State of the Nation: Brands

The growth in the brands, lifestyle and heritage sector is continuing on its exponential trajectory and, as the collaborations, deals and partnerships become ever more innovative, 2022 could be the strongest year yet for the category. LSB takes a look at some of the latest activity. I’m with the brand

Inset: Scion’s Mr Fox is just one of the designs in the new collection. Below left: IMG will grow the Laura Ashley brand in fashion, home and lifestyle.

Laura Ashley taps IMG

Laura Ashley has appointed IMG to expand fashion, home and lifestyle products that reflect the British heritage brand in a modern way in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China, India and the Middle East.

The multi-year deal will see IMG work with the brand to create new Laura Ashley apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty and homeware items through carefully selected licensing and retail partnerships and collaborations.

“Following the success of our spring home collection relaunch and fall fashion collaboration last year, it is clear there is a strong customer appetite for a new wave of Laura Ashley lifestyle products,” said Carolyn D’Angelo, md of brands at Gordon Brothers and president of Laura Ashley. “We look forward to seeing the first designs of our 2023 fashion relaunch spring to life for the brand’s 70th anniversary and for the next generation of Laura Ashley customers.”

Let’s go outside

New for SS22, Brink & Campman is launching a new collection of outdoor rugs and cushions in collaboration with British interior brands Harlequin, Scion, Sanderson and Morris & Co.

Featuring iconic designs such as Morris & Co’s Blackthorn, Sanderson’s Dandelion Clocks and Scion’s Mr Fox, each collection comprises outdoor rugs and mix and match cushions in a series of bold and playful prints.

HRP celebrates the Platinum Jubilee

Historic Royal Palaces is celebrating HM The

Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with Superbloom at the Tower of London from May to September.

There will be 13,500 sqm of flowers and 20 million seeds planted in the moat, with up to two million flowers in bloom. There will also be other smaller Superbloom gardens showcased at Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace and Hillsborough Castle and Gardens.

Licensed product to mark the 70th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne on 6

February 1952 includes a new bespoke tea blend with Harney & Sons. This uses a traditional Earl Grey black fine tea, combined with bright bergamot silver tips and a dash of royal purple lavender. In addition, a new jewellery collection will be launching with Clogau to reflect the colourful florals on display. The floral theme continues to inspire a Lily of Valley jewellery range including earrings, a ring, pendant and bangle. This is one of the Queen’s favourite flowers and featured in her wedding bouquet and will be on display in a Platinum Jubilee Tribute Garden.

Sanderson heads to California

Sanderson has revealed a new collaboration with Californian lifestyle brand, Paige.

Comprising a capsule collection of seven exclusive styles, the launch includes a matching t-shirt and denim set, dress, two blouses and a suit, each featuring Sanderson’s heritage prints.

The collection combines Sanderson’s hand-drawn prints with Paige’s bestselling silhouettes, with items available from retailers including Harrods and Selfridges.

Below: Two jewellery stores opened in collaboration with Chow Sang Sang.

V&A eyes East Asia growth

The V&A is continuing to grow its product offering and its global reach, with over 1,400 products launching last year. The number of licensees grew to 95, with distribution networks to 72 countries across the UK, Europe, US and APAC. East Asia has been a key focus for global expansion. As part of a new collaboration, V&A Beauty was launched in Korea with a planned global roll out due in 2022/2023. This sits alongside four new fashion collaborations including LEDiN and Cocoon in China, as well as two new collaborations in South Korea with new golfwear ranges with Ping and Pearly Gates. In addition, the V&A collaborated with Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep to deliver a range of children’s clothing for Italian sportswear label, FILA. The museum also cemented a 15-year collaboration with jewellery retailer Chow Sang Sang by creating two ground-breaking jewellery stores. The first opened in K11 Musea, Hong Kong and the second at The Londoner Hotel complex in Macau, each with a never-before-seen jewellery shopping experience. The new concept stores feature modern jewellery presented alongside examples of European art and design that conjures up the romance, sentiment and craftmanship that inspires it.

Artistory spotlights new trends and themes

ARTiSTORY has revealed its 2023 spring/summer global arts and cultural trends and themes to licensees, retailers and DTC brands across the world.

An online event held in April presented new collections inspired by trend research and the wealth of artists and artefacts in the archives of ARTiSTORY’s museum partners: The National Gallery, London; The Brooklyn Museum, New York; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The National Palace Museum, Taipei; Dunhuang Inspiration, China and the ThyssenBornemisza National Museum, Spain.

The four trend-led themes launched are

Marvellous Menagerie, She Created, Glitz and

Glam, plus a refreshed collection for ARTiSTORY’s popular Botanical Affairs theme.

ARTiSTORY also used the event to reveal a collaboration with the Benaki Museum, Greece for a multi-year, global licensing programme, as well as announcing its new partnership with the Parsons School of Design in New York which will work with its Global Artists Programme.

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Retreat with RHS

Inset: The RHS Garden Retreat boasts a ‘green’ living roof across three planting schemes.

The RHS and The Posh Shed Company have expanded their relationship, with the RHS endorsing a new shed which is designed to ‘enhance and support’ the changing lifestyle of gardeners and non-gardeners. Called The RHS Garden Retreat, the brand’s licensing manager, Cathy Snow, said that it can “provide a stylish, comfortable sanctuary in your garden to pursue hobbies or work from home while connecting with nature”. Measuring 4m x 2.5m, it is fully insulated and double-glazed, under a vaulted living, or ‘green’, roof with a cedar shingled surround. Three planting schemes are available catering for woodland shade, dry sunny or coastal settings. The London Sock Exchange has launched its new TfL Collection – a range of socks developed in collaboration with Transport for London, celebrating the city’s iconic transport system through the medium of yarn. The deal was secured by TSBA Group, TfL’s global licensing agency. The team at London Sock Exchange has worked closely with the TfL brand and design team to create six distinct pairs of socks. These have been knitted using the company’s signature 200-needle knitting process and are available in single pairs (£12) or special edition giftboxes (£30 or £60). A promotional campaign featuring photography shot on the TfL network is set to run across national and social media.

