Pickleball has been one of the fastest-rising sports—in participation and licensing interest—in the last couple of years. But another up-and-coming racket sport, padel, is emerging in mainstream popularity and seems to have similar potential to pickleball. Padel, played with four people per team, is described as a cross between tennis and squash. It takes place […]
Archive | International
Painting a Picture
One of the products in the gift shop at this year’s sold-out Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is a licensed plush figure depicting Dick Bruna’s rabbit character Miffy as Vermeer’s The Milkmaid. This is the latest in a small but growing group of collaborations, mostly taking place in Europe or Asia, whose design inspiration […]
Asian Designers Shine in New Year Collabs
Each year, more marketers—of various sizes, working across categories and geographic regions—have been celebrating the Lunar New Year with collaborations involving designers, artists, influencers, and other creatives based or born in China or other Asian countries. This year is no exception. Among the many examples for the 2023 Year of the Rabbit, which began yesterday, […]
Hopping Into Lunar New Year
By Karen Raugust on January 19, 2023 in Character/Entertainment, Fashion, Holiday, International, Licensing
The Lunar New Year is always an opportunity for brands to forge collaborations with characters related to the appropriate sign of the Chinese zodiac, from 2022’s Year of the Tiger to 2021’s Year of the Ox and beyond. This year, starting on January 22, is the Year of the Rabbit, considered the luckiest of the […]
Tea Party
An estimated 450,000-plus tea and tea-drink shops were operating in China at the beginning of this year, according to the China Tea Marketing Association. These include both traditional tea shops and new-style shops focused on flavored milk, fruit, bubble, and even cheese teas, with new-style chains growing quickly over the past several years (despite a […]
South African Fashion Goes Global
Designers and labels from South Africa have gradually been expanding their presence on the world stage over the past several years, including through collaborations with global fashion companies and corporate brands. Four of the seven examples included here debuted this year: Just last week, Reebok announced it was launching a collection with athleisure brand Nao […]
Fashion Labels Go Fishing
Fishing and fashion may seem to be an odd-couple pairing, but collaborations involving streetwear or other apparel labels and functional fishing gear come up more than you might think, including at least two examples this season. All involve companies that are rooted in Japan, where fishing is a popular pastime, or that have strong ties […]
Just for Kicks
While collaborations between fashion labels and football/soccer clubs in Europe and elsewhere are nothing new, the landscape is expanding, with more clubs and more fashion labels entering into such agreements. The fashion styles range from luxury to streetwear to denim; in many cases the club’s main kit supplier is part of the equation as well. […]
A Licensing Community at War
The war in Ukraine has disrupted the flow of licensed products across the world, especially for companies doing significant business with or in Russia, a growing licensing market before the war started. But, as the pictures in the news everyday can attest, no one in the licensing community has been more affected than those in […]
Of Hot Markets and Halloween
By Karen Raugust on October 11, 2021 in Character/Entertainment, Hot markets, International, Licensing
The South Korean television series Squid Game, which launched in September, is currently the top Netflix show in 90 countries and is trending to be the most-viewed series ever on Netflix in the U.S. Its fast rise, which has occurred through word of mouth, despite a lack of promotion to back the show, has naturally […]