Wilsons Leather
| File:Wilson's Leather Store Southern Park Mall.jpg Wilson's Leather retail location inside Southern Park Mall | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded | 1899 |
| Successor | G-III Apparel Group |
| Headquarters | Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States |
| Products | Leather apparel and accessories |
| Parent | Melville Corporation 1982-1996 G-III Apparel Group |
| Website | wilsonsleather.com |
Wilsons Leather is an American leather goods brand specializing in items such as leather jackets, belts, footwear, handbags, and gloves. At its height in 2002, this Minneapolis-based retailer operated 763 outlets spanning 46 U.S. states and Canada. The stores carried product lines from notable brands including DKNY, Michael Kors, Guess?, and Cole Haan.
History
The origins of Wilsons Leather trace back to two distinct leather apparel companies: Berman Buckskin, founded in 1899 by brothers David, Ephraim, and Alexander Berman, and Wilsons House of Suede, launched in the 1950s by Jerry Wilson in Beverly Hills. During the 1970s, Jerry Wilson’s sons—Tony, Jeffrey, and Brian—expanded the brand’s visibility by pioneering television advertising campaigns. By 1975, Wilsons Leather began shifting production overseas to reduce costs, enabling expansion into regional shopping centers nationwide.
In 1982, Melville Corporation acquired Wilsons House of Suede and subsequently purchased Berman Buckskin from W. R. Grace and Company. These two entities merged under the Wilsons Leather banner in 1986. Melville continued to grow the division by acquiring Georgetown Leather Design in 1993. As Melville refocused on CVS drugstores, it sold Wilsons to a management-led investor group in 1996.
Wilsons filed for an initial public offering in October 1996 with plans to raise $42 million but ultimately went public in May 1997 targeting $10 million. The company launched an e-commerce platform in 1999 and diversified into luggage through acquisitions of El Portal, Bentley's Luggage, and California Luggage Outlet. However, following several quarters of financial losses, Wilsons shuttered its 135 travel-focused stores by late 2002.
Shifting focus back to its core leather products in 2003, Wilsons scaled back its merchandise range and closed underperforming locations. By early 2004, the number of stores decreased from 763 to 598; further closures brought this down to 453 by October that year and then to 428 by December 2005. Continued downsizing reduced store count to 411 by October 2007. In February 2008, the company announced plans to close up to 160 mall-based stores; by May it operated 228 outlets across 39 states.
In July 2008, Wilsons sold its brand name, e-commerce site, and 116 outlet stores to G-III Apparel Group. The remaining business rebranded as PreVu Inc., was removed from NASDAQ trading in August 2008, and liquidated its mall stores by October of that year. In 2009, AM Retail Group purchased the brand along with GH Bass Co.
In 2020, G-III Apparel Group revealed plans to close 110 directly operated Wilsons Leather stores as part of a restructuring effort while preserving the brand’s online retail operations.