Vince sells out

Say it ain't so! Vince, the $50 million fashion label founded by Christopher Lapolice and Rea Laccone, and cited in this space as an exemplar of brand-building, has been sold. (See article in today's New York Times.) The lucky buyer is the Kellwood Company, a $2B aggregator of fashion labels.

It seems a shame that they wouldn't have continued to go it alone. Perhaps it got too big for them. (Ms. Laccone had told the Times, ''I would have been really happy if Vince was a $12 million business.'') And I guess $75 million--the purchase price--would be hard to turn down by anyone. The company says the founders have agreed to stay, but... what are the odds that, a couple of years down the line, they'll be at it again?

innovation, marketing, fashion