Dive Brief:
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West Palm Beach, FL-based Comvest Partners and Chicago-based CapX Partners were the sole bidders for Boston-based hip-hop apparel e-retailer Karmaloop in bankruptcy court last week.
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The e-retailer this week said that Seth Haber, former co-owner and director of streetwear trade show company Agenda Trade Shows, is now CEO of the company.
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In March, Kanye West and former Jay-Z manager and Roc-a-Fella Records executive Damon Dash were said to be close to buying the company, but the bid from the investment firms was the only one to materialize.
Dive Insight:
Karmaloop hasn’t gained the ultimate imprimatur from the hip-hop world in the form of a high-profile owner, but it may finally get what it needs.
The retailer took the streetwear apparel world by storm when it was founded by Greg Selkoe in his parents’ Jamaica Plain basement in Boston 16 years ago, including participation with the brand by artists like Pharrel Williams, and counted hip-hop artists as fans. But the business quickly over-expanded and finally unraveled. By this year, the company had shed most of its employees, owed vendors some $19 million, and faced customer complaints of poor service and orders that failed to materialize.
Selkoe will remain with the company as an advisor, but under Haber’s leadership it must right the ship if it wants to climb out of the hole it’s in.
