Investors have yet to cool on the hot outerwear segment: Private equity giant L Catterton has taken a controlling stake in French casualwear brand JOTT, an acronym for Just Over the Top.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but the founding Gourdikian family is to hold a “significant equity interest,” according to L Catterton.
Founded in Marseille in 2010 by cousins Mathieu and Nicolas Gourdikian, JOTT is best known for its light down jackets, playful brand spirit and affordable prices, with basic light puffers starting at about 150 euros, and ones for “extreme cold” running up to about 390 euros. Its round logo is a silhouette of someone on a scooter over the tag line “Everyone can be JOTT!”
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The brand is distributed through about 100 “concept stores” in France, Spain, Portugal, Benelux countries, Switzerland and China, and more than 1,000 wholesale doors. Recently, the brand has added casual apparel items such as polo shirts, in addition to shoes and hats.
In tandem with the investment, Didier Lalance has been named chief executive officer of JOTT. He was most recently executive vice president at Lacoste, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also worked in senior executive roles at Printemps, Affelou Group and Asics.
Eduardo Velasco, partner at L Catterton Europe, said the private equity firm spied an opportunity to “further develop one of France’s most iconic brands in the premium casual outerwear space. In just a few years, JOTT has become a leader in its market segment with distinctive and colorful clothing, and an efficient multichannel distribution strategy, which will all continue to be key pillars of its business model going forward.”
L Catterton is a private equity firm linked to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton that operates an equity fund of $20 billion.
It remains active in the apparel and beauty space. Its investments in 2020 included Function of Beauty, Australian swimwear brand Seafolly and direct-to-consumer brand Public Goods. It has also made investments in Gentle Monster, The Honest Company, Rhone, Sweaty Betty and Tula.
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