Something Navy’s Next Step: A Sale to IHL for $1
Arielle Charnas is getting ready to hand over the keys at Something Navy to the apparel company IHL Group, WWD has learned.
IHL and the Amirian Group will pay just $1 to buy the business while assuming $7.5 million in liabilities, according to a memorandum that lays out the details of the still-to-be-signed deal.
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Neither Something Navy nor IHL responded to WWD queries on Monday.
Something Navy went on a kind of hiatus this year after running into business difficulties, as previously reported. A note on the website on Monday said the site was still “getting a little refresh.”
But the idea is to get the brand back up and running soon.
Charnas — an fashion influencer with more than 1.3 million followers on Instagram — founded Something Navy as a style blog in 2009.
She parlayed her eye and online reach into a Treasure & Bond x Something Navy collaboration that sold more than $1 million in a single day in 2017. Then a stand-alone Something Navy line in Nordstrom topped that and sold more than $4.4 million in a day.
The momentum and early potential caught the attention of some big-time backers.
In 2019, Something Navy raised $10 million from a group of investors including Silas Chou, who helped turn Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors into powerhouses.
But the timing was tough and the pandemic hit as the company went out on its own with e-commerce, wholesale and retail.
Charnas remained in the spotlight, but not always in a good way. She was caught in an online firestorm with critics calling her out for using personal connections to receive a COVID-19 test early in the pandemic, when testing was still limited.
The company charged on, but never seemed to be able to connect with consumers in the same way as it did in its earlier days. Chief executive officer Matthew Scanlan left the firm this summer as it was searching for a new investment partner. (He remains CEO of sustainable cashmere brand Naadam).
Something Navy seems to have finally found its partner in IHL, which is led by CEO Sami Souid and is known for producing trend-driven women’s and children’s fashions.
Under the terms of the deal laid out in the memo, IHL will own 68.5 percent of a new company called Something Navy JV LLC.
Charnas will hold a 14.5 percent stake in the business and will act as a brand ambassador. She would work with IHL’s design team to create new apparel collections that would launch within the next year.
The original investors will also hold a 14.5 percent stake, while The Amirian Group will own 2.5 percent of the operation.
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