Who What Wear, the California-based fashion and shopping platform, has been acquired by Future, a platform for specialist media brands, from Clique Brands for an undisclosed amount, the company said Tuesday.
Investment bank Ohana & Co., which most recently advised Violet Grey on its sale to Farfetch, acted as adviser on the deal for Who What Wear.
Adding Who What Wear’s 10 million social followers to its portfolio, the acquisition will make Future the sixth-largest beauty and fashion publisher in North America, according to data provided by ComScore.
The company said the existing women’s lifestyle brands, which include Marie Claire, Woman’s Weekly and Homes & Gardens, will benefit from Who What Wear’s direct advertising sales capabilities, whilst the latter will benefit from Future’s proprietary technology stack and operating model to drive the platform effect.
Hillary Kerr, cofounder of Clique Brands and chief content officer of Who What Wear, said: “We have created a sustainable brand and are excited about the next stage in our growth trajectory as we build our scale and presence as part of Future.”
Zillah Byng-Thorne, chief executive officer of Future, said the group looks forward to working with Who What Wear to “further bolster our women’s lifestyle scale and reach, notably in the U.S., and to leverage its scale with our proprietary technology and operating model.”
Who What Wear, which started out as an online style and shopping guide in 2006, expanded into apparel in the U.S. in 2016 selling exclusively at Target. The platform later expanded its apparel, footwear, and accessories offering to the U.K. in 2020.