IMG shines light on fashion & lifestyle

With more than 25 offices around the world, IMG builds and manages licensing and consumer product programmes for some of the world’s leading leisure, lifestyle and fashion properties, corporate trademarks and institutions, sports brands and teams, as well as major personalities. In 2022, the Endeavor-owned company facilitated various strategic partnerships for leading leisure and fashion brands, including Gap, Cosmopolitan, and Millie Bobby Brown’s beauty and fashion brand ‘florence by mills’.

Gap: Gap is one of the biggest fashion and apparel brands in the world. As its exclusive licensing representative, IMG has delivered a number of cross-category product extensions and collaborations, introducing the brand to new audiences. Last summer, Gap partnered with premium prescription eyewear company De Rigo to launch the first collection of Gap-branded eyewear, delivering a versatile, high-quality line of sunglasses and optical wear for adults, juniors, and kids. Meanwhile, babyGap launched the first-ever babyGap-branded nursery furniture and baby gear collection in the US with Delta Children, including cribs, dressers, and a recliner in classic and trending colours, with a modern touch. Gap has also partnered with Unlimited Footwear Group (UFG) to design, produce, and distribute Gap-branded footwear throughout the entire European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Scan- dinavia, launching in Spring/Summer 2023. florence by mills: British actress Millie Bobby Brown’s brand, ‘florence by mills’, made its fashion premiere alongside ABOUT YOU, in a collaboration negotiated by IMG - Millie’s global licensing partner. All 76 pieces in the international collection aim to inspire fun and positivity while encouraging personal expression and self-confidence in everyday situations. Overall, the collection consists of playful yet mature highlights that reflect Millie herself. The collection is exclusively available in all 26 European ABOUT YOU online shops in sizes XS to XXL and cost between 29.90 € and 139.90 €.

Cosmopolitan: Cosmopolitan is one of the most powerful and recognised women lifestyle brands in the world, reaching 1 in 4 millennials. IMG, Cosmopolitan’s global licensing agency, has facilitated strategic leisure and fashion partnerships to further elevate the brand, including the launch of a new athleisure collection in collaboration with Vitality, a leading women-owned athleisure company. The collection includes twelve women’s products and four men’s products in a vibrant yet sophisticated mix of print and solid colorways, available in XXS-XXXXL, ensuring optimal sizing for everybody. Cosmopolitan also unveiled its Spring Summer 2022 sun and optical eyewear collection, featuring both acetate and metal frames in captivating, on-trend shapes aswell as classic, casual looks. Every pair of frames in the collection features the letter C, for Cosmopolitan, in red on both temple tips.

Vilebrequin: French luxury swimwear brand Vilebrequin signed a multiyear deal with IMG last year to extend its brand globally through product and brand licensing partnerships that capture the brand’s distinctive fabric patterns and St. Tropez-rooted European flair. Keeping with Vilebrequin’s brand values and identity, IMG facilitated a partnership with New Creative Concept (INCC) to launch a new range of fragrances and eco-friendly body care like solid shampoo and solid gel bars, as well as sun care. Launching in 2024, the collection is inspired by Vilebrequin’s “joie de vivre” spirit of creating high-end, sustainable products that evoke a sense of fun, freedom, and relaxation.

London Studio Announces First License For Art Of Drag

Art licensing and design company The London Studio has announced the first licence award for its playful, funny and ever-so-slightly-subversive new brand, Art of Drag. Independent publisher Flame Tree Publishing will produce a calendar, jigsaw and notebook inspired by this unique art brand, to be distributed globally by Flame Tree and its distributors, including Simon & Schuster for the USA.

Art of Drag takes inspiration from famous artworks and cultural female icons which The London Studio then replaces with drag artists – to stunning and memorable effect! Each original Art of Drag artwork features a beautylicious Drag Queen, created by an award-winning independent art house of LGBTQ+ artists and allies.

These works reimagine and subvert famous artworks and genres, and, like the queens themselves, every single one is a masterpiece! These beautifully illustrated reimaginings stretch from street art to the Renaissance – and everything in between. The 2024 calendar launched at Spring Fair, closely followed by the jigsaw and notebook. They will be on sale at independent gift shops, book shops, selected fashion retailers and gallery gift shops from winter 2023. The range will target a core market of young adults, but The London Studio expects a strong secondary market among teens and tweens, for whom drag is now very much part of mainstream British culture.

Frances Bodiam, Managing Director of Flame Tree Publishing, says: “We are so excited to be publishing Art of Drag and working with Soula at The London Studio. The artwork is gorgeous and fun and works so well with the rest of our gift and calendars programmes. They will be a truly wonderful source of inspiration for the 2024 calendar, jigsaw and Flame Tree notebook planned for later this year.”

Kirsty Guthrie from KJG Ltd who consulted for and managed this deal on behalf of The London Studio, alongside Maggy Harris from BlueSkye Licensing, comments, “I was over the moon when Flame Tree loved the Art of Drag designs I showed them. They immediately saw a fabulous product range in the offing! The ‘va va voom’ art and wonderful products combine perfectly to glam up anyone’s day – and will do just that when they launch later this year.”

Founder and director of The London Studio, Soula Zavacopoulos, adds: “Flame Tree is very well known for its incredible art licenses and the high quality of its products, so I’m very proud to announce Flame Tree as our first global licensee for Art of Drag. And there’s much more to come from this brand. The potential for Art of Drag-inspired printed products is huge. After all, who wouldn’t want a bit more glam in their daily life?”

Awareness of The London Studio and its work is growing fast. Its success in greeting cards and gifts now extends to a fast-growing list of international retailers and licensed publishers. It has also launched a number of specially created lifestyle brands appropriate for apparel, gifts, homeware, stationery and more.

Authentic Brands And Global Citizen

Global Citizen and Authentic Brands Group recently announced a new cross-brand, multi-year alliance, marking a first-of-its-kind partnership for both companies. The four-year partnership is planned to include the creation of an exclusive brand mark for consumer products, marketing activations, donation programs, and more.

Through this endeavor, Authentic and Global Citizen break new ground, leveraging and building upon each company’s respective expertise in the fashion, retail, and social impact spaces. The program will create new opportunities for consumers to activate their purchasing power, driving change toward the most urgent issues facing humanity and our planet. Key brands within Authentic’s portfolio, such as Reebok, Nautica, and Eddie Bauer, plan to participate in co-branded programs that drive urgent action and encourage consumers to join Global Citizen’s mission to End Extreme Poverty NOW, beginning in late 2023. Over the past 10 years, through creative campaigns, live events, and innovative partnerships, $41 billion in commitments announced on Global Citizen platforms has been deployed, impacting more than 1.15 billion lives.

The brands – Art of Drag, the well-beingthemed Note to Self, the vibrant Sweet & Wild, and the funny and imaginative What Cats do When We Aren’t Looking – all enjoyed a strong response at BLE 2022. They’re already leading a busy 2023 for The London Studio’s enhanced and expanded licensing business.

The next issue of Total Brand Licensing will be published in June and distributed at Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.

To be part of this upcoming issue, contact Becky Ash becky@totallicensing.com.