Camouflage patterns and workwear brands—both associated with a rugged, outdoorsy positioning—are a good match, as a number of recent licensing deals attest:
• In October of 2014, Realtree Camo and Wrangler Workwear came together for a work shirt featuring accents in Realtree’s Xtra Camo design. The shirt is meant to be rugged enough for work but appropriate for outdoor activities beyond the workplace as well.
• That same month, Realtree extended its long-running alliance with Carhartt, adding a new line of apparel billed as the only Realtree camo line made in America. The products also feature the Xtra pattern, which is already integrated into a number of other Carhartt styles.
• Earlier in the year, Oilfield Camo signed Walls as its exclusive apparel licensee. The clothing range targets workers in the oil and gas industry and their families, including with toddler and youth styles, and encompasses workwear, casual, and outdoors garments.
Another deal signed in the fourth quarter of 2014 further illustrates the link between the outdoors and workwear, suggested by the examples above. Fishing equipment brand Rapala signed workwear maker Old Toledo Brands for a line of apparel featuring both technical and casual items, to be distributed in fleet and farm stores and Rapala retailers, as well as at mass and specialty.
Meanwhile, workwear brands have been expanding their outbound licensing activity in the last couple of years, with some of the deals reaching outside of the work/outdoors sphere. Recent announcements by the most active brand, Dickie’s—a sibling to Walls within the Williamson-Dickie corporate family—have ranged from a premium men’s lifestyle apparel line with Whispering Smith to juniors apparel (for service industry jobs and everyday wear) with Jerry Leigh of California.
Others stick to the core rugged, outdoorsy positioning. Carhartt’s recent outbound licensing activity has included heavy-duty seat protection for pickups, SUVs, and vans from Covercraft, as well as a beer with New Holland Brewing.
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