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Brazil: AKR Brands Group to reinforce menswear market
The chief executive officer (CEO) Allan Soares and chief operating officer (COO) Rafael Miranda Credits: Yellow Estúdio Brazilian menswear brand King&Joe, which includes King&Joe Play for kidswear and K&J Black for premium menswear, have merged and formed a new company called AKR Brands Group. The strategic initiative is aimed to strengthen its presence in the multi-brand market, expanding its capacity for innovation and establishing itself as one of the leading menswear groups in the country. The three brands are complementary. They combine to increase sales participation with multi-brand retailers and market share, bringing more visibility to the group. AKR Brands currently serves 3,000 active business-to-business (B2B) clients, distributed across 2,500 Brazilian cities. With a factory located in Londrina and an area of 8,500 square metres, the company currently operates at 60 percent of its production capacity. It plans to produce two million pieces in 2025. Production growth is supported by investments in innovation and factory automation, ensuring operational efficiency and product quality. AKR Brands' strategic plan is ambitious. The goal is to triple turnover in the next 5 years. In 2024, the group had a consolidated turnover of 100 million Brazilian reals. For 2025, the goal is to reach 125 million reals, a growth of 25 percent compared to the previous year. The strategy includes expanding by an average of 100 new net points of sale per year, per brand. It also reinforces its presence in the multi-brand market and seeks new distribution formats. CEO Allan Soares explained to FashionUnited: “Our project is structured to sustain this growth and achieve this ambitious goal. This expansion plan has three aspects. These include the launch of new complementary brands, expansion in online and offline retail with own-brand stores and franchises, and the launch of the AKR Bootcamp. This retail school will sustain our culture and disseminate knowledge to all our stakeshoulders.” K&J Black campaign photo Credits: courtesy K&J Black K&J Black campaign Credits: courtesy K&J Black Investment in digital and partnerships Currently, e-commerce has a good share of total turnover, but the group projects that this channel could reach 15 percent by 2028. This digital transformation includes strengthening the identity of the brands. It does this through connecting with the lifestyle and consumer profile of customers, taking the product into the context of life and not just as a direct sales item. All of this is part of the complete digitalisation strategy of the brands, not only as an action in a digital environment, but also as a behaviour from the inside out. Strategic partnerships are also part of the construction of this new phase of AKR Brands. Collaborations with brands such as Barba de Respeito and the Brazilian artist Magmor are already part of the group's trajectory. The group is studying future collaborations with brands and celebreties. It always considers the focus and connection with the client, which further amplifies the strength of the brands in the digital sphere. Currently, the group has 200 direct employees. It projects a team expansion of approximately 15 percent per year for the next five years. The marketing, human resources and operations sectors will be the main beneficiaries of these investments, reinforcing the structure needed to achieve the established growth targets. Allan Soares and his partner Rafael Miranda, in the factory's stock warehouse Credits: Yellow Estúdio This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com
Brazilian menswear brand King&Joe, which includes King&Joe Play for kidswear and K&J Black for premium menswear, have merged and formed a new company called AKR Brands Group. The strategic initiative is aimed to strengthen its presence in the multi-brand market, expanding its capacity for innovation and establishing itself as one of the leading menswear groups in the country. The three brands are complementary. They combine to increase sales participation with multi-brand retailers and market share, bringing more visibility to the group.
AKR Brands currently serves 3,000 active business-to-business (B2B) clients, distributed across 2,500 Brazilian cities. With a factory located in Londrina and an area of 8,500 square metres, the company currently operates at 60 percent of its production capacity. It plans to produce two million pieces in 2025. Production growth is supported by investments in innovation and factory automation, ensuring operational efficiency and product quality.
AKR Brands' strategic plan is ambitious. The goal is to triple turnover in the next 5 years. In 2024, the group had a consolidated turnover of 100 million Brazilian reals. For 2025, the goal is to reach 125 million reals, a growth of 25 percent compared to the previous year. The strategy includes expanding by an average of 100 new net points of sale per year, per brand. It also reinforces its presence in the multi-brand market and seeks new distribution formats.
CEO Allan Soares explained to FashionUnited: “Our project is structured to sustain this growth and achieve this ambitious goal. This expansion plan has three aspects. These include the launch of new complementary brands, expansion in online and offline retail with own-brand stores and franchises, and the launch of the AKR Bootcamp. This retail school will sustain our culture and disseminate knowledge to all our stakeshoulders.”
Investment in digital and partnerships
Currently, e-commerce has a good share of total turnover, but the group projects that this channel could reach 15 percent by 2028. This digital transformation includes strengthening the identity of the brands. It does this through connecting with the lifestyle and consumer profile of customers, taking the product into the context of life and not just as a direct sales item. All of this is part of the complete digitalisation strategy of the brands, not only as an action in a digital environment, but also as a behaviour from the inside out.
Strategic partnerships are also part of the construction of this new phase of AKR Brands. Collaborations with brands such as Barba de Respeito and the Brazilian artist Magmor are already part of the group's trajectory. The group is studying future collaborations with brands and celebreties. It always considers the focus and connection with the client, which further amplifies the strength of the brands in the digital sphere.
Currently, the group has 200 direct employees. It projects a team expansion of approximately 15 percent per year for the next five years. The marketing, human resources and operations sectors will be the main beneficiaries of these investments, reinforcing the structure needed to achieve the established growth targets.
FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com
This article was translated to English using an AI tool.
