Mental health has increasingly become a theme at the center of licensed product, content, and promotional initiatives. Some recent examples, mostly announced in late 2019 and early 2020, include: A gift line from Half Moon Bay tied to May the Thoughts Be With You, a property based on a book by the same name. The […]
Tag Archives | Nike
Kicked to the Curb
A number of European football (soccer) clubs have been taking licensing, retail, and other rights in-house as their previous contracts with leading sports sponsors and licensees end: In the latest example, Italian club Inter Milan took retail and licensing rights back from Nike in November 2019. Chinese retailer Suning is the organization’s majority owner, which […]
Adaptive Products: An Unexplored Opportunity
Companies with ties to licensing are increasingly creating products for consumers with special needs, an underserved population. This customer segment encompasses everyone from children with autism to people of all ages with conditions such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis, to seniors who have trouble getting dressed due to dementia or physical ailments. Some of […]
A Pitch for Women’s Soccer Fans
Women’s football/soccer has been in the spotlight this summer after the July 7 conclusion of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019, hosted by France and won by the U.S. team. Heightened global awareness for the women’s sport is increasingly leading to more endorsement opportunities for individual female athletes, more sponsorship revenue for women’s teams, and […]
Advances in E-Sports Licensing
A number of trends in recent months have been moving the e-sports industry, including the licensing component, forward: Big sports licensees are doing deals. It was not that long ago that the first mainstream sports licensees joined e-sports specialists in doing deals with teams, leagues, and players. Since then, the floodgates seem to be opening. […]
If The Shoe Fits…
The extended-sizing trend has been gaining steam in the women’s fashion industry (and men’s, too, to some extent) over the past few years, as fashion labels and their collaboration partners release collections for the whole spectrum of consumers, from petit to plus-size. The trend is not limited to just clothing. Consumers not only want trend-forward […]
New Dimensions in Footwear
3D printing has a lower profile as a consumer-facing licensing trend than it did a few years ago. But the technology continues strong behind the scenes, as a means to personalize products, implement unique designs, and achieve other goals. In many cases, consumers may not realize a given product is being created through this technique, […]
Rethinking for the Long Run
Designer Isaac Mizrahi and New Balance just debuted a collection of footwear and apparel exclusively on QVC, while Mattel’s Barbie’s just launched its latest capsule with Puma, in honor of the doll’s 60th anniversary. These initiatives are reminders of how sportswear companies with roots in athletic footwear have, over the past decade, expanded their realms […]
A Collection of Museum Collaborations
Designer collaborations encompassing apparel, accessories, and footwear involve a variety of licensed properties, from characters and sports leagues to corporate brands and celebrities. Museums have been less frequent players, aside from a few key institutions. But more and more, museums with a range of specialties are pairing with fashion labels in a number of ways: […]
World Cup Couture
With the finals of the FIFA World Cup coming up this Sunday, pitting France against Croatia, it seems like a good time to look at the impact of the competition on the world of high fashion, officially licensed and otherwise. Here are some of the strategies involving fashion labels, designers, sports licensors, and retailers trying […]