Formal wear hire firm measures up for US assault

FORMALWEAR specialist ACS Clothing has received help to pursue its “ambitious” US expansion plans in the form of multi-million pound funding, writes Emma Newlands.

ACS chief executive Richard Freedman and BGF Scotland regional director Simon Munro. Picture: Peter Sandground

The Glasgow-based company, Europe’s largest supplier of men’s formalwear, has secured £8.8 million in follow-on investment from the Business Growth Fund (BGF) after an £8.5m funding round in January last year. The latter fuelled the growth of ACS’s Xedo Software business and laid the groundwork for expansion into the men’s formalwear market in the US, the world’s largest tuxedo rental market.

ACS chief executive Richard Freedman said the business, which he formed in 1997 with his father, aims to “revolutionise” tuxedo rental with an innovative online system.

He added that the company knew further equity investment was needed to deliver its Stateside goals, and that additional BGF funding “would be the perfect fit to help drive our business forward” there.

BGF Scotland regional director Simon Munro added: “We have been really impressed with the progress that Richard and his team have made since our initial investment in January last year.”

ACS also named Peter Abruzzo chief executive of its US operations, and said it has signed a lease on a 244,000 sq ft distribution facility in Memphis, Tennessee, to deliver directly to its US customers.