It turns out that while they were launching their new Spring line of knockoff Rosa Pomar bunnies, the Dutch moppet clothing company Oilily was itself being sold. The announcement appeared in the Dutch press two wekes ago that Lea Ward, a former Proctor & Gamble executive, bought a controlling stake from ABN Amro Captial and the private equity group which has owned the 80-store chain company since 2003.
As it happens, Ward's husband, Age Hollander, is the co-founder of that investment firm, H2Equity. Said Hollander, "It is not suitable to be controlled by institutional shareholders [who don't notice or care when the company rips off indie designers]. For some reason, Google Translate didn't catch that last bit, but I'm pretty sure that's the nuance in the original Dutch.
I'm also sure that now that the company's being controlled by a hands-on shareholder, they'll hop to and fix that bunny plundering that was perpetrated by the last owners. Right?
UPDATE Or will they be too preoccupied by their looming bankruptcy? Unbelievable. Interesting too that their most recent sales number is EUR 70 million; it was EUR 90 million when ABN Amro bought it six boom-time years ago in 2003. [telegraaf.nl/google translate, thanks to jan from loopfietsjeswinkel]
UPDATE UPDATE: and a tipster emailed to say the Madison Avenue store is now closed! And the online store, too. I hope the Ward-Hollanders kept their receipt.
Oilily weer zelfstandig/ Oilily again Independently [parool.nl, google translate]
2003: ABN AMRO Capital acquires controlling stake in 'Oilily' with H2 Equity Partners [abnamro.com]
Previously on DT: Oilily, aka the Dutch Portuguese Indies Plundering Company
That last quote from Age Hollander reads 'Oilily heeft weer ziel en emotie nodig en een aandeelhouder die betrokken is bij de dagelijkse gang van zaken', which roughly translates to 'Oilily needs soul and emotion, and a shareholder involved in the daily flow of business.'.