German fashion and beauty e-tailer Zalando is acquiring a majority stake in Highsnobiety, the streetwear news and e-commerce site.
Zalando said Highsnobiety will continue independent operations but will act as a strategic and creative consultant to help the company develop new inspiration-focused spaces and formats on its platform.
Zalando said, “Highsnobiety’s unique capabilities will play into Zalando’s ambitions to weave inspirational experiences into the customer journey and create an exciting and engaging online environment for both consumers and brands. In turn, joining the Zalando Group allows Highsnobiety to leverage Zalando’s expertise and resources to fuel its e-commerce capabilities.”
Highsnobiety was founded in Berlin in 2005 by David Fischer, CEO, as a blog that explored the convergence of streetwear and luxury fashion. Today, Highsnobiety includes a publishing arm, creative consultancy and a curated e-commerce platform.
Fische said, “Highsnobiety has mastered the art of turning stories into products and products into stories. I am very excited to bring our capabilities to Zalando’s commitment toward fashion inspiration and together reimagine the future of content and commerce. Equally, I am thrilled to tap into Zalando’s unrivaled expertise in scaling e-commerce platforms and bring my life’s passion work to the next level.”
David Schneider, Zalando founder and co-CEO, said: “Both our companies share a passion for building strong brand partnerships and enabling brands to inspire audiences with their products and stories. Partnering with Highsnobiety will allow us to execute much faster on our ambition to offer the most relevant and engaging, as well as convenient, shopping experience to our customers. I’m excited to see our joint vision materialize and shape the future of fashion content in commerce together.”
Highsnobiety will retain its editorial and curational autonomy as part of the deal, with the publishing and agency work remaining independent. Highsnobiety will continue to be led by Managing Directors David Fischer and Jürgen Hopfgartner and founder David Fischer will retain a minority stake in the business.
All parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details.
Highsnobiety was advised by Liontree, V14 – Vogel, Heerma & Waitz and Taxess. Zalando was advised by White&Case, PwC and McKinsey.
Photo courtesy Zalando
