Bright Fame Fashion ‘Pause’ The Thakoon Brand

Thakoon Spring 2017 Ready-To-Wear.

In December of 2015, DM Fashion Book reported that Thakoon announced its acquisition by Bright Fame Fashion, a Hong Kong-based family investment vehicle led by Vivian Chou – daughter of billionaire textile mogul Silas Chou (see it here).  The acquisition was “to establish a global designer business with a non – traditional model.”

Silas Chou is the former investor of Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors and he carried the two billion-dollar brands through successful IPOs.

New York-based designer Thakoon Panichgul and billionaire investor Silas Chou are hitting ‘pause’ on the Thakoon brand.

According to Business of Fashion, “The partnership between designer Thakoon Panichgul and Bright Fame Fashion is coming to what both parties are calling a “pause” in order to restructure.”

“In the last 10 years, Silas Chou has been building a big investment portfolio, including fashion and tech sectors,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “The Thakoon brand is one of the them. However, we have recognised that the business model is ahead of the current retail environment. Therefore, we are taking a pause and an eventual restructure.”

Thakoon’s spring 2017 collection will be delivered to the brand’s online and Soho stores. No definite timeline has been revealed as to when the physical store or website will close. “It was time for my brand to explore a new business model and this opportunity allowed us to do so,” Panichgul said. “We can now take the learnings from this to apply to the next evolution of Thakoon.”

“Thakoon, in which Bright Fame acquired a majority stake in 2015, also strove to avoid the cycle of discounting that afflicts many retailers, offering what it considered designer-level product at significantly lower prices.”

Chou is insistent that the brand will indeed relaunch once the business is reconfigured. “I still believe in Thakoon’s tremendous design talent and the brand, as well as the strong management team behind this project,” he said in a statement.

Thakoon Spring 2017 Ready-To-Wear.

Thakoon Spring 2017 Ready-To-Wear.

Photos Credit: Courtesy of Thakoon

Source: Business of Fashion