The MCM label, originally stood popular during the 1980s for being "ostentatious and flashy".[2] At the height of its popularity in 1993, it owned 250 branches worldwide and recorded sales of $250 million.[2] Following a 1995 investigation of Cromer for alleged tax evasion by German tax authorities, banks and investors lost faith in MCM's financial stability.[3] In 1997, the company was restructured, and its stores and trademark rights were split and sold.[3]
In 2005, the worldwide rights to the MCM brand were acquired from a Swiss financier by Sungjoo Group, a South Korean retail business founded by Sung-Joo Kim, the youngest daughter of South Korean magnate Kim Soo-Keon.[4] At the time, MCM's global sales stood at $100 million.[5] Kim hired designer Michael Michalsky[6] and re-launched the brand in 2006 with a new store in Berlin.[7] MCM thereafter reopened stores in New York, Toronto, Paris, London, Singapore, Tokyo, and China among others. In 2011, MCM debuted its largest store in Hong Kong’s Entertainment Building.[8]
MCM makes roughly 70% of its sales in Asia, and roughly 30% in Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.[4] The brand aimed to have sales of $2 billion by 2019.[4]