m4e group takes on licensing rights of the
New York cult brand Frankie’s GARAGE and develops fashion-collection

The Grünwald-based brand management and media company m4e AG secured the licensing rights of the cult 80s bag label Frankie’s GARAGE, which has been celebrating its grand revival since 2009. The task for m4e is now to expand the product range step by step throughout the successful label and to complement it with new product groups. Initially a high-class fashion collection, as well as a trendy shoe collection is being considered. As a second step it is intended to expand the range with accessories such as glasses, watches and underwear etc.

The Frankie’s GARAGE label was founded in 1985 in New York. One of the first models in the range was the legendary ‘messenger bag’, which played on the myth of New York’s bicycle-couriers. Within a very short space of time, these bags developed into the ultimate fashion statement. This collection was soon so hotly traded that many celebrities from the music and art scene, such as for example David Bowie, Andy Warhol and Tina Turner had their own individual bags and luggage produced by Frankie’s GARAGE. Following an article in the US edition of VOGUE, international success soon followed. In US cities, in Europe and also in Japan, the bags shaped the street scene outlook with their typical lettering. By the end of the 1980s the company founder, Werner Jakobi, had supplied over a thousand dealers with his collections worldwide.

Finally, after a long break, the cult bags from the 1980s are now once again on the market. Frankie’s GARAGE however meanwhile produces not only the highlights from its own past, but continually supplements its collection with products oriented to the latest fashion influences. The comprehensive collection is being intensively well-placed by the distribution team surrounding the commercial agencies R. Jakobi and O. Schmitz in high-quality fashion, lifestyle and street-wear settings.

It is therefore quite consistent that the renewed success of the label is now being expanded to other product groups such as textiles. Together with its subsidiary company, the Essen-based textile distributor “Tex-ass Textilvertriebs GmbH”, m4e AG is now developing a high-class streetwear fashion collection, which takes on the well-known and popular design elements of the successful bag collection and orients itself to current trends such as Vintage. The collection is due to be initially presented in mid 2010 and will be available at the latest in spring/summer 2011 in the relevant trend and fashion shops.

Jutta Breyer, general manager of Tex-ass, on the acquisition of the brand rights for textiles: “The name Frankie’s GARAGE warms the lifeblood of anyone in the textile market. The brand recalls the ‘good old times’ … a little nostalgia from the 1980s, although soon the desire for freedom and the awareness of life prevails. The Frankie’s GARAGE textile collection will initially be developed from a combination of these elements.”

In addition to textiles, m4e is already working on a shoe collection. In this respect, initial potential partners were approached at the recently ended GDS shoe trade fair in Düsseldorf. Other interested parties are very welcome to contact m4e directly.