Music festivals—from Bonnaroo, Coachella, and the Electric Daisy Carnival to Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, and Firefly—have not only proliferated throughout the years but have become highly visible among consumers at large, especially in the summer. They attract attention on celebrities’, attendees’, and marketers’ social platforms, in mainstream news and fashion publications, and through mass advertising and promotional […]
Archive | Fashion
Fast Fashion Slows Down
The specialty fashion tier focusing on teenage girls and young women has been one of the segments hit hardest by the financial woes plaguing all of retail. In the face of this difficult environment—as well as millennials’ increasing resistance to disposable fashion for economic and especially environmental reasons—two of the leading fast fashion chains playing […]
Checking the Time
The fashion watch category has been experiencing some significant challenges, thanks in large part to the fact that smartphones have replaced wristwatches as many consumers’ primary tool for keeping track of time. In one illustration of the issues facing the industry, exports of watches from Switzerland—the source of many higher-end, fashion-driven watches—declined 10% in February […]
Trendy Threads
Of the more than 1,600 labels exhibiting at eight women’s fashion shows at the Javits Center last week—the largest being Coterie, focusing on contemporary apparel, accessories, and footwear—roughly 10% are involved in licensing as a licensor, licensee, or both, as estimated by RaugustReports. Labels with a presence across the co-located events included well-established examples such […]
Fine Fashion for Fans
Opportunities for manufacturers to enter the sports licensing business, at least when it comes to the four major pro leagues and many of the larger collegiate licensors, have declined over the years. Although their licensee lists remain lengthy, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and leading […]
Connected Clothing
At recent electronics and fashion trade shows such as the Consumer Electronics Show, Fashion Tech Berlin, and the Decoded Fashion Summit, smart clothing made its mark. Fabric featuring interwoven conductive wires or embedded nanotechnology allows jackets, intimates, or t–shirts to accommodate basic phone- or Internet-based communication and information access. It enables clothing to measure biometrics […]
Satisfying the Sneakerheads
Licensing in the athletic shoe segment is far more diverse than in the past, when sporting goods brands, athletes, fashion labels, and kids’ characters accounted for the bulk of activity. Over the past 10 to 15 years or so, the category has become more and more important for properties as diverse as musicians, celebrities, artists, […]
Swanky Stationery
Fashion and interior designers continue to strengthen their presence in the high-end stationery category, furthering a trend that has been evident over the last couple of years. Some of the licensing agreements focus on e-stationery, while others encompass both electronic and print versions of holiday cards, invitations, and thank you notes. Two designers adding their […]
Garish Garments for All
As we approach the core holiday selling period, and as seasonal items start to appear for sale at retail and online, it looks like the melding of ugly Christmas sweaters and licensed properties is set to continue for a third year. The segment has evolved since it hit in 2014, moving beyond the licensed sports […]
Smart, Chic, and Strategic
The fall season has seen a flurry of activity in the wearables sector, focusing on both fashion and fitness and encompassing not only watches and bands but also eyewear, belts, and apparel. Some of the deals have centered on upping the fashion quotient. Hermès partnered with Apple for a Hermès edition of the Apple Watch, […]