Marquee Brands Acquires Stance to Expand Global Lifestyle Essentials

Marquee Brands has officially added Stance, the California-born lifestyle and performance sock powerhouse, to its fast-growing global portfolio. As a result, Marquee’s total brand ecosystem now exceeds $4.5 billion in global retail sales, demonstrating how rapidly the “everyday essentials” category is rising within the broader fashion and lifestyle marketplace.

Stance Becomes a Cultural Engine for Marquee’s Long Term Strategy

To begin with, Stance is far more than a sock label. Since launching in 2009, it has become a cultural icon across sport, music, art, and streetwear. Through bold patterns, premium materials, and high-impact collaborations, Stance successfully turned socks, once an afterthought, into meaningful style statements. Consequently, its addition gives Marquee a strong cultural anchor within a highly repeatable, scalable essentials category.

Marquee Brands CEO Heath Golden highlighted this perfect alignment:

“Stance is an established cultural touchpoint known for bold design, creativity and collaborations. Together with ULAC, we see an opportunity to build global scale and accelerate category expansion.”

With this acquisition, Marquee strengthens both its performance-driven and culture-driven product pillars, ensuring the brand remains relevant across generations of consumers.

ULAC Partnership Provides Global Muscle and Operational Discipline

Furthermore, the acquisition includes a powerful licensing and operations partnership with United Legwear & Apparel Co. (ULAC), now Stance’s primary global licensee (excluding China). ULAC will oversee core categories such as:

• Socks for men, women, and kids

• Underwear across all segments

• Global design, development, retail, and e-commerce

• Distribution in 42 countries plus 1,100 U.S. wholesale accounts

This gives Stance a disciplined and highly efficient international engine while allowing Marquee to focus on brand elevation, market strategy, and portfolio integration.

ULAC CEO Isaac E. Ash emphasized the natural fit:

“Stance is a pioneering brand that transformed everyday essentials into expressions of style. ULAC is excited to continue that legacy alongside Marquee.”

Through this structure, Stance gains the operational strength of a category expert while retaining its creativity and cultural identity.

Cultural Storytelling Remains the Heart of Stance

Moreover, Stance is uniquely positioned because of its deep roots in entertainment, sports, and art. Its longstanding partnerships include:

• NBA, MLB, Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Warner Bros. Discovery

• Collaborations with Billie Eilish, Dwyane Wade, and the Basquiat Estate

These relationships elevate Stance beyond functional apparel and place it at the center of cultural conversation. With Marquee and ULAC behind it, these partnerships can now scale globally, reach more markets, and evolve into new categories.

Expanding Beyond Socks Into a Full Lifestyle Platform

At the same time, Marquee Brands plans to expand Stance beyond its legwear origins. Because of its expertise in fabric technology and design, Stance is well positioned to move into:

• Performance activewear

• Athleisure and lifestyle apparel

• Future footwear concepts

• Technical base layers

This expansion mirrors Marquee’s long-term vision: transforming focused labels into full lifestyle ecosystems.

A Major Win for Marquee’s Platform Strategy

Additionally, Marquee’s acquisition playbook continues to operate with clear structure. Backed by sponsor Neuberger Berman, the company consistently acquires high-equity, globally recognized brands and plugs them into a disciplined, scalable licensing platform.

Recent brand portfolio expansions, such as BCBG, Ben Sherman, Body Glove, Dakine, and Martha Stewart, show how effectively Marquee balances heritage brands with modern, culture-centered labels like Stance.

The advisory roles also demonstrate the deal’s significance:

• RBC Capital Markets advised Marquee

• Solomon Partners advised Stance

• Greenberg Traurig and Jones Day oversaw legal frameworks

Together, these inputs signal a sophisticated deal designed for long-term global growth.

What This Means for Stance Going Forward

Looking ahead, Stance fans can expect:

• Expanded global distribution and faster access to new products

• More frequent collaborations across sports, film, and music

• Greater emphasis on premium innovation and material technology

• Broader apparel and lifestyle categories

• Stronger e-commerce and retail presence

Under Marquee, Stance is set to evolve from cult-favorite sock disruptor into a full-scale global lifestyle platform.

The acquisition shows Marquee’s confidence in the future of premium essentials. By combining Stance’s cultural influence with ULAC’s operational excellence and Marquee’s brand-building strategy, the stage is set for massive global expansion. The challenge now is to scale boldly without losing the authenticity, artistry, and energy that made Stance iconic in the first place.