Lucky Brand

Lucky Brand's July 2020 bankruptcy ended the denim brand's independence after declining for years. The company had been sold by Liz Claiborne to Leonard Green Partners in 2010, then to SPARC Group in 2014. Each owner extracted value while underinvesting in brand building. When COVID hit, Lucky Brand had neither brand equity nor balance sheet flexibility. SPARC Group bought the brand out of bankruptcy, essentially buying back what it had sold to creditors. Lucky Brand demonstrated the private equity playbook: load with debt, extract fees, let creditors take the loss.