Camo Colors New Categories

Recent deals serve as a reminder that camouflage brand licensing does not just encompass apparel and traditional outdoors products such as guns, camping equipment, tactical gear, truck seat covers, and the like. In fact, camo continues to grow as a design trend across a variety of categories, such as:

• Appliances. Magic Chef announced a deal last month for a line of small kitchen appliances under license from RealTree. Compact refrigerators and freezers, food dehydrators, toasters, coffee makers, and ice makers will feature RealTree’s Xtra pattern.
• Pet accessories. Last fall, G Mason Group launched a line of pet beds, toys, travel accessories, collars, and leashes tied to the TrueTimber Camo brand.
• Stationery and gifts. Turner Licensing introduced a RealTree-licensed range of wall calendars, journals, planners, candles, doormats, melamine items, mugs, totes, and holiday cards, including some examples co-branded with the U.S. sports leagues, last year. Burton + Burton has a similar line, through a licensing deal forged with Haas Outdoors’ Mossy Oak brand in 2014, focusing on ornaments, mugs, tumblers, and other gifty products.
• Toys and games. At this year’s Toy Fair, MasterPieces announced a line of RealTree puzzles starting with four 1,000-piece SKUs. The images are outdoor scenes, with RealTree branding featured prominently on the box.

Aside from these and other “nontraditional” camo categories—if there is such a thing these days—the core outdoors and apparel sectors remain strong. Recent deals show the versatility of camo here, too: Haas paired with Majestic Athletic to create co-branded Major League Baseball/Mossy Oak jerseys and other clothing featuring camo detailing; Girls with Guns launched a swimwear line last summer, featuring Mossy Oak’s Break-Up Country design on items such as bikinis and board shorts, following up on an earlier collection from 2015; and The Moment Wedding Boutique announced a deal last fall for an array of handcrafted wedding sets, garters, and other formalwear tied to the Moon Shine Camo brand.