Authentic Brands Group has entered a decisive operational phase for its Dockers brand by cementing a long-term partnership with International Apparel Corporation (IAC). This move focuses on neutralizing the logistical and fiscal challenges inherent in the Latin American market, where import duties in nations like Argentina can escalate costs by $20 per unit. By utilizing IAC’s regional manufacturing infrastructure, Authentic aims to maintain price competitiveness in a sector that is increasingly sensitive to inflationary shifts. This collaboration grants IAC the rights to manufacture and distribute Dockers’ apparel across the Caribbean, Ecuador, and the broader Andean region, ensuring that the brand’s supply chain remains agile and shielded from the volatility of international shipping and cross-border trade restrictions.
Exploiting the $100 billion lifestyle apparel upswing
The expansion coincides with a period of robust growth for the Latin American fashion industry, which is on track to hit a valuation of $106.69 billion by the end of 2026. As regional professional cultures move toward ‘casualization,’ there is a heightened demand for versatile, durable basics - a category where Dockers maintains significant heritage. Denis Abadi, CEO, IAC, notes, the firm is deploying extensive resources to scale the brand's presence across both wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels. By combining Authentic’s digital-first marketing prowess with IAC’s two decades of localized retail intelligence, the partnership is positioned to capture a dominant share of the discretionary spend from the burgeoning urban middle class across Central and South America.
Authentic Brands Group is a global development platform managing over 50 iconic brands, including Reebok and Nautica, generating $38 billion in annual systemwide sales. The firm utilizes an asset-light licensing model to scale brands across 150 countries. Since its 2010 inception, Authentic has specialized in transforming heritage brands through high-performance regional partnerships.
