LONDON — Mexican resort and lifestyle brand Caravana has found a new buyer.
Artem del Castillo, the London-based, globe-trouting Ukrainian entrepreneur, has acquired the brand with the financial support of an undisclosed backer from previous owner Cho Ventures via United Nomads Group. This newly formed entity also includes Delos, the resort brand del Castillo founded in 2021.
Under new ownership Caravana will continue to expand its retail footprint with the goal of opening stores in the Hamptons, N.Y., Palma, Majorca; Miami, and Mexico City by the end of 2025.
In an interview, del Castillo said he has long admired Caravana’s pioneering experimental retail expertise.
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Founded in 2011 by Jacopo Janniello, Caravana started as a brand inspired by ancient Mayan culture that creates handmade ready-to-wear, accessories and lifestyle products. At its peak it had more than 50 stockists worldwide.
“I was fascinated by Caravana. It seemed like the coolest thing, and it inspired me to think about experiential fashion and retail differently. They had amazing tents with smoke and feathers in store,” del Castillo said at his central London showroom, a stone’s throw away from Buckingham Palace.
In 2021, Caravana entered a strategic partnership with Cho Ventures, a purpose-driven private office founded by Tony Cho, a businessman who made his fortune with Metro 1, a real estate brokerage, management and development firm based in Florida.
As part of the deal, Caravana at the time launched Prao, a brand created by Janniello and fashion designer Marios Schwab, and said the investment would fuel its expansion into new product categories, verticals and global markets.
But things didn’t go as planned. The business has been in distress due to the aftermath of the COVID-19, with retail partners down to around 30.
“For many years I was watching the brand not evolving the way I was hoping to. As a customer of Caravana, I wanted to see something else. At the beginning of the year, the opportunity came to me and landed on my desk. It just made sense, together with Delos, for my long-term ambition to build a platform for artisanal brands doing something different,” del Castillo said.
The entrepreneur said he wants Nomads Group to be a leader in the resortwear market.
He took the brand to Paris and reengaged with most of the stores that used to carry Caravana. Del Castillo said by next June, the brand will sell through more than 50 stores once again.
The resortwear market has been relatively unharmed by the luxury slowdown since the uber-rich have not cut back on travel and they need a wardrobe for that, according to del Castillo, who came to London 26 years ago dreaming of becoming an artist.
He later became a stylist, dressing those who spend most of their time traveling.
From that experience he realized that there was a big opportunity in resortwear, and therefore launched Delos, offering destination wear that embraces traditional craft. Prices range from $350 to $2,000.
“I would curate their lifestyles, taking them on these amazing, magical trips. They have amazing wardrobes for city life, but whenever I would take my clients out on these trips, a personality was missing from their wardrobes. Delos was created wanting to give people amazing wardrobes for being away,” added del Castillo.
For Delos, he traveled around the world researching fabrics.
“I didn’t just go to Portugal and buy a beautiful fabric and go to a factory. I moved to India. I lived with artisans for six months during the pandemic, learning from them how Shibori fabrics are made and how embroideries are done. Then I moved to Mexico going to artisanal communities, learning about how they have been making things for centuries,” he said.
“To me, Nomads Group is about cultivating artisanal communities, working with small manufacturers, and making fabrics in a sustainable, socially conscious way,” del Castillo added.
He believes Caravana will form a synergy with Delos, named after the Greek island said to have been the home of Apollo and Artemis.
“Imagine there is an island far away, and you’re dreaming about being on that island. To me, everything that happens around the island, the water, the sunsets, all the liquidity, the softness, that’s Delos. And then you look inside the island, you see the trees, the ground, the earth, that’s Caravana. These two brands completely complement one another,” he added.
Delos is currently stocked in Harrods and is in talks to sell via Net-a-porter. The brand’s London showroom also offers shopping appointments and bespoke services.
