The Drastic Measures Jessica Simpson Considered To Save Her Fashion Empire

Jessica Simpson rose to fame in the early aughts as a blonde singing bombshell, gaining commercial success with seven albums breaking through to Billboard's list of Top Album Sales throughout her musical career. But it wasn't until 2005, the same year she donned those infamous Daisy Duke shorts in "The Dukes of Hazzard," that she would find even more success, this time as a businesswoman.

In 2005, Jessica created her eponymous clothing and accessories label, Jessica Simpson Collection, when her business "momager," Tina Simpson, noticed fans were starting to dress like Jessica after the success of her reality series "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica." Tina recalled to Bloomberg Businessweek, "I said to Jessica, 'Hey, why don't we just make your own line? Everything you're wearing is selling out.'"

Thus started a fashion empire that would go on to rake in $1 billion in sales by 2014, per Bloomberg Businessweek. However, that's when things started to go downhill for the brand. Vince Camuto, legendary businessman in the shoe realm and the owner of Simpon's major license and 25% stake in the brand, had died in 2015, leaving Jessica and Tina to wonder about the brand's future. Later that year, Sequential Brands Group Inc. bought a majority share of the Jessica Simpson Collection, leaving the Simpsons with just 37.5% ownership of the company, per Daily Mail.

But when Sequential started to struggle financially, Jessica knew she had to take big risks in order to save her company.

In 2019, you could say things weren't going so well for Jessica Simpson. She was laying in a hospital bed, 34 weeks pregnant with a severe case of bronchitis. Interestingly enough, that's the moment she and her mom Tina decided to take over ownership of their company in what would become a two-year battle. Jessica spoke to Bloomberg Businessweek for a cover story and said she was determined to win back her company — and would resort to drastic measures to do so. "We'll borrow against our homes," said Jessica. "Even if I have to go live in a little, tiny place in Ireland, I will."

Thankfully for Jessica and her family, it wouldn't come to that. As luck would have it, Sequential, the company that owned a majority of the Jessica Simpson Collection, filed for bankruptcy in August 2021, leaving the Simpsons the opening to save their business. They offered a $65 million bid for a majority state, backed largely by themselves and two lenders, and won in November, per Bloomberg Businessweek.

Now, Jessica is just thankful to have full control of her company. "It means the absolute world to me to be able to take over complete ownership of my brand," Jessica told Footwear News. "After 16 years in business I feel ready to meet this next exciting phase with open arms."