Designer sneaker brand Android Homme is under new ownership.

The premium Los Angeles-based footwear label revealed that, after 10 years, it has been sold to an undisclosed private equity firm affiliate of Global Investment Group.

Matt Germaine, president of Android Homme, explained to FN that producing its shoes in Italy created problems that the brand was unable to overcome without help.

“We had some production issues with Italy; we moved our production to Italy in 2015. Everybody loved the Italian production, but to ship on time and correctly was an adventure,” he said. “We ran into some issues, and we had a ton of orders that were canceled in holiday ’17 that left us in a position where we needed to seek outside funding.”

Germaine, who is a founding partner of Android Homme and was its VP of sales prior to the acquisition, said the issues prevented the brand from shipping product in the United States. (The last collection to ship stateside was holiday ’17.)

But its growth in Europe and a strong e-commerce business, according to Germaine, kept Android Homme afloat. 

With new ownership, Android Homme has plans to ship its fall ’19 collection to U.S. retailers and expand its distribution to new markets, including France, Canada, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg. U.S. stores the brand is targeting include Barneys New York, Nordstrom, Revolve and high-end boutiques, such as Feature and Moda404. The brand will venture into new categories as well, such as apparel and accessories.

Also, Germaine said Android Homme will be manned by a new design team, in-house content creation and social media management teams, and an infrastructure put in place by its new owners.

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