Bluefly History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of Bluefly, kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
Bluefly is a leading online shopping destination featuring clothing and accessories from over 350 top European and American designers - the historical profile's lead, and the whole business in one line: designer labels, sold online, at value prices. Founded in 1998, Bluefly, Inc. is a leading online retailer of designer brands, fashion trends and superior value, headquartered in the heart of the Fashion District in New York City. Bluefly describes itself in the filing as a pioneer in offering the best in designer brands and fashion trends at a value customers love, in an online environment that is fun to visit and easy to navigate: designer clothes at discount prices, plus designer handbags, shoes, dresses and jewelry.
Belle & Clive, Eyefly and the Clearlake Acquisition
In 2011 Bluefly expanded its portfolio, launching Belle & Clive, a members-only shopping destination presenting highly curated selections of important brands via limited time sale events - designer brands at members-only prices, for a limited time. The eyewear venture followed the same pattern of partnership: Bluefly, Inc. and A + D Labs, a designer and manufacturer of fashion eyewear owned by Alessandro Lanaro, announced on January 10, 2011 plans to launch Eyefly, an online eyewear company to be owned 52% by Bluefly and 48% by A + D Labs, offering on-trend frames and prescription lenses for a fraction of boutique prices. On October 25, 2012, the company sold its entire 52% interest in Eyefly to A + D Labs.
The ownership record is kept in the filing's own sequence: Bluefly was a publicly traded company (NASDAQ SmallCap: BFLY), with an initial public offering on May 21, 1997 - a date historical descriptions give as preceding the 1998 founding statement, and which this page preserves as printed rather than reconciling. In May 2013 an affiliate of Clearlake Capital Group purchased approximately 89% interest of Bluefly Inc.; on May 23, 2013 Runway Acquisition Sub, Inc., an affiliate of Clearlake, purchased the shares held by the four principal stockholders - Rho Ventures VI, Quantum Industrial Partners, the Maverick funds and Prentice Consumer Partners - and the purchaser then merged into Bluefly, with Bluefly surviving. This page keeps that record as history and does not extend it.
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