Sell a Apparel & Fashion Brands business

Owner-operator apparel & fashion brands businesses trade at 2.5x–4.5x SDE for typical $500K–$3M SDE ranges. At $3M+ EBITDA scale the same operators sell at 5.5x–10x EBITDA. Multiples in this category are ebitda-based and data-sourced from Pitchbook CPG Report Q4 2024 + Consumer Growth Report 2025. Where you land in the range is driven by growth trajectory, revenue mix, customer concentration, and management-team depth beyond the owner.

Authentic Brands Group, WHP Global, HanesBrands, and PE platforms (L Catterton, Sycamore Partners, Ares Management) drive apparel-brand M&A. Active buyer archetypes in consumer products include CPG strategic, Consumer PE, Aggregator / brand roll-up. Which of these bids for your business depends on scale — sub-$1M SDE is typically individual or search-fund territory, $1-3M SDE opens up PE platforms and strategics, and $3M+ EBITDA gets full LMM buyer attention.

Apparel brands with strong owned-DTC channel, moderate wholesale mix (25-40%), and 40%+ repeat-purchase rate trade at premium — the omni-channel mix + repeat rate combination is what strategic apparel buyers pursue. Beyond the industry-specific factor, the universal drivers in consumer products are omnichannel revenue mix (amazon + dtc + retail); gross margin >45%; cac / ltv ratio evidence of unit-economic durability.

Apparel faces intense margin pressure from off-price channel proliferation and inventory-liquidation cycles; buyers scrutinize markdown discipline and inventory turns. Buyers in this category also standardly scrutinize marketplace platform concentration (amazon-only businesses discounted) and return rates and quality issues. Addressing these in advance in a well-prepared CIM materially reduces retrade risk during diligence.

Typical transaction range for apparel & fashion brands is $2.0M–$80M in annual revenue. Below that, buyer pool narrows to individual and small-search-fund. Above that, PE platforms and strategics dominate. NAICS code 315220 — buyers screen by NAICS in most deal sources.

From the day you engage a broker to close, expect 6–12 months for a well-prepared business in consumer products. The prep work — financial cleanup, addbacks documentation, key-employee retention agreements, real estate lease sorting — is where 3-6 months of the timeline hides. Starting that early is what separates a full-multiple exit from a discounted one.