The Growing Role of Private Equity in Fashion
Episode 27 of Art of Citizenry Podcast unpacks how intellectual property managers & private equity are fueling ultra-fast fashion
If you’ve been following along with Art of Citizenry, you’ll remember Episode 25, where we discussed unauthorized subcontracting in fashion supply chains. To recap: approximately 250 Guatemalan garment workers are still owed $500,000 in severance from Lucky Brand after the closure of the Industrial Hana factory. But what started as a case study in wage theft quickly revealed something bigger: how private equity is transforming fashion supply chains behind the scenes. And no, it’s not just fashion. From coffee to housing, private equity is diversifying its portfolio without us realizing.
While tracing the threads of the Lucky Brand story, it became quickly clear that this wasn’t just about one factory or one brand (surprise?). It was a window into a much broader transformation, one about the growing role of private equity firms and intellectual property (IP) managers.
In this week’s follow-up episode, I reconnect with long-time collaborator, Anna Canning of Partners for Dignity & Rights to peel back the layers of fashion’s financial structure. Together, we trace how corporate ownership is intentionally opaque, and how firms like Authentic Brands Group are profiting by fragmenting responsibility. From bankruptcies and brand buyouts to complex licensing deals, together, we unpack how private equity is redefining who owns what—and why that matters for the future of corporate accountability.
Tune in, as we dive into:
How private equity uses debt, licensing, and outsourcing to extract value
The growing trend of intellectual property empires
Why bankruptcy is now a business tactic, not a failure
What Forever 21, Shaquille O’Neal, and mall landlords have to do with all of it
“If the goal is to maximize returns on investment at any costs, then the working people at the bottom are always the ones who pay.”
—Anna Canning, Partners for Dignity and Rights
Private Equity, IP Managers, and Malls
Lucky Brand may be the name on the clothes, but the business behind it is anything but straightforward. Today, the brand is owned by Authentic Brands Group, a licensing giant that also controls the rights to brands including Reebok, Brooks Brothers, Ted Baker, Forever 21, and even the image of Shaquille O’Neal. But Authentic doesn’t make clothes, it owns and monetizes intellectual property. The operations? That’s handled by SPARC Group, a joint venture between Authentic, Shein, and Simon Property Group—the largest mall owner in the U.S.
“It doesn't take long when you're talking to people who have studied this model before they start using analogies like capitalism on steroids.”
— Anna Canning
Earlier this year, SPARC merged with JCPenney to form Catalyst Brands, an even more complex entity overseeing the logistics and outsourcing of dozens of retail brands. The result? A model engineered to extract as much financial value as possible through a complex web of shared ownership—one that passes risk down the supply chain while shielding those at the top from responsibility.
💡Private equity isn’t just reshaping fashion—it’s financializing daily life. From healthcare to the roads we drive on to legacy fashion brands, this episode is a deep dive into the real cost of profit-maximizing business models—and the urgent need for structural accountability.
Intellectual Property Managers & Private Equity Are Banking on Ultra-Fast Fashion
When intellectual property becomes more valuable than human labor, wage theft is no longer a bug, it’s a feature. And bankruptcy becomes a strategy, not a failure.
Brand names and the products they create are no longer one of the same. IP management firms—particularly players like Authentic Brands Group, WHP Global, and Marquee Brands—are reshaping the fashion industry by shifting its core value from product to brand ownership. These firms don't operate traditional fashion businesses. Instead, they buy up legacy names, strip them down to their brand assets, and then license those names out, often without manufacturing or retailing anything themselves.
To be clear: these companies don’t produce clothes. They own the names. They monetize nostalgia, celebrity endorsements, and brand equity, while outsourcing the risk, labor, and logistics.
By focusing on high-margin IP deals, merchandising rights, and licensing partnerships, these firms are turning fashion into a financial portfolio game. For all of us who thought maybe the fashion industry had progressed and was finally confronting the dangers of unsustainable fast fashion cycles, this episode exposes the players fueling ultra-fast fashion — the ones who took a system already built on the exploitation of labor and engineered it to extract even more.
Fashion is increasingly becoming a numbers game. And in this game, profit is protected, but people are not.
“The more we name the players, trace the structures, and shine light on what's designed to stay hidden, the more we can open the door for accountability and real change.”
— Manpreet Kaur Kalra
Meet Our Guest
Anna Canning leads the Worker Rights team at Partners for Dignity and Rights. Prior to that, she was with the Worker-driven Social Responsibility Network. Throughout her career, Anna has led creative campaigns taking on corporate power and the fairwashing used to cover corporate abuses. Anna has over 20 years of experience working in supply chains and in movements for food justice and human rights.
📌 Partners for Dignity and Rights is a non-profit that advocates for human rights, especially the rights to dignified work, housing, and public education.
Resources & References
Read Anna’s Article: Forever 21’s Bankruptcy: How Private Equity Harms Workers Around the World
WWD: The Brand Collectors: How IP Managers Are Taking Over Fashion
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