Play Hard buys Zalando subsidiary Kickz

Zalando, Europe’s leading online platform for fashion and lifestyle, continues its assortment strategy to pursue a complementary approach with its partner brands. As a consequence, Zalando sells subsidiary KICKZ Never Not Ballin’ GmbH to Play Hard GmbH, represented by Jacob Fatih and Philipp Buchholtz. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of this year. Play Hard GmbH is a subsidiary of Crealize GmbH. As a company creator, Crealize develops new business models and companies.

Zalando acquired KICKZ in 2017 to gain access to basketball and streetwear products and attract customers that were not yet part of the platform. In the last two years, Zalando expanded its assortment to an extent that largely overlaps with the KICKZ offering.
The company reviewed the KICKZ business over recent months and came to the conclusion that it does not contribute to the refined strategy. With this, Zalando decided to sell KICKZ to an experienced buyer team.

The sale does not affect KICKZ employee contracts in substance. The KICKZ webstore and the eleven physical KICKZ stores will continue their operations without changes.

Advisers for Play Hard / Crealize
Schmidt von der Osten & Huber (Essen): led by Dr. Jochen Lehmann, Dr Moritz Kraft (Corporate/ M&A), Dr. Notker Lützenrath (IP), Dr Hans-Jörg Schulze (Real Estate Law), Dr Fabian Boensch, Dr Hauke ​​Hein (Labour Law)
BTU Treuhand  (Munich): Peter Häussermann, Gregor Wenzel (Tax Law) – known from the market

Consultants for Zalando
Inhouse Law (Berlin): led by Ramona Bobbert (Head of Corporate Law), Nadin Michel (Corporate), Dr Michael Menz (General Counsel), Dr Janis Baumert (Employment Law), Fabian Piltz (IP), Dr Thomas Riedel (Tax)