Several celebrity chefs have recently forged agreements with retailers to extend their names into home goods. Some are entering the category for the first time. Others are expanding existing deals focused on cookware and dinnerware by adding lifestyle categories such as bedding and furniture that take them well beyond the kitchen: Chef and TikTok influencer […]
Change in the Innerwear Industry
The innerwear category has seen a lot of structural change in the past year, through mergers, acquisitions, and new or restructured licensing models: Wacoal International, a global innerwear company based in Japan, acquired Glamorise, a direct-to-consumer plus-size lingerie specialist, in a deal announced last week. Wacoal, which in the U.S. sells primarily to the department […]
Mining Meat Pies As A Licensing Opportunity
A recent deal bringing Guinness into the Cornish pasty category is just the latest collaboration in this small niche of the licensing business. A Cornish pasty is a small savory baked pie, typically made with beef, potatoes, rutabagas (called swedes in England), and onions encased in shortcrust pastry. First developed in the 13th century, pasties […]
Don’t Sleep on This Opportunity
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 […]
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 […]
Studios’ Altcasts Play the Long Game
Character-centric altcasts of pro sports events have become regular occurrences over the past five years, with three of the four of the biggest U.S. pro sports leagues; studios including Disney, Nickelodeon, and Warner Bros.; and networks including ESPN, TNT, and CBS all involved. These alternative viewing feeds are real-time simulcasts of pro sports games in […]