SEC Form 4

FORM 4		UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940	OMB APPROVAL OMB Number: 3235-0287 Estimated average burden hours per response: 0.5
	Check this box if no longer subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b).

1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* Malka Ben (Last) (First) (Middle) C/O XCEL BRANDS, INC. 475 10TH AVENUE, 4TH FLOOR (Street) NEW YORK NY 10018 (City) (State) (Zip)	2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol XCel Brands, Inc. [ XELB ]	5. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable) X Director 10% Owner Officer (give title below) Other (specify below)
	3. Date of Earliest Transaction (Month/Day/Year) 03/31/2016
	4. If Amendment, Date of Original Filed (Month/Day/Year)	6. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line) X Form filed by One Reporting Person Form filed by More than One Reporting Person

Table I - Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
1. Title of Security (Instr. 3)	2. Transaction Date (Month/Day/Year)	2A. Deemed Execution Date, if any (Month/Day/Year)	3. Transaction Code (Instr. 8)		4. Securities Acquired (A) or Disposed Of (D) (Instr. 3, 4 and 5)			5. Amount of Securities Beneficially Owned Following Reported Transaction(s) (Instr. 3 and 4)	6. Ownership Form: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 4)	7. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 4)
			Code	V	Amount	(A) or (D)	Price
Common Stock	03/31/2016		A		8,000(1)	A	$0	43,000	D
Common Stock								1,000,000	I	See footnote(2)

Table II - Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)
1. Title of Derivative Security (Instr. 3)	2. Conversion or Exercise Price of Derivative Security	3. Transaction Date (Month/Day/Year)	3A. Deemed Execution Date, if any (Month/Day/Year)	4. Transaction Code (Instr. 8)		5. Number of Derivative Securities Acquired (A) or Disposed of (D) (Instr. 3, 4 and 5)		6. Date Exercisable and Expiration Date (Month/Day/Year)		7. Title and Amount of Securities Underlying Derivative Security (Instr. 3 and 4)		8. Price of Derivative Security (Instr. 5)	9. Number of derivative Securities Beneficially Owned Following Reported Transaction(s) (Instr. 4)	10. Ownership Form: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 4)	11. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 4)
				Code	V	(A)	(D)	Date Exercisable	Expiration Date	Title	Amount or Number of Shares
Stock Option	$5.8	03/31/2016		A		25,000		(3)	03/31/2021	Common Stock	25,000	$0	25,000	D

Explanation of Responses:

1. Represents shares of restricted stock awarded pursuant to restricted stock award agreements which vest 50% of the shares on each of March 31, 2017 and March 31, 2018; provided that the reporting person may extend the vesting dates as to all or a portion of the shares, one or more times, in six-month increments, at his discretion.

2. The reported Common Stock is held directly by The H Company IP, LLC ("H Company"), a wholly owned subsidiary of House of Halston, LLC ("Halston"). On December 22, 2014, the Issuer issued 1,000,000 shares of Common Stock to H Company as partial consideration for the closing of the acquisition of certain assets from H Company, which shares were valued at $8.00 per share pursuant to the terms of the Asset Purchase Agreement. Mr. Malka is the chief executive officer of Halston and a member of its three person Board of Managers, which is comprised of Mr. Malka and two members designated by Halston's controlling stockholder. To the extent Mr. Malka may deemed to have an indirect pecuniary interest in the reported shares of Common Stock as a result of his investment in Halston, Mr. Malka disclaims beneficial ownership except to the extent of his pecuniary interest therein.

3. The option vests as to 50% of the shares on each of March 31, 2017 and 2018.

	/s/ Benjamin Malka	04/01/2016
	** Signature of Reporting Person	Date
Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly.
* If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 4 (b)(v).
** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).
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