A number of wedding specialists—retailers, publications, gown designers—have been expanding their brands through licensing and collaborations. That includes the bridal jewelry category, a logical licensed brand extension if there ever was one. Each deal, at its core, focuses on engagement rings and wedding bands, but the collections typically also encompass other accessories such as earrings, […]
Making the Grade with Expanded Dorm Décor
In social media communities frequented by college-bound teens and young adults, dorm room décor is experiencing something of a golden age. Influencers and designers have been highlighting ideas for small spaces like dorm rooms and first apartments, students themselves have been gaining social media fame for sharing their creative college living spaces—sometimes put together at […]
A Full Court Press on Entertainment-and-Sports Team-Ups
Collaborations that pair properties from the world of entertainment and sports have been on the rise in the past year, as animated IP, musicians, and preschool characters team with athletes, clubs, and leagues in innovative ways. This is not a new phenomenon; however, a higher-than-average amount of energy has been devoted to this type of […]
Clear and Compliant
A fashion trend was born when operators of sports contests, music festivals, concerts, and other big gatherings, due to security concerns, began requiring ticket holders to carry bags that were clear and limited in size, in lieu of traditional backpacks and purses, in order to gain entry. Enterprising designers, seeing sports and music fans replace […]
Strikes Raise Concerns for Consumer Products
On July 14, the leading U.S. actors’ union, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) went on strike, joining the Writers Guild of America (WGA), whose work stoppage began on May 2. Both are in contract disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the organization that negotiates […]
A Budding Celebrity Sector
Celebrity floral designers are frequent collaborators with floral delivery services, local florists, subscription floral boxes, and the like. Recently, a few have started to expand their scope of collaboration slightly by pairing with non-floral-specialist brands or retailers, sometimes even extending into categories beyond flowers, albeit mostly still with a close connection to their core area […]
Tour de Collaboration
The pairing of cycling gear with fashion, art, and lifestyle labels—a trend that fashion industry watchers trace back to Rapha’s first collaboration with designer Paul Smith in 2007—continues to flourish in 2023, with a number of high-end cycling apparel brands announcing capsules with notable names in the fashion and lifestyle segments. Here is a look […]
A Dilly of a Trend
Pickles and pickle-flavored foods have long been popular, and they have been getting progressively more so over the years. The trend has picked up steam since the mid-2010s, with no end in sight, as sales, new product releases, and online searches are all on the rise. At the end of 2022, organizations ranging from the […]
Putting The Pedal to the Metal on NFTs
The automotive industry has been very active in the NFT space, especially since the start of last year. Some of the companies that have announced new initiatives or taken steps to enter the world of NFTs since the beginning of 2023 include DeLorean, Hyundai, Lamborghini, Renault, Rolls Royce, and Škoda India. Most of the ventures […]
What to Wear to The Barbie Movie
The licensing program for The Barbie Movie, set for a July 21, 2023, release, has more than 100 merchandise licensees on board, alongside a bounty of promotional partnerships, and it comes with high expectations for success. It is reminiscent of movie licensing programs of yore, which routinely had long licensee lists, although those would have […]