Business
Fellow Barber Pens Deal to Merge with Rudy’s Barbershops
Fellow Barber Pens Deal to Merge with Rudy’s Barbershops.
About this update from Sortis Holdings, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n NEW YORK, July 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fellow Barber, a New York-born chain of elevated barbershops, today announced an agreement with Sortis Holdings, Inc. (OTC: SOHI) (\"Sortis”) that will merge the grooming company with Seattle’s iconic Rudy’s Barbershop (“Rudy’s”). This merger will elevate the barbering industry and empower its combined workforce. It also aligns Fellow Barber with original lifestyle brands with purpose and impact. The Sortis team is building a platform that enables sustainable growth, cultural equity, and scalable innovations for brands with things to say. The goal is to unite consumer brands with a strong point-of-view and unique brand identities, a passionate customer base and a deep commitment to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). With the market for upscale men’s grooming growing across the country, the merger with Rudy’s is a natural fit. Behind Rudy’s is Sortis Holdings, a Portland, Oregon-based platform company enabling highly scalable, experiential lifestyle brands to accelerate growth and impact. Sortis acquired Rudy's out of bankruptcy in 2020, bringing back the brands co-founders to return the DNA that makes the Rudy’s experience so unique. Despite being forced to close its doors during the onset of COVID-19, Fellow Barber prevailed and both brands are now uniquely positioned for growth as they remain largely unaffected by the residual effects of the pandemic such as supply chain delays, inflation, and employee retention. “Rudy’s Barbershops has always been an inspiration to me,” said Sam Buffa, CEO & Founder of Fellow Barber. “We recently had an opportunity to purchase a few of the former Rudy’s locations in LA, which was a dream. Now, we will be able to operate side-by-side for a common goal – bettering the industry for our skilled barbers and spreading the barbershop culture to even more excited clientele, especially as the men’s grooming market continues to grow rapidly.” As part of the merger, Buffa will lead both Fellow Barber and Rudy’s Barbershops. His 15-plus years of experience in the industry has been spent finding solutions to better the barbering industry and bring back the esteem it once held by way of a barber-first approach. Those experiences posit...