totes>Isotoner Corporation Acquires Northern Cap & Glove

March 10, 2008

New York, NY, March 10, 2008 — totes>Isotoner Corporation, a portfolio company of MidOcean Partners and Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. (BRS), has acquired Northern Cap Holdings, Inc (d/b/a “Northern Cap & Glove”). This acquisition combines the leading designer and marketer of branded casual footwear, rainwear, and cold-weather accessories with a leading maker of branded and private label headwear and gloves for men, women, and children.

Based in Minneapolis, Northern Cap & Glove was founded in 1950 and sells its extensive product lines through all level of retail channels, including mass merchants, national chains, catalog and direct marketers, specialty retailers, branded apparel companies and department stores. The Company has licenses to market headwear, gloves and scarves under the Dockers(r), GoreTex(r) and Karen Neuburger(r) brand names in addition to its private label programs.

Doug Gernert, Chairman and CEO of totes>Isotoner Corporation, said, “The gain in scale from the addition of Northern Cap & Glove will allow us to better offer our customers unmatched value and, as the retail industry continues to consolidate, we will be able to provide an even broader suite of branded and private label merchandise across markets.”

David Basto, a Principal at MidOcean, said, “We are very pleased with our investment in totes>Isotoner as the company continues to grow both organically and through strategic acquisitions. The acquisition of Northern Cap & Glove is another step in the growth of totes>Isotoner and we look forward to working with the management team to integrate the company into the totes>Isotoner organization and build on their success. We will continue to pursue targeted acquisitions that will provide complementary product lines that further broaden the totes>Isotoner product portfolio.”

Ivan Rafowitz, CEO of Northern Cap & Glove, said, “We look forward to becoming a part of the totes>Isotoner family of brands. Northern Cap & Glove is a great fit with the totes>Isotoner product lines and we expect to benefit from the company’s strong customer relationships, marketing expertise and broad channel distribution.”

BRS, founded in 1995 and headquartered in New York, specializes in management buyouts and recapitalizations of high quality, middle market companies with strong market positions and/or growth potential. BRS currently manages approximately $1.4 billion of committed capital in two institutional private equity funds. The principals of BRS have worked together since the mid-1980s (originally at Citicorp Venture Capital) and have collectively invested in over 60 companies with a total value in excess of $12.6 billion. BRS currently has investments focused predominantly in the consumer products and services areas. For more information, visit www.brs.com.

MidOcean Partners is a premier private equity firm focused on the middle market. Based in New York and London, MidOcean is committed to investing in high quality companies with stable market positions and multiple opportunities for growth in the United States and Europe. Targeted sectors include consumer and leisure, media and communications, business and financial services and industrials. MidOcean utilizes a broad foundation of expertise in its focus industries and its transatlantic platform to create value for its investors and partners. For more information, visit www.midoceanpartners.com.


CONTACT:

Paul Kaminski – Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co., 212-521-3700
E-MAIL: [email protected]
WEBSITE: www.brs.com