Breaking News: TSM takes minority stake in Rachel Roy

Rachel Roy, the New-York based designer and wife of hip-hop mogul Damon Dash, has announced that TSM Capital has taken a significant minority stake in her eponymous business. According to WWD, Roy's business is generating $10m in wholesale revenues.

The Rachel Roy brand is carried in an impressive set of department store chains including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks 5th Avenue, and Neiman Marcus, and also in reputable international stores like Kuwait's Villa Moda and Moscow's Tsum.

With a respectable wholesale business in place, TSM says the capital injection will be used to open retail stores, spur expansion outside the USA, and expand into new categories, likely through external licensing deals. In an interesting twist that runs opposite to the flow of designers moving into the Contemporary segment, Roy's business had originally been positioned as a Contemporary brand, but it was subsequently repositioned as a Designer brand, which meant raising prices by 40%. This was a move that was generally lauded by buyer and editors.