A buyer has been found for troubled New Zealand childrenswear retailer Pumpkin Patch.
Online retailer Catch Group, which owns CatchOfTheDay, Scoopon, GroceryRun and Mumgo, has acquired the company’s brand and intellectual property assets for an undisclosed sum. This includes the database, local and international trademarks, product designs and innovations.
Catch Group CEO, Nati Harpaz, says the move supports the Group’s vision to reposition itself towards a higher value customer by bringing on board more premium brands.
“Strategically this deal supports our renewed vision to grow the number of premium brands on offer and achieve scale by expanding into new categories and growing customer numbers,” he says.
The company is aiming to relaunch the brand mid-year, with the release of a new clothing line focusing on high quality fabrics and innovative designs.
“We have engaged top designers and product experts to help us build a beautiful range of Pumpkin Patch apparel which will remain true to its heritage but at the same time bring a stronger sense of fashion and product innovation to the brand,” explains Harpaz.
Founded in 1990, Pumpkin Patch became a childrenswear powerhouse before closing all of its retail stores in 2016. According to Roy Morgan Research, Pumpkin Patch was greatly affected by the rise of international retailers like H&M and Zara in the Australian market, along with local retailers.
While Pumpkin Patch used to average close to 220,000 people that bought at least one item in an average four weeks, since 2014 this has been eclipsed by Cotton On Kids (133,000 vs 128,000) and Kmart (712,000).
Harpaz says the Catch Group management didn’t want to see the brand and its legacy disappear.
“There is a strong history of passion for the Pumpkin Patch brand locally and internationally. As parents of kids who wear and love Pumpkin Patch we couldn’t just sit back and let the brand disappear.”
By Ruth Cooper
