North West buyer for Dolcis
THE Jacobson Group, the North West footwear business has snapped up the Dolcis brand out of administration and plans significant investment to revive it.
Dolcis was previously owned by Bradford-based Barratts Priceless Group, which went into administration earlier this month.
Harvey Jacobson, chairman of the family business which owns the Gola, Lotus, Ravel and Frank Wright brands, told TheBusinessDesk.com the deal fulfils a long-held ambition: “It’s one I have wanted for a long time – Dolcis is a great complement to our existing brands and I’m excited at the opportunity to revive it.”
He said Dolcis – which will celebrate its 150th anniversary next year – will be relaunched in time for the 2013 Spring/Summer season.
“It’s very early days as we’ve only just completed the deal, but I see Dolcis as a really strong mid-market young women’s fashion brand”
The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will lead to ‘handful of new jobs at the group’s Rossendale headquarters, he added.
“We will invest in the heritage of a brand, which has not been fully exploited recently, and that means in design, PR, marketing and advertising – we’ve learned lessons from other brands we’ve bought and revived.”
While he will not open Dolcis shops on the high street he said that opening concessions in department stores would potentially be a good route to market, alongside online.
Tony Evans, managing director of Jacobson Group, added: “The Dolcis brand dates back to 1863 and already we have started to develop a great archive of material which we’ll use to form the core focus of the range to give it a genuine USP.”