Left: The range includes six pairs of socks celebrating London’s iconic transport system.

Ebury gets cooking with Heinz

Ebury is to publish the first ever official Heinz cookbooks, including gift books for lovers of Ketchup and Baked Beanz.

The licensing partnership launched with The Heinz Cookbook and will be followed by four ingredient-led gift titles. Elizabeth Bond, publishing director for Ebury Partnerships, acquired the world rights (excluding North America) from Claire Potter, md at Metrostar.

The Heinz Cookbook will be a collection of 100 specially-commissioned, ingenious and delicious recipes, featuring over 30 of the nation’s favourite products as the star ingredients. It will be followed in late 2022 and 2023 by the first ever official Ketchup, HP Sauce, Beanz and Lea & Perrins books.

Left: The Heinz Cookbook is the first title to launch under the partnership.

Pink Key Licensing’s new deal haul

Busy Pink Key Licensing has revealed a number of new collaborations for its SLUSH PUPPiE, Kellogg’s and Pringles brands.

First up, a SLUSH PUPPiE beauty tie-up with influencer Jake-Jamie and Revolution Beauty comprises ten pieces including blue raspberry and cherry cleansers, bubblegum and lemon and lime lip scrubs, headbands and cosmetic bags. The collaboration has been two years in the making, with Pink Key Licensing’s Nancy Jones saying: “We have loved working on this project with Jake and the Revolution team. Watching their ideas come to life has been brilliant and the finished product is just simply a fantastic example of taking a much loved brand and using its assets to make truly original licensed product.”

In addition, Pyramid International – one of the first Kellogg’s licensees when the programme launched in Europe – will revisit the licence, developing a range of housewares, tableware, stationery and wall art using contemporary and vintage assets, along with the archive of characters and vintage advertising.

Smiffys is also on board as a licensee for Kellogg’s and Pringles, while CRC Innovations has added a cone and ice lolly to its SLUSH PUPPiE collection, including blue raspberry and strawberry split, plus lemon and strawberry spiral lollies. The move follows on from the success of its SLUSH PUPPiE ice cream tubs in Iceland.

Cool deal for Brand of Brothers

Brand of Brothers has partnered with the Hershey Company to launch an exclusive range of ice creams across all of Iceland’s outlets in the UK, Iceland online and The Food Warehouse. The range is available in over 1,000 stores nationwide. This marks the first time that Brand of Brothers has partnered with Hershey’s. The range launch is complementary to MDR Brand Management’s wider partnerships across frozen desserts. The ice cream product development by the Brand of Brothers team plays homage to the iconic Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme chocolate bar in creating an indulgent white chocolate coated stick with a creamy, cookie filled ice cream. Completing the range are Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme and Hershey’s Strawberry Cookies ‘n’ Crème. “Hershey’s is a fantastic addition to our growing portfolio in ice cream and we are delighted to work closely with them and Iceland for its debut in the UK,” commented Greg Ovenden, product and marketing director at Brand of Brothers.

Inset: The range launch is complementary to MDR Brand Management’s wider partnerships across frozen desserts.

Kate Smith Company powers into second year

Kate Smith Company is celebrating its first year of UK licensing activity as a result of appointing Lisle as its licensing agent and is looking ahead to further growth in 2022. The brand – which focuses on positivity and creating joyful moments with happy faces from simple phrases and uplifting tones – has seen Hallmark Cards become the UK licensee for greeting cards, Moonpig for print on demand and greetings, plus Carousel Calendars for wall calendars and diaries, all of which launched in 2021. Looking further into 2022, Kate Smith Company and Lisle Licensing will focus on expanding the distribution of existing licences and broaden the seasonal collections including Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas. Lisle will also turn its attention to expansion of the Kate Smith Company brand into secondary categories.

Above: The brand focuses on positivity and creating joyful moments.

English Heritage teams with Designers Guild

Designers Guild has revealed a new licensing collaboration with English Heritage which will launch in September 2022, in a deal arranged by Golden Goose. Designers Guild will design, produce and distribute collections of fabrics, wallpapers and home accessories directly inspired by the portfolio of English Heritage properties and its archive collections in a move which chimes with both organisation’s knowledge and passion for English history and classic design. The initial collections will include printed fabric and wallpaper collections that are directly inspired by the archive of historic wallpapers held by English Heritage. The collection of over a thousand historic wallpaper fragments has been rescued and conserved by English Heritage from important properties throughout England.

Frugi grows with National Trust

Sustainable children’s clothing and accessory brand Frugi has teamed up with Europe’s largest conservation charity, National Trust, to create a fourth capsule collection for spring/summer 2022. The Garden Growers unisex collection for babies, toddlers and children up to the age of eight aims to encourage little ones to put on their wellies, grab their tools and get their hands dirty by learning how to plant and care for a variety of vegetables, flowers and the creatures that live among them, such as ladybirds and bees. Frugi’s design team have brought the nation’s gardens to life with a busy print of sunflowers, daisies, carrots, strawberries and apples, as well as watering cans, spades, trowels and flowerpots. Items include a pair of reversible shorts, two applique t-shirts, a Snuggle Fleece, the bestselling waterproof Rain or Shine Jacket and the all-in-one Rain or Shine suit with Puddle Buster Wellies and socks. There is also a roll-up picnic blanket and a variety of accessories made from recycled materials.