Thrills fashion label is sold to Universal Store for $50million

Three Byron Bay residents have turned a decade-long fashion project into a $50 million windfall after selling their brand to an Australian retail powerhouse.

Married couple Tabitha and Brooke McGregor co-founded their company ‘Thrills’ 11 years ago with boyfriend Ryan Collins – first selling vintage motorcycles, but soon turned the brand into a thriving fashion label.

Australian retail giant Universal Store has now acquired the brand, just seven months after Thrills was introduced to the US market.

The first Thrills store opened in 2015 on the main street of Byron’s Bay. Now there are seven more outlets in Australia and one in Japan (product photo shown)

The first Thrills store opened in 2015 on the main street of Byron’s Bay.

There are now seven outlets in Australia and one in Japan.

Two more stores will open by the end of the year, with the brand generating $34.6 million in revenue in fiscal 2022.

The deal with Universal Store is worth $50 million — including $17.5 million in cash and $17.5 million in stock — and the deal is due to close by the end of the year.

Tabitha (pictured) and Brooke McGregor – a married couple with two children – founded Thrills with Ryan Collins 11 years ago, based on a shared love of vintage motorcycles

The founding trio said the brand has been transformed next to Byron Bay, the city from which it was born.

‘The evolution of Byron Bay has been a whirlwind in itself; grow from a small and idyllic coastal town into a world-famous destination and epicenter for now global brands, including Thrills,” they said. Ragtrader.

Alice Barbery, CEO of Universal Store, said Thrills is the best-selling third-party brand in his business.

“I am delighted to be strengthening our partnership with the three founders of Thrills. In Thrills, Brooke, Tabitha and Ryan have built an iconic youth fashion brand and have proven they can deliver products that our customers love,” she said.

“We are excited about the opportunities that a closer collaboration can offer in both product and brand development and the further expansion of Thrill’s direct-to-consumer channel.”

Sales through Universal Store represented approximately 26 percent of Thrills’ business, accounting for approximately 9 percent of Universal Store’s 2022 revenue.

Sales through Universal Store represented approximately 26 percent of Thrills’ business, accounting for approximately 9 percent of Universal Store’s FY2022 revenue (photo of Thrills product photo)

The trio said last year that the brand had been “one hell of a ride.”

“With nothing but a mutual love for vintage motorcycles, we born our first business idea; import bikes from the US and Japan,” they told Ragtrader.

“When our first shipment of bikes arrived in 2011, Brooke and Tabitha returned to their fashion roots to work on a small T-shirt collection, and the rest is history.

Once launched, the T-shirts took Byron Bay and the surrounding area by storm, and nearly 10 years later, Thrills has evolved into a culture-defining fashion label fueled by a passion for music, art and the way of life that encompasses the vintage. Harleys that are modified to this day.”

Thrills focuses on sustainability and this has been demonstrated by switching most of their denim range to organic cotton and introducing hemp.

The label also recently launched an unbleached collection without dyes or chemicals and aims to use only sustainable fabrics by the end of 2022.