Earlier this year, two licensors reworked their deals with important licensees, granting them perpetual licenses within their categories. This is a relatively uncommon deal structure where a significant upfront payment, typically in lieu of an ongoing royalty, gives the licensee ownership of their category indefinitely, with the IP owner retaining rights to the underlying brand. […]
Tag Archives | EssilorLuxottica
A Potential Path to Prosperity
The luxury space has experienced a steady drumbeat of M&A activity this year. The sector has been troubled since the second half of 2023, when many players started to report declining sales and stock prices. While things have turned around a bit for some players in the first half of this year, growth overall has […]
20/20 Vision for Licensed Eyewear
In some industries, licenses come and go, depending on property and product trends at any given time. An exception is the eyewear industry, especially the luxury component, where licensing is a consistent staple. Most deals are global and long-lasting, and contract renewals are in the news as much or more than new agreements. Here’s a […]
Is Now the Time for Smart Eyewear?
There was a period in the mid-2010s when many fashion and consumer electronics industry watchers thought smart glasses, especially paired with designer or other licenses to give them a stylish slant, would represent a growth category. But while some deals were done—Diane Von Furstenberg with Google Glass in 2014, for example—neither the category nor licensing […]
Seeing Eye to Eye
Eyewear remains relatively unimpacted by the pandemic when it comes to the pace of deal making. (Industry players say sales declined dramatically at the beginning of the crisis before rebounding to pre-pandemic or better levels in the fall of last year, according to a report in WWD.) Several key fashion, footwear, and luxury labels have […]