay added, “Our efforts will concentrate on an omni-channel distribution approach to service and expand the bebe customer, both domestically and internationally.”
The agreement marks as the first initiative of Global Brands’ direction for Bebe’s e-commerce, direct-to-consumer divisions and international operations. Global Brands also appointed Nathan Jenden as Creative Director. The designer studied at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, served as an apprentice under John Galliano, served as Creative Director of DVF and operated his eponymous label.
“Bebe is an iconic fashion brand with a loyal, global following,” said Sandra Campos, the recently appointed President of the Bebe division at Global Brands Group. “With Global Brands’ renowned expertise behind us, we see a tremendous opportunity to relaunch a new e-commerce platform that best reflects who our global customer is and how she shops.”
The partnership between Bebe and Global Brands is very similar to a deal Global Brands made with BCBG and Marquee Brands in June. The company reached a deal with BCBG and Marquee Brands to acquire some rights of the BCBG and keep the company in business.
New partnership deals with Bebe and BCBG are part of Global Brands’ new three-year plan that it announced in June designed for the company to achieve $5 billion in revenue by 2020.