Camouflage licensing, an already-significant sector that encompasses proprietary camouflage designs and brand names such as Realtree and Mossy Oak, has continued to evolve and grow in a number of ways over time:
- New brands. Camouflage suppliers beyond the big two have entered licensing, as U.S. military specialist Tennier Industries did when it retained The Brand Liaison as its licensing agent last year. It is extending its brand, logos, and prints to consumer apparel, accessories, outdoor gear, luggage, and other categories for the first time.
- Incremental customers. Camouflage designs have seen continued popularity not just with traditional hunting, fishing, and camping aficionados, but with consumers of all types. Sports apparel licensee Majestic Athletic capitalized on this fact by acquiring the Mossy Oak license to integrate camo into some of its league-licensed apparel lines. The cross-licensed products will likely attract some new customers to Mossy Oak, as well as appeal to the significant number of sports fans who are also into hunting and other outdoor pursuits.
- Nontraditional categories. Camo is most often associated with products such as workwear or outdoor gear, but it has been increasingly found on other goods such as decorative accessories or stationery. Turner Licensing, a marketer of gift, home, and stationery items, secured the Realtree license for merchandise ranging from holiday cards to candles to melamine kitchen collections. (Some of the products are cross-licensed with the sports league properties Turner already has in its portfolio.)
- On-trend fashion. While all-over prints dominate the camo licensing market, licensees have also used camouflage designs in more fashion-forward ways, especially on apparel and accessories. Wrangler created a work shirt that features Realtree Xtra accents, billed as strong enough to meet the demands of workers while offering “a sense of personal style” for fans of the outdoors. The items are sold in DIY chains such as Menard’s, among other locations.
The large and well-established camouflage licensing business has seen examples of each of these expansion tactics over the years. But an increasing number of such deals have been signed of late as camouflage licensors and their licensees have sought new avenues for growth and as camo patterns and brands have retained strong followings among core consumers and the general public alike.
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