Golden Circle Group

An operating system for building durable, profitable brands.

01 Thesis

Creativity launches brands. Operators scale them.

Brands don't fail from a lack of creativity. They fail from a lack of execution. We build consumer brands on owned operational infrastructure — not the DTC aggregator playbook.

Tariffs, near-shoring pressure, the post-2024 wholesale reset, and the end of DTC-only have raised the cost of operating without owned infrastructure. The market is rewarding operational discipline. That's the work we've been doing for thirty years.

Scale follows systems.
02 The Operating System

One backbone. Five disciplined layers. Multiple brands.

Most brand groups treat each label as a self-contained company — duplicate teams, duplicate costs, duplicate mistakes. We don't. Every brand we own, license, or build runs on the same operating system, and gets sharper as the platform compounds.

  1. 01

    Brand & Branding

    Design authority, product vision, brand architecture, creative direction.

  2. 02

    Product

    Disciplined seasonal calendars, SKU efficiency, manufacturing expertise, technical development.

  3. 03

    Operations

    Supply chain, logistics, planning, finance, HR, legal, analytics, forecasting. The unglamorous work that decides whether a brand survives its second year.

  4. 04

    Commercial

    Wholesale, DTC, channel strategy, retail partnerships, account management.

  5. 05

    Marketing

    Demand generation, community, performance media, cultural partnerships.

One cost base. Every new brand costs less to build than the last.

By design, not default.

03 Group

Brand Division

Owned, operated, and licensed consumer brands. Cash-flowing today, with a pipeline for incubation and acquisition.

Product Studio

Product from people who build brands. Recurring revenue from marquee clients, sharpening every other part of the platform.

Framework and RECLAB strengthen the Brand Division through live market intelligence and sourcing leverage. The Brand Division strengthens Framework through operating credibility and sourcing scale. The platform compounds.

04 Why We Do It

We've operated through every recession since 1994. We build infrastructure because creativity alone has never been the moat — execution is.

Our team has led businesses through the 1990s recession, the dot-com bust, 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and COVID. Not as observers. As operators. That history is embedded in how we think about cost base, sourcing relationships, calendar discipline, and the difference between a brand that survives one cycle and a brand that survives five.

We build brands because brands are how products earn permission to mean something — to a person, to a community, to a culture. We build the operating system underneath them because that's the only way the meaning lasts.

  1. 01Execution is the moat. Creativity earns the start; operators earn the finish.
  2. 02Own the infrastructure. Sourcing, supply chain, and operations are not outsourceable strategy.
  3. 03Cooperation, not cannibalization. One platform serving every brand on it.
  4. 04Discipline through cycles. Real decisions, real outcomes, no shortcuts.
  5. 05Build brands that move people. Profit follows meaning.

Do good work. Create real value.

05 Leadership

We do what is right, not what comes easy.

A team of operators and creative directors with $2B+ in retail sales, multiple exits, and decades inside the categories we serve. Straight shooters with sterling reputations across apparel, footwear, and consumer brands.

Peter Kim

Founder & CEO

Hudson Jeans ($120M exit), Drunknmunky (sold to FUBU/Samsung). $1B+ in retail sales across 30 years.

Brian Dunlap

COO

Co-founder & President — Podium Distribution ($115M), DVS, Matix, Lakai, Clae. 30 years.

Ben Taverniti

Creative & Design Leadership

Unravel (~€30M sold), Yeezy, New Guards Group, ex-Hudson Creative Director.

Tony Chu

CMO

Co-founder — Brand & Marketing. Former CMO Hudson Jeans (2005–2015), Drunknmunky co-founder. 30 years.

Jim Leatherman

VP of Brands

Broken Homme ($5M), Port Long Beach, Portuguese Bend Distilling. 25 years.

Albert Jang

CFO

Finance & controls — Kim & Lee CPAs.

Letty Cruz

Operations Director

Sanrio, LRG, Holden, La Jolla Group, Bearpaw.

Jeanette Morrison

Sourcing & Production

Nidecker, Sole Technology, Mad Engine.

Nicole Cross

General Affairs

Executive — Hudson Jeans, BCBG. 20 years.

Michael Pargas

Sr. Art Director

Matix Clothing, Globe Brand. 10 years.

Sara Juarez

Production Manager

Development & merchandising — Volcom, Hot Topic. 18 years.

Mike Gomez

Apparel Design

Design Director — Outerknown, Holden, RVCA, Matix. 22 years.

Garrett Turk

Sales

Sales Director — Dickies, Super73, Dark Seas, Stance. 15 years.

Patrick Estrella

Sales & Operations

Flux Bindings, Carmate Japan, 686 / Westlife / The Goodfellas Group. 20 years.

Caterina Ercoli

Merchandising & Collection

Buying & merchandising — Antonioli, Level Shoes, Modes. 17 years.

Led businesses through the 1990s recession, the dot-com bust, 9/11, 2008, and COVID. Not as observers. As operators.

06 Connect

Let's Build.

hello@goldencircle.group

Golden Circle Group · An operating system for brands · Los Angeles