Bouncing back
It’s no secret that Brooks Brothers hit rock bottom in 2020 when the brand filed for bankruptcy, due to declining sales and a lack of demand for business attire during the pandemic.
But it didn’t take long for the business to bounce back after a sale to SPARC Group, a joint venture between Simon Property and Authentic Brands Group, which brought in Ken Ohashi as CEO and Bastian, Gant’s former creative director, to modernize the brand.
The dramatic recovery took Brooks Brothers from bankruptcy to a valuation of nearly $1 billion at the close of 2023.
Since then, the business has continued to grow. In Jan. 2025, SPARC Group joined with the American department store chain, JCPenney, which was billed as a landmark merger. It combined JCPenney’s department store business with SPARC’s portfolio of apparel brands, creating Catalyst Brands, a massive retail powerhouse with over $9 billion in annual revenue.
Thalberg has also been on a mission to revitalize JCPenney’s brand since joining the company as marketing leader in Oct. 2024.
