Resilience Capital Partners, a Cleveland-based private equity firm, has announced the acquisition of Riverside Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer, seller and distributorof flame-resistant clothing, work wear, and casual apparel. Riverside is Resilience Capital Partners' first add-on acquisition by its Affinity Specialty Apparel investment platform, which it acquired in December 2013.  Affinity Apparel is a leader in the selling and distributing of occupational apparel and services through managed direct purchase uniform programs.    

Bassem Mansour, Co-CEO of Resilience Capital Partners stated “Riverside is an excellent complement to Affinity resulting in an even larger blue-chip customer base and diverse product offering across a wide variety of industries including transportation, retail petroleum, hospitality, industrial, beverage distribution, electrical and gas utilities.  Resilience remains committed to continuing to invest capital to support the Affinity team and this platform.”  Michael DiMino, CEO of Affinity Apparel, added “Acquiring Riverside, with its tremendous position in the protective apparel marketplace, strengthens our competitive position in the direct sale uniform business and takes us one step closer to our long term objective of creating an industry leader in the sector.”

“We are excited to join the Affinity Apparel family, which provides us the opportunity to introduce our products to new customers, further strengthening the Riverside brand” said Lisa Zeanah, Former President and CEO of Riverside.  Lisa will be joining Affinity Apparel as the new Vice President of Business Development.