Listen to this article

Park Ridge-based Wainscot Media has upped its total publications to more than 50, and its fashion-focused titles to 22.

On Tuesday, the publisher and content marketing solutions company announced its acquisition of 9Threads, the publisher of business-to-business magazines Footwear Plus and Earnshaw’s.

9Threads was purchased from Symphony Publishing NY, based in Cleveland, Ohio. Both titles serve fashion retailers and are published 10 times per year.

Footwear Plus serves shoe retailers while Earnshaw’s, which is 103 years old, is aimed at children’s fashions and juvenile products retailers. The staff of both magazines will continue to operate from a New York-based office under the direction of their Publisher Caroline Diaco.

According to Mark Dowden, Wainscot Media’s president, the deal further cements the company’s position as a provider of information to fashion retailers, and their customers.

According to Wainscot, in 2017 the U.S. footwear market exceeded $81 billion in sales while that same year, the children’s wear market grew 6.2 percent.

In the transaction, Symphony was represented by Robert Dippell of Grimes, McGovern & Associates, Wainscot said.