New Wave acquires Canadian glove retailer

02 Dec '11

4 min read

New Wave Group AB, headquartered in Sweden but with significant interests in the United States, has acquired Paris Glove of Canada Ltd.

The addition of Paris Glove enhances the New Wave Group corporate portfolio, which is the parent company of Cutter & Buck, Ahead, Clique, Craft, Orrefors and Kosta Boda, among other brands.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. New Wave purchased 100 percent of the ownership of Paris Glove. Paris Glove's 90 employees and the current ownership, with operations in both Canada and New York, have become employees of New Wave.

“We view Paris Glove as a complement to our other apparel lines and global markets,” said Torsten Jansson, Managing Director and CEO of New Wave Group. “The company provides an established base of entry to Canada's retail markets for other New Wave products with Paris Glove's established customer base.”

Paris has been entirely family-owned since its inception in 1945, when founders Felix and Lily Monk brought their glove knowledge from the old country to Canada. It is one of the oldest and most respected glove companies in North America and has earned an enviable reputation in the glove world as a premium brand synonymous with quality, style and performance.

Paris Glove is the only glove company delivering products to all markets – sports, fashion, and industrial gloves for men and women, adults and children. The company also sells a line of men and women's scarves and headwear, and distributes a limited selection of other products to its customer base on behalf of other brands.

The Paris Glove companies are:
• Laurentide: Supplier of gloves, protective clothing and rainwear to industry.
• Gloves International Incorporated: Supplier of private label gloves to chains and department stores in the United States.
• The Paris fashion division: Supplies men's, women's and children's gloves to over 3,000 retailers in Canada.
• Auclair Sport division: Supplies and serves sporting goods stores and specialty shops with high performance ski, snowboard and cycling gloves.
• The Paris Sport division is the supplier of Dynaflite Softball Equipment and baseball equipment to Canada's team sport dealers.

Auclair is the premium sport and outdoor division of Paris Glove. It is also the official supplier to practically every Canadian team on snow and ice including Alpine, Snowboarding, Freestyle, Speed Skating, Nordic Combined, Biathlon, Telemark, Speed Skiing and, of course, Cross Country. The brand was prominent at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics where most of Canada's athletes wore Auclair gloves and the USA Olympic squad featured six gold medalists wearing Auclair.

“Auclair and Paris enjoy one of the longest sponsor-team relationships in all of sport with a 30-plus year history with the Canadian Cross Country ski team,” said Peter Monk, president and CEO, who took over operations from his parents in 1973. “We envision the opportunity for expansion into the European and Asian markets with the strength of New Wave's reach.”

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