Consortium Model Companions is including one other well-known title to its roster: Jonathan Adler.
The New York-based funding agency has acquired the bulk curiosity within the residence decor, furnishings, and life-style firm alongside American Alternate Group, which is a “strategic minority investor,” in keeping with Jonathan Greller, president and cofounder of Consortium.
GF Capital had invested within the privately held Jonathan Adler firm in 2008 and retained a monetary stake till the sale to Consortium.
The Jonathan Adler acquisition, which closed on Dec. 23 however is simply now being made public, marks the third buy by Consortium in 18 months. The funding agency acquired a majority stake in Draper James in September of 2023, adopted by the belongings of Outside Voices in June of 2024. The Draper James acquisition was achieved with out companions whereas David Peyser Sportswear was a beforehand undisclosed investor in Outside Voices, Greller stated.
Though the Jonathan Adler enterprise had not publicly been shopped round, Greller stated Consortium had been “following the model for fairly a while” and managed to finish the deal earlier than the top of the 12 months.
Below the phrases of the acquisition, Jonathan Adler, the founding father of the corporate, will proceed as chief inventive officer.
“Jonathan Adler’s distinctive expertise and imaginative and prescient have made the model a beloved chief in residence design for many years,” Greller stated. “This acquisition not solely expands our choices within the residence decor house but additionally enhances our skill to create compelling and timeless model experiences that resonate with shoppers throughout a number of life-style classes in a enjoyable and delightful approach.”
Though the Jonathan Adler model is already well-known with over 1,000 factors of distribution worldwide, Consortium believes there are nonetheless a variety of progress alternatives forward. “We need to make it a family title worldwide,” Greller stated.
Key to that purpose is American Alternate Group, a New York-based firm created by Alen Mamrout in 2008 that bought Aerosoles footwear in 2022, White Mountain and HatchCollective in 2023 and Island Surf Co. in 2024. The corporate, which focuses on equipment, footwear, purses and small leather-based items, operates a portfolio of greater than 30 owned or licensed manufacturers together with Born, Ecko Unltd., Ed Hardy, Mossimo, Mudd, Rampage and XOXO.
A Jonathan Adler retailer.
Courtesy of Consortium Model Companions
Mamrout, president and chief govt officer of American Alternate Group, added, “Partnering with CBP on this acquisition permits us to mix our experience in manufacturing and distribution with their energy in strategic investments and brand-building. Collectively, we’re dedicated to elevating the Jonathan Adler model to even larger heights, increasing its world attain and product choices.”
Greller stated American Alternate will function the ten Jonathan Adler retail shops and e-commerce platform and in addition be instrumental in “sure product extensions. It’s an ideal firm with nice administration.”
Adler agrees: “We weren’t trying to promote, however it labored out completely. American Alternate Group is a really spectacular firm, as is Consortium. It was an ideal assembly of minds.”
The founder stated he’s wanting to work with the brand new house owners and to proceed to create distinctive and eclectic merchandise. “I’m a lifer,” Adler stated. “My mission in life has at all times been to seek out the best way to be probably the most inventive and I’m thrilled to work with these guys. This new chapter permits me to stay my American dream.”
Greller stated that along with Adler, the remainder of the corporate’s group is predicted to stay intact, together with chief govt officer Justin Sonfield who has been working the model since March of 2019. “There might be no change besides for almost all proprietor,” he stated, including that Sonfield and his group will “proceed to drive the enterprise going ahead.”
“It’s enterprise as normal,” Adler stated.
Jonathan Adler designs merchandise in a big selection of classes.
Courtesy of Consortium Model Companions
The story of the Jonathan Adler model is a real American success story. After graduating from Brown College with a level in artwork historical past and semiotics — the examine of indicators — Adler struggled to seek out his approach, shedding jobs in a expertise company and for a film producer. “I had a nasty angle and work ethic,” he has stated up to now.
When he was in his mid-20s, he determined to throw himself full-time into his ardour — making pottery. “I give up my day job 30 years in the past to be a potter so I might make no matter I wished,” Adler stated. Though he thought he would create items he would promote at craft gala’s, his life took one other flip when Barneys New York positioned an order for his pottery, setting the wheels in movement to the constructing of a $150 million-plus enterprise. 5 years after that order, Adler opened his first retailer in Soho, promoting textiles, table-top and furnishings.
It additionally modified his private life by introducing him to Simon Doonan, Barneys’ then-creative director, who’s now his husband. “Jonathan and I simply celebrated our thirtieth anniversary,” Doonan stated. “Throughout our three a long time I’ve watched with delight as Jonathan went from clay-spattered potter to the go-to residence model for the style flock. Together with his good new enterprise companions I’m certain his subsequent period might be filled with much more envelope-pushing, mind-blowing fabulosity.”
Trying to the longer term, Greller stated the plan for the Jonathan Adler model is so as to add shops outdoors the U.S. — presently, the corporate operates one brick-and-mortar retailer in London and 9 within the U.S. — and “proceed to put money into e-commerce.” The enterprise presently has a robust presence within the U.Okay. and is concentrating on the APAC area and Mexico within the quick time period, he stated.
The brand new house owners additionally hope to supply new or expanded product classes together with comfortable residence, tabletop, residence group, bedding and extra.
At present, 40 % of the corporate’s enterprise is in furnishings with lighting and ornamental equipment additionally among the many hottest gadgets.
“There’s a lot that Jonathan nonetheless needs to do,” Greller stated.
Jonathan Greller
Consortium Model Companions
Adler laughed and admitted there are a variety of issues nonetheless on his to-do record. “I have to get my priorities so as,” he stated, including, “The aesthetic of my firm and my vibe might be utilized to so many product classes. I’m a megalomaniac. I need to be in each sq. inch of your house and once you flip over your pillowcase, couch or plate, I need you to see the Jonathan Adler label.”
No matter class, he stated he needs “each piece to look stylish and eclectic.”
Adler stated he’s additionally persevering with to work with high-end hospitality shoppers such because the American Dream mall which employed him to design skybox suites and sitting salons in its luxurious wing when it opened, and was the pinnacle choose the HGTV present “Design Star: Subsequent Gen. “By no means say no to TV,” he stated.
“My mantra is extra, extra, extra, and this can allow me to do extra, extra, extra with such nice, new companions,” Adler stated.
Greller burdened that not like the opposite aggressive model administration corporations similar to Genuine Manufacturers Group, WHP International and Marquee, Consortium Companions considers itself “model builders and model accelerators.” And the Jonathan Adler acquisition “enhances our concentrate on constructing lifestyle-driven manufacturers with a big following amongst shoppers and on social media.”
Consortium was created by Greller together with Cory Baker and Michael DiVirgilio who had labored collectively at Marquee till 2021. They sought to create a enterprise with a unique construction than a licensing mannequin the place strategic and institutional traders are welcomed. As an alternative, Consortium employs a group of operators and retailers to construct companies not based mostly solely on licensing income.
As Baker has described it: “We’re not reinventing the wheel. It’s desirous about methods we will do it with a broader aperture, and a extra strategic actual story.”