The International Home and Housewares Show, held in Chicago this month, is always a good time to take stock of licensing deals involving house and home. A sampling of initiatives announced at the show or in the weeks leading up to it illustrate the breadth of licensing in this segment: Gibson Overseas is debuting a […]
Archive | House and home
Decorating in Stone, Ceramic, and Glass
In October, The Tile Shop, a specialty retailer of natural and manufactured stone tiles, announced that it would be the exclusive U.S. distributor for Ted Baker-branded tiles. British Ceramic Tile has been the licensee for the U.K.-based designer’s tile range since 2015. The Tile Shop carries the floor and wall tiles in its 120 showrooms […]
At Home, Watching TV
A number of recent and ongoing home-goods product lines have been built around actors who made their names as secondary characters, or as members of an ensemble cast, on a TV show. Most of the series are no longer on the air. In many cases, these personalities have little obvious connection to home furnishings and […]
Just Hanging Out
The hobby of hammocking (also known as ’mocking) has flourished over the past two years, especially among millennials. Teen and young adult men and women regularly hang their portable hammocks not just in their back yards, but also in parks and other open spaces, and even in some offices. Clubs have formed in metro areas […]
Sowing the Seeds
A handful of licensing deals involving vegetable, herb, or flower seeds—either alone or as part of a grow kit containing the seeds as well as pots, soil, instructions, recipes, and the like—shows the wide variety of property types that can fit comfortably within this category: Chefs. Jason Santos and his agent C3 Entertainment licensed Buzzy […]
DIY Beer-Brewing
At the end of May, Whirlpool’s W Labs division introduced a home beer fermentor and dispenser system through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The same day, SodaStream announced the launch of its Beer Bar, which allows users to create beer at home from sparkling water and a beer concentrate. These initiatives follow the debut of […]
Staying Cool
Licensing deals in the refrigerator category have been relatively rare, primarily limited to appliance and electronics brand extensions—which, while few in number, can generate significant sales—as well as occasional novelties. Whirlpool would be an example of the former, with its licensed collection of compact refrigerators, and Hello Kitty of the latter, with its Sakar-produced line […]
Still Cooking
Celebrity chefs and bakers continue to enter or expand their presence in consumer products, with several announcing new initiatives within the last year or so. Many of these have used one or more of the following tactics to separate themselves from their competitors in this already crowded arena: Ethnic focus. Maria Loi, who is a […]
Clean and Pristine
Corporate brand extension historically has been the primary form of licensing when it comes to household-cleaning products in spray, powder, or liquid form (e.g., laundry detergents, stain removers, window and multi-surface sprays, carpet and upholstery cleaners, and the like). Home Care Industries, for example, offers a Febreze line of formulas for deep-cleaning carpet machines, as […]
Singing the Praises of Home Décor
Half a dozen singers, with roots across genres and eras, have launched or announced deals for home goods within the last year. Some do not have much of an obvious connection with the category, aside from a personal interest in design and décor and/or ties with hearth and home through their lyrics or reputations. Pop […]