Over the last decade there has been a growing realization of how important sleep is, along with exercising and eating right, to overall health and wellness, not to mention performance in work, sports, and daily life. A diverse range of licensors and licensees are creating products meant to help address the need for more and […]
Archive | Licensing
Licensees Kick Off World Cup Season
The FIFA World Cup comes to North America, in locations across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, from June 11 through July 19, 2026. This year’s event takes place in one of the world’s biggest consumer markets and, in the case of the U.S., one of the fastest-growing markets for soccer. The competition has also expanded […]
Celebrity Hair Care Continues to Grow
Hair care has been an active segment of the celebrity beauty market for the last several years, and the pace of new launches does not seem to have slowed. Some of the notable introductions in 2025 — tied to both celebrity hair stylists and celebrities known for their hair styles — include the following: Most […]
Falling in Love with Romance Merchandise
IPs tied to romance books are expanding their footprint in the licensing business. Licensees and retailers, particularly bookstores, have been asking for merchandise to reach these books’ loyal and large fan bases. New partners for romance properties include a growing list of traditional licensing-business manufacturers and retailers, in addition to marketers of “bookish” merchandise. The […]
No Horsing Around With Equestrian Fashion
Much has been made about the long-running cowboycore or western fashion trend. But a parallel and related trend — equestrian-inspired fashion, which takes its cues from British riding sports like dressage and show jumping — has also been on the rise, hitting a high in fall 2025 and continuing into 2026, which happens to be […]
Spreading the Love for Butter-Themed Collabs
By Karen Raugust on March 12, 2026 in Design and content themes, Food/Beverage, Licensing, Lifestyle
Butter began catching on as a pop-culture phenomenon in the early 2020s, attracting significant mainstream notice in 2025 and remaining top of mind in early 2026. The trend manifests itself in many ways. Flavored butters (from truffle and miso to cinnamon-sugar), and butter boards for mixing and serving them, are everywhere online (hashtag #ButterTok). There […]
Putting Weight Behind GLP-1 Friendly Foods
GLP-1 is changing the way Americans and global consumers eat, and is just starting to give rise to opportunities for licensing and collaborations. The benefits of the hormone GLP-1 were discovered in the mid-1980s. The first FDA approval came in 2005, when Byetta became available for patients with type 2 diabetes; Ozempic followed much later, […]
High-End Designers Tap Into Smart Devices
By Karen Raugust on March 2, 2026 in Accessories, Electronics, Fashion, Licensing, Luxury, Technology
In the mid- to late 2010s, fashion designers’ collaborations with wearable technology companies were thought to be key to growing this then-nascent industry. Fashion labels’ design expertise would help turn wearables into sleeker, more attactive devices, and their names would bring new customers to the segment. While many deals were announced at the time, they […]
Inside Scoop: Baked Goods and Ice Cream
Baked goods like cookies and cakes go hand-in-hand with ice cream as a taste treat. Several major players in the two categories have formalized these pairings in the last year through licensing deals bringing baked goods brands into the ice cream aisle or expanding existing efforts in the space: This month, Bimbo Bakeries USA’s Entenmann’s […]
A Return to Power for Celebrity Estates?
Back in the day, celebrity licensing focused more on celebrity estates, or “dead celebrities,” than on currently active celebrities, as is the case today. Working with estates was viewed as a way for licensees to capitalize on a famous person’s fame and following, while eliminating the risks of unpredictable behavior. Celebrity estates still have a […]