Varsity Brands, Inc. is an American apparel company owned by

Bain Capital Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...

. It is primarily focused on academic apparel and memorabilia, with its operations split among three major subsidiaries, including

Herff Jones Herff Jones is an American company that manufactures and sells educational recognition and achievement products and motivational materials, and has been in continuous operation since 1920. Herff Jones maintains production facilities across the Un ...

—a manufacturer of products such as class rings,

graduation Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...

caps and gowns, and yearbooks;

Varsity Spirit Varsity Spirit, LLC, also known as Varsity, is an American cheerleading company owned by Varsity Brands. Founded in 1974 as the Universal Cheerleaders Association, the company is a manufacturer of apparel for cheerleading and dance teams, organiz ...

—which produces

apparel Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

and competitions in

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

; and BSN Sports, a distributor of sports uniforms and

equipment Equipment most commonly refers to a set of tools or other objects commonly used to achieve a particular objective. Different job Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and ...

History

In 2011, Herff Jones merged with Varsity Brands. Its founder and CEO Jeff Webb became president and CEO of Herff Jones. Herff Jones acquired BSN Sports in 2013. In June 2014, it was announced that the company as a whole would operate under the Varsity Brands name in order to reflect a more integrated operation. The company was then sold to the private equity group

Charlesbank Capital Partners Charlesbank Capital Partners is a private equity investment firm focusing on management-led buyouts and growth capital financing of middle-market companies. The firm typically invests $50 million to $250 million of equity per transaction in co ...

. In 2018, it was sold to

for around $2.5 billion. Adam Blumenfeld, who served as CEO of BSN Sports since 2007, was named CEO of Varsity Brands in 2017.

Antitrust and sexual assault lawsuits

In May 2020, Varsity Brands faced a consolidated lawsuit over monopoly control in the cheerleading apparel industry. In September 2022, Varsity Brands also faced two lawsuits regarding sexual assault charges related to Varsity-Brands-connected coaches. url=https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/antitrust-and-the-fall-of-a-cheerleading

References

External links

*
''Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc.''
at ''

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'' {{Bain Capital Companies based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Cheerleading Sporting goods manufacturers of the United States Bain Capital companies 2018 mergers and acquisitions