Latham & Watkins and BCLP are advising on Caleres’ acquisition of luxury footwear company Stuart Weitzman from Tapestry for $105m in cash. 

Latham is advising Tapestry on the sale, while BCLP is representing Caleres, which owns a portfolio of global footwear brands including Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, Allen Edmonds, Naturalizer and Vionic.

The transaction is expected to close in mid-2025, subject to customary closing conditions. The deal advances Caleres’ brand portfolio segments while enabling Tapestry to focus on its remaining two brands, Coach and Kate Spade.

Jay Schmidt, president and CEO of Caleres said: “The acquisition of Stuart Weitzman advances our strategic agenda to grow our brand portfolio segment with more global and direct-to-consumer reach. Stuart Weitzman will be a lead brand for Caleres, and with this combination the brand portfolio segment will generate nearly half of our total revenue and will continue to generate over half of our operating profit.”

Latham’s corporate deal team is led by partners Leah Sauter and Charles Ruck, with associates Taylor Wood, Blake Clevenger, Brian Herskowitz, Patrick O’Neal, and Nikky Wei. Advice was also provided on China/Hong Kong corporate matters by associate Vincent Jiang; on US tax matters by partner Eric Kamerman; on US benefits and compensation matters by partner Bradd Williamson, with associates Alisa Hand and Drew Baker; on Spain benefits and compensation matters by Madrid counsel Guillermo Ruiz de Salazar; and on France benefits and compensation matters by Paris partner Matthias Rubner.

Meantime, counsel Sandra Benjamin advised on labour and employment matters, with associate Jane Jeong; partner Morgan Brubaker and associates Ryan Clore and Kellye Quirk advised on intellectual property matters; partner Robert Blamires and associate Kathryn Parsons-Reponte advised on data privacy matters; partner James Mann and associate Madeline Hodges advised on real estate matters; antitrust matters were handled by partners Mandy Reeves and Lindsey Champlin and counsel Tara Tavernia, with associate Panya Baldia; Brussels partner Héctor Armengod and associate Anna Escrigas Cañameras advised on ex-US antitrust matters; and environmental matters were covered by counsel David Langer.

BCLP’s team advising Caleres is led by partners Stephanie Hosler and Aaron Lang with associates Lauren Beeman, Hallie Enix, John Schwartz, Madison Walsh, and legal project assistant Morgan McIntosh.

Advice was also provided on French corporate matters by partner Jean-Patrice Labautière, counsel Paul Ast and associate Tom Ugarte; on insurance matters by partner Ken Achenbach and associate Aaron Lapniewski; on US tax matters by partner Jessica Edwards and associate David White; on French tax matters by counsel Thomas Poiret; on US benefits and compensation matters by partner Steve Evans, with associate Mckenna Gossrau; on US labour matters by partner Anthony George and partner Christoper Archibald; on French labour matters by partner Claire Fougea, with partner Marion Briere Segala; on real estate and finance matters by partners Joe Robertson and Joe Babitz, with associates Marc Cox, Meredith Barrow and Alex Liebetrau, attorney Lindsay Luby, and paralegal Maddi Revell; on environmental matters by partner Erin Brooks; on intellectual property and data privacy matters by partner Jason Haislmaier; and on antitrust matters by partner Becky Nelson, with counsel Paul Barrs.

Caleres will fund the deal through its revolving credit agreement and plans to provide additional details regarding its integration plans and the financial impact of the acquisition after the transaction closes.

The deal comes roughly four months after a US district judge stopped the merger between Tapestry and Capri Holdings, whose brands include Versace, Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo. The judge said the merger would reduce competition and hurt consumers. The decision came six months after the US Federal Trade Commission sued to block Tapestry’s $8.5bn acquisition of Capri, saying that the deal would eliminate direct competition between the fashion companies’ brands like Coach and Michael Kors in the affordable luxury handbag arena.

Tapestry acquired Stuart Weitzman in 2015, when the company snapped up the brand from Sycamore Partners in a transaction valued at $574m. In 2017, founder Stuart Weitzman retired after more than five decades in the footwear industry.

New York City-based Tapestry is a multinational fashion holding company. Originally named Coach, the business changed its name to Tapestry in 2017.

Founded in 1878 as Bryan, Brown & Company, American footwear company Caleres changed its name in 2015. It is located in Clayton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. 

Last month, Latham advised Kim Kardashian-based private equity firm SKKY Partners on its minority investment in London-based luxury skincare brand 111SKIN.