Unified Commerce Group has a new partner.

The Los Angeles-based owner of Spiritual Gangster, Greats, Böhme and Frank and Oak, has brought in Back Forty to help expedite its future acquisitions.

Dustin Jones, the former Macy’s and Fung Retailing Group executive who founded Unified Commerce with Greg Freihofner in 2019, described Back Forty as his company’s “deal machine.”

“Any great platform has to have a deal machine,” he explained of the newly formed strategic partnership with Back Forty, a leading investor behind Canadian brands such as Monos, which has raised over $9 million in capital for high-growth companies. “It will help speed up our acquisition process.”

He said it’s unrealistic for him to run the companies under the Unified Commerce umbrella while also being in the trenches dealing with the nuts and bolts of the process necessary for future acquisitions.

That’s where Back Forty comes in. It will lead the company’s capital-raising efforts, oversee investment evaluation and execution, and advise the UCG Board on capital-allocation strategies.  

Instead of a traditional investment, the two companies have negotiated what Jones said was a “compensation arrangement based on the success of our scale — and they believe our scale is enormous. So they came in as our chief investment arm.”

Jones believes Unified Commerce has the wherewithal to add around two brands a year. His primary focus is companies that are direct-to-consumer but have been facing challenges since the pandemic-fueled online surge faded. Since its peak of $5 billion in 2021, Unified Commerce said, investment in DTC brands has fallen sharply.

The companies that attract Unified Commerce’s attention still have a strong identity and a loyal customer base but have been hamstrung by the changing economic environment and need operational support.

Unlike the large brand management firms such as Authentic Brands Group and WHP Global, Unified Commerce targets much smaller companies. “Our fish are much smaller,” Jones said, adding that his firm is attracted to brands with sales of $30 million to $100 million. Authentic, in contrast, seeks brands with sales of well over $1 billion. “That creates more opportunity for me,” Jones said.

He said Unified Commerce would consider brands in cosmetics, beauty, travel or apparel. “I think of my portfolio as a department store. A lot of people are afraid of apparel, but I’m not. I look for companies that are in a segment with a lot of upside.”

As an example, he pointed to Böhme, a women’s brand based out of Salt Lake City that operates 15 stores in the Southwest. Jones said he was attracted to the company because the region where it operates stores is growing exponentially. Since the acquisition of a majority stake last December, the company has seen its comparable-store sales increase.

“I look for generational brands with strong recognition but a classic DTC model,” he said.

That’s the case with Spiritual Gangster, a popular L.A.-based athleisure brand that Unified Commerce purchased in December of 2023. “It was like a child to the founders but was not set up to scale,” Jones said. Since joining the Unified Commerce family, he said the brand has expanded its digital and wholesale footprints and is now available in over 600 locations.

Going forward, Jones said the goal is to find similar brands with a strong brand voice that just need a more-experienced operator.

“The market has failed this generation of DTC brands, and that failure creates opportunity,” said Jones. “Back Forty shares our conviction in the long-term potential of this sector and brings proven expertise in consumer retail investing. Together, we will help fashion brands break through and unlock growth.”

“Back Forty was founded to champion standout consumer brands and help them scale profitably,” said Chris Reynolds, cofounder and managing partner of Back Forty. “UCG has built a platform that provides exactly what today’s fashion brands need: capital, expertise and operational muscle. We partnered with Dustin because he brings a world-class track record in brand building and operational excellence, and his vision aligns perfectly with our approach to creating long-term value. Together, we can unlock significant growth in a part of the market that has been almost completely vacated by institutional capital.”

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