Steve Madden has acquired footwear brand GREATS.
The designer and marketer of fashion footwear announced recently that it had completed the acquisition of the privately held Greats Brand Inc., which specialises in premium Italy-made sneakers.
“We are pleased to complete the acquisition of GREATS, a pioneering digitally native footwear brand," said Edward Rosenfeld, chairman and chief executive officer of Steve Madden. "We see significant opportunity to expand the business by combining GREATS’ strengths – which include an outstanding brand and stylish, classic designs that appeal to today’s more casual consumer – with our proven business model, established infrastructure and global reach.”
Ryan Babenzein, Founder and CEO of GREATS, added: “Steve is a true maverick and is one of the people I look up to in the footwear industry. He's created a multi-billion-dollar footwear business from nothing and there are less than a handful of people in the world who have done that.
"Getting the chance to collaborate with and learn from Steve and the rest of the Madden Company to accelerate my business is something that made a ton of sense to me. My goal has been the same since I started GREATS, and that is to create one of the leading footwear brands in the world. This partnership is another chapter in the GREATS book to help accomplish that and I couldn't be happier."
