Veteran ragtrader Jeff Moss buys apparel business from Funtastic

Veteran fashion Jeff Moss, the former owner of the Rockmans, Wombat and Table Eight brands and the founder of the Packer family-backed Pretty Girl Fashion business, has purchased the apparel business of struggling toy company Funtastic.

Moss’ business, Australian Horizons, will spend around $5.4 million to buy the apparel division, which mainly makes children’s clothing under license for kids brands such as Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine and The Wiggles.

Moss will also give Funtastic a share of the 2010 sales which is expected to be no less than $3 million but capped at $5 million.

Moss, in partnership with David Rosenberg and a company called Corell Holdings, bought Funtastic’s footwear business in late June.

He says that he looked at the apparel business back then, but Funtastic agreed to sell the business to Mercury Brands. However, Mercury’s funding fell over around 10 days ago and Moss was back in the game.

“I’m very comfortable with the apparel business. This is the space I’ve been in for 25 years,” Moss says.

His long history in the fashion business is impressive. He established Pretty Girl Fashion Group in 1989 and later sold half of the business to the Packer family in 2000. He co-founded Tigerlily Swimwear in 1999 with Johdi Meares, acquired the Rockmans Retail chain from Woolworths in 2000, bought the Table Eight business in 2005 and acquired the Wombat chain in the same year, taking Pretty Girl’s retail footprint to 2,005 stores.

He sold out of Pretty Girl in 2006 but remained in the rag trade, manufacturing clothing under license (one of his most successful brand is the Boom Doggers kid’s brand) and also manufacturing generic brands for discount department stores including Target.

Moss says he will continue to work closely with Funtastic; when it lands the license over a certain toy brand, Australian Horizons will get the apparel as part of that license.

Moss says Funtastic’s original strategy of operating across the toy, footwear and clothing sectors was a good one, but the company lacked the necessary clothing experience. “That’s where our expertise comes in.”

Moss says that while the last few years have been tough for retailers and fashion suppliers, there is still room for smart operators who understated how to manage the supply chain, which is now heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing.

“There has been pretty heavy rationalisation of suppliers and there are not that many good suppliers left anymore and that’s where this business has a real opportunity.”