Delia's

This article is about a clothing company. For the genus of butterflies, see Delias.

Delia's, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	E-commerce
Founded	1993 (1993) in New York City, NY
Headquarters	New York City, NY
Key people	Ryan Schreiber (Interim CEO through bankruptcy)
Products	Young women and girl's apparel & accessories
Subsidiaries	Alloy
Website	www.delias.com

Delia's, Inc. (stylized as dELiA*s) was a direct marketing and retail company composed of two lifestyle brands primarily targeting girls and young women around the ages of 13 to 19.^[1]

Delia's was also popular among college women, as many of its clothing and accessories were mature and affordable for college-age students. It was, in its prime, the leading marketer to teenage girls in the United States, selling to 10 to 24-year-old females.^[2]

Products

dELiA*s generated revenue by selling apparel (including pants, shorts, skirts, tees, jackets, blazers, and bikini tops and bottoms), accessories, footwear (including shoes and boots), cosmetics, and room furnishings to teenage consumers through direct mail catalogs, websites, and, for dELiA*s, mall-based specialty retail stores.

History

The company was launched in 1993 by two Yale University graduates.^[3] The company was acquired by Alloy Inc. in 2003, for $50 million.^[4]^[5] The combined company had annual catalog, internet, and retail sales of $300 million. It also had a database of over 20 million names, constituting 30%–40% of U.S. consumers who were 12–18 years old.^[5] Alloy then spun off the company in 2005. On December 29, 2005, the company announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission declared effective on the same day the Post-Effective Amendment to its Registration Statement on Form S-1.^[6] In January 2013 HRSH Acquisitions LLC bought Alloy Inc, now being marketed as Alloy Apparel, for $3.7 million in cash. HRSH also assumed $3.1 million in liabilities. On December 5, 2014, it announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and would be liquidating all of its 95 stores. Shortly after, its shares fell more than 80% to $0.02. ^[7]

Bankruptcy

For details on bankruptcy, click here

In December 2014, the company announced an agency agreement with Hilco Merchant Resources, LLC and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, LLC, to, among other things, liquidate all merchandise owned by the Company and to dispose of certain furnishings, trade fixtures, equipment and improvements to real property with respect to the Company’s stores. Sales of merchandise under the agreement may begin as early as December 5, 2014. The company tried exploring strategic alternatives to raise financing and/or engage in a sale, merger, or other form of business combination, but the Company’s Board of Directors concluded that it was in the best interests of the Company’s stakeholders to close its retail stores and liquidate its assets.

On December 5, 2014, Matthew Dunlap, Chief Executive Officer and a director, and Brian Lex Austin-Gemas, Chief Operating Officer, resigned from their respective positions effective immediately. As of such date, Ryan Schreiber was appointed as President and will continue in his capacity as General Counsel and Secretary, and Edward Brennan was appointed as Chief Financial Officer, having previously served as the Company’s Vice President of Finance. Michael Newman, who was the company's Vice President of Human Resources, continues as a private consultant until the end of January 2015.^[8]^[9]

Branding

One company trademark is its Gen Y understanding, as reflected in its use of the internet for furthering brand identity.^[10] It direct-marketed teenage girls, and then in 1998 launched the non-commercialized girls website gURL.com which focuses on issues such and sports and dating, and which it linked to its own homepage.^[4]^[10] In 2001 it sold gURL.com to the parent company of Seventeen Magazine.^[4]

References