NEW YORK — Jason Rabin keeps a low profile.
The chief executive officer of Centric Brands has quietly built a business that generates $6 billion at retail by becoming the go-to licensee for more than 100 brands, including Coach, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Kate Spade, Izod, Under Armour and Hervé Léger.
It also owns a number of brands including Hudson, Robert Graham, Zac Posen, Avirex and Kids Headquarters.
But Rabin’s path to success hasn’t been an easy one. Centric Brands was founded in 1987 as Innovo Inc., and took on the name of Joe’s Jeans Inc. after merging with the denim-maker in 2007, only to later merge with Hudson, sell Joe’s, take on Robert Graham and become Differential Brands. That name lasted until 2018, when the company was renamed again following the $1.2 billion cash acquisition of Global Brands Group’s North American licensing business.
Although Centric and GBG — which was shuttered in 2021 — separated in 2019, the earlier deal led to Centric taking on $1.7 billion in debt, a load that led it to file bankruptcy in 2020. It emerged from the Chapter 11 process that same year as a private company with $700 million less debt and new owners: Blackstone, Ares Management and HPS Investment Partners.
“From 2019 to 2022 there was always something,” Rabin said in an interview at the sprawling Centric offices in the Empire State Building. “But last year we had our best year ever and now we’re working to continue the momentum.”
Today’s Centric has grown into a larger, profitable company with four main pillars of business: men’s and women’s apparel, accessories, kids and sports and entertainment.
And now, Rabin has signed an agreement that he believes can be transformative to the company: a three-year deal with the superstar soccer player Lionel Messi to produce a wide range of product — apparel for men, women and kids, accessories, bedding, stationary/party supplies and seasonal products — that it will sell globally.
Centric obtained the rights to the brand from its former licensee, MGO Global, a publicly traded company that counts Maximiliano Ojeda, an Argentine businessman, and Ginny Hilfiger, Tommy Hilfiger’s sister, as principals. Centric paid $2 million for the license, and will also make a $1.6 million royalty payment to the athlete, according to papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The rights to the brand are owned by Leo Messi Management, the star’s company.
MGO acquired the rights to produce lifestyle apparel from the soccer star in 2019 but between 2020 and 2023, sales of the brand were only $3.6 million, it cost $1.8 million to produce the collection, and Messi himself was paid a little more than $2 million in licensing fees, which collectively helped put MGO into the red, according to the SEC filing.
Although MGO was not able to make the deal with Messi work, Rabin is confident that Centric has the chops to create a successful brand.
“This is one of the biggest, most exciting deals I’ve done,” Rabin said. “Messi is truly an iconic global superstar who has enhanced the sport of soccer.”
Before he joined the U.S.’s Inter Miami team last summer, there was no one player that represented the sport in the American market. “But he came into North America and took it by storm,” Rabin said. “And with the World cup coming to the U.S. next year, the timing was perfect.”
Messi made his professional debut for Barcelona in 2004 and soon established himself as the team’s top scorer. He won six Ballon d’Or awards — soccer’s version of an MVP award — and stayed with the team until 2019 when his contract expired and he joined Paris Saint-Germain for two seasons before making the jump to the U.S.
Rabin said he has secured licenses for categories MGO did not have, and the plan is to create a multitiered collection with different distribution for mass, mid-tier, department and specialty stores. He has appointed Janice Brown, president of Centric’s newly named Sports & Entertainment division, to oversee the brand.
“We’re two different companies,” he said of the Messi brand’s former licensee. “We have nothing but respect for MGO but our model is completely different. MGO was direct-to-consumer and higher end while ours is wholesale driven. And we believe the core customer for this brand is middle America.”
Retailers ranging from Walmart and Target on the mass end to J.C. Penney and Kohl’s in the mid-tier, department stores and specialty retailers such as Old Navy and Gap as well as Amazon have started carrying the Messi line, which quietly began rolling out for summer.
Lionel Messi in looks from his Centric-produced collection.
Courtesy of Centric
Product offerings include shorts, joggers, pants, hoodies, sweaters, sweatshirts, tops, sleepwear, loungewear, swimwear and outerwear in apparel and underwear, bags, backpacks, belts, hosiery, hats, gloves and scarves in accessories. There will also be home decor, party supplies and seasonal items such as Halloween costumes. There are even Messi notebooks and beach towels.
And so far, so good — initial orders were above projections, Rabin said.
One category Centric doesn’t hold the license for is footwear, and Adidas is the company that is authorized to sell the official Messi soccer jersey and other products.
While the initial outlay of nearly $4 million was substantial, Rabin is unconcerned. “That’s very acceptable for our type of business,” he said. “To have Lionel Messi as part of the Centric portfolio is amazing.”
Messi agrees. “I thank Centric Brands for the trust placed in making the Messi Brand grow globally in different lifestyle categories, I hope that it will be liked by people,” the soccer star said.
Lionel Messi is among the biggest stars in the game of soccer.
Rabin said that because Messi himself is determined to make the line a success, he will be involved on the marketing side and will be featured in a campaign that will roll out beginning July 23. “He will do what’s right for the brand,” Rabin said.
Rabin said that in addition to being a top athlete, Messi is also a family man who has managed to “bring hype to the sport of soccer. We look at not only his talent on the field but what he means to the world. It’s such an amazing fit for us.”
Outside the U.S., Centric will be selling the Messi brand in Central and South America as well as Europe, the Middle East and, eventually, Asia.
“We have over 100 licensed brands, but this one is fresh, new and exciting,” Rabin said.
A campaign image shows the breadth of the Messi line.
Courtesy of Centric
When looking at his organization as a whole, Rabin attributes Centric’s success to the fact that it is able to produce a variety of categories for any brand that hires them as a licensee. He has been working with Jamie Salter, the CEO of Authentic Brands Group and the king of licensing, since the beginning, he said, and also has expanded his reach with other companies such as Under Armour, for which it produces men’s and women’s underwear as well as kids athleticwear, and Coach, which licenses Centric for jewelry, hosiery and cold-weather products.
“Ninety percent of our business is built on licensing,” he said. “Our goal is to get into a brand and do the non-core things they don’t want to focus on. There are not a lot of companies that can do men’s, women’s, children’s and accessories.”
And Centric has also gone global. It opened a London office two years ago and now has 11 overseas offices as well as a sourcing arm in Asia.
In addition to its licensed and owned brands, Centric also has two joint ventures: Favorite Daughter and Jennifer Fisher, and it operates more than 10 e-commerce sites for its brands as well as a fleet of more than 50 full-price and outlet stores.
Although there are no immediate plans to open Messi stores, that’s something that could be a possibility in the future, Rabin said. “We’re talking about it.”
The sky’s the limit, he believes, when it comes to both Messi and Centric. Pointing to the 300,000 square feet of space the company has in New York City and the new photo studio that recently opened on site, he said, “We call this Centric 2.0 — we want to build for the future.”
