Pickleball participation increased 56% in 2024, according to the National Sporting Goods Association, marking the third year in a row that the sport has seen annual growth of 50% or more. While the number of new pickleball-related licensed product initiatives seems to have died down a bit compared to earlier in the sport’s short lifespan […]
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Augmenting Adaptive Apparel Assortments
By Karen Raugust on October 30, 2023 in Celebrity, Demographic groups, Diversity/Inclusion, Fashion, Licensing
The fashion industry has been slowly putting more focus on consumers with disabilities since the mid-2010s, when it began picking up the pace of adaptive apparel releases. The technique has been flourishing in the last 18 months, as the business has seen several launches of adaptive clothing lines from retailers and brands, not to mention […]
Counting Down the Days to Christmas
Advent calendars are getting more sophisticated each year, featuring increasingly elaborate packaging, daily surprises of higher value, and a growing range of themes and categories, from jerky, healing crystals, and nail polish to cat food, instant noodles, and wine. Licensors across property types have gotten into the game, typically either through in-house-produced examples or with […]
Beauty Contest
Just in the last week, three celebrity makeup artists have entered or expanded their presence in the competitive beauty and wellness space, announcing new retail-exclusive licensing or collaboration deals: Sir John, best known for his work with the likes of Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian, paired with South African retailer Woolworths Holdings for a limited-edition collaboration. […]
From the Comfort of the Couch
Among all the news of exclusive licensing and collaboration deals involving retailers and etailers of all stripes, it can sometimes be forgotten that home shopping networks—or multichannel retailers, as they are sometimes known—continue to be important venues for many properties. These platforms, like bricks-and-mortar chains and pure e-commerce channels, often serve as exclusive distribution partners, […]
Fifty-Plus Fashion
Women aged 50 and over have long been an untapped market segment for licensing programs. But a growing number of direct-to-retail initiatives with etailers, retailers, and home shopping networks have focused on this demographic over the past few years, all involving celebrities who are in that age group themselves: Most recently, Jane Fonda paired with […]
Healthy Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Despite upheaval, consolidation, and the struggles of brands such as Blue Apron and Chef’d, the meal kit business continues to look to high-profile properties from outside the industry for new branded and signature programs. One of the strong pockets of activity of late consists of celebrities launching healthy meal kits, with many examples focused on […]
A Meditation on Mergers & Acquisitions
Last month came news that Learfield and its competitor IMG College were in late negotiations to merge. If the plans go through, this move would bring together the two major agents in the collegiate licensing business, not to mention their vast sponsorship and multimedia operations, marking a big change for the collegiate licensing business. It […]
Merry Christmas in July
Christmas in July is an unofficial holiday celebrated mostly in the southern hemisphere. In countries such as Australia and South Africa, where December is a summer month, Christmas in July is a way to enjoy some of the seasonal trappings of a traditional Christmas celebration, as experienced in northern regions and as portrayed in film […]