The Point.1888 doubles Moomin UK licensing programme with raft of new partnerships

The Point.1888 has announced a raft of new Moomin licensees for the UK market, including The Hut Group and Moonpig.

Since announcing its partnership with Moomin Characters Ltd and Rights & Brands in January 2020, The Point.1888 has focused its retail-first brand extension model to widen both retail and licensing partners on the much-loved heritage brand.

The last two years have been hugely exciting for the Moomin brand, from celebrating their 75th anniversary to launching their ABC initiative, a literacy programme to help develop young readers and writers. This initiative has been hugely successful and will be the basis of a touring exhibition, with the first stop being held at the Eden Project this February half term.

The Point.1888 has now added new partners to the licensing programme, covering a broad range of categories and distribution channels including, but not limited to:

The Hut Group for a DTR consisting of apparel, homewares, furniture, stationery & paper goods, own brand, and collaborations

Fashion UK for kids’ and adult daywear, hosiery, and accessories

Denicci for baby and kids’ day and nightwear

Aykroyds for nightwear, swimwear and underwear

William Lamb for footwear, bags, purses, wallets and umbrellas

Moonpig for personalised POD greeting cards

IAMFY for prints, cushions, and throws

PSTR for print on demand art prints

Heart & Soul for celebration crackers

Artisiana Miniatures for miniature figurines

Potato Cellar for tote bags via Etsy

The Point.1888 has worked alongside Moomin Characters to grow the depth of distribution over the past two years, with licensing deals ranging from a partnership with Oxfam to HMV cross-category activations, through to new lines with dedicated partner Truffle Shuffle for key trade events.

2021 also saw the launch of new babywear SKUs within ASDA George, and new ladieswear lines.

Katie Wilkinson, Head of Publishing & Operations at The Point.1888, says: “We are so privileged to work with Moomin Characters and Rights & Brands on Moomin. It’s a brand whose values are more relevant today than ever before and that chimes so clearly with us as a business and individuals.

“The love for Moomin from both retailers and licensees is palpable and we are excited for how much there is in the pipeline for this brand.”

The Point.1888 secures 7 more licensees for Percy the Park Keeper

Growth for Bing softlines as Acamar Films renews deals with apparel partners

Following the continued success of Bing softlines in the UK, Acamar Films has announced the renewal of existing apparel partnerships with William Lamb, Aykroyds & TDP and Fashion UK.

In the last year, there has been an increase in the overall apparel business with sales doubling in the first six months of 2021 against the same period in 2020 and the daywear business seeing a significant increase. Yearly trend guides are supporting the development of fresh and colourful designs and the latest guide, released in September, is already inspiring new ranges for delivery in 2022.

Aykroyds & TDP has been a successful long-term partner for Bing, with its nightwear range naturally aligning with bedtime routines, one of the show’s key themes.

Dean Greasley, Head of Licensing at TDP Textiles, says: “Bing has been a core offering in our preschool stable since 2016 and each year the Bing business has steadily grown for us. We are delighted to be renewing our partnership once more with the Bing team.”

Bing’s gender-neutral appeal has enabled Fashion UK to capture key online retail space during a challenging time, offering apparel-buying departments flexibility with their merchandising.

Hannah Miles, Joint Managing Director at Fashion UK, says: “Gender neutral brands are becoming more of a consideration when our buyers are looking at properties to support. Bing has a unisex appeal and the yearly trend guides mean that we can offer each of our retailers a different look and feel, with timeless designs to suit any time of the year.”

Online was a key area for softline growth in 2021. The launch of new girlswear lines on the Asda George website for spring/summer, Smiffys’ new Sula costume at Sainsbury’s TU for World Book Day and a Character.com website takeover in July generated a huge audience response, with Bing’s highly engaged social community sharing photos of their Bingsters enjoying their Bing apparel.

Meanwhile, autumn/winter has seen the launch of the new Bing BBC Children in Need range, with exclusive clothing lines available on The Bing Store and a portion of the proceeds going towards helping young people across the UK.

Louise Simmonds, Head of UK Licensing at Acamar Films, comments: “We are delighted to have seen real growth this year across all our apparel categories. The launches of some great new products and an expansion of our retail footprint is a real positive in what has continued to be a tough year. We very much look forward to continuing with all our partners.”

 

BANDAI NAMCO Europe announces new licensing partnerships

BANDAI NAMCO Europe has signed new licensing deals in EMEA for the global hit fighting-game series TEKKEN.

The new deals cover apparel (Difuzed, Fashion UK, EMP), partworks (Planeto de Agostini), figurines (Pure Arts, First4figures, Numskull) and vinyl records (Laced Records).

BANDAI NAMCO Europe serves as the Headquarters of BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc. for mainland Europe and ANZ, which is known for creating and publishing many of the toy and entertainment industries’ top franchises, including PAC-MAN, TAMAGOTCHI, GUNDAM, TEKKEN and DARK SOULS.

Digital food brand Chefclub signs Fashion UK for family apparel range across Europe

The digital food brand developed to inspire audiences into the kitchen, Chefclub, has joined forces with Fashion UK, the leading European textiles and accessories licensee, to launch an officially licensed Chefclub apparel collection for the family.

The new range will launch in spring/summer next year with a cross-generational appeal that promises to be ‘fun, fashionable, and of course gourmet.’ The collection will be initially available to all major European retailers across France, Germany, and the UK.

Established in Paris in 2016, Chefclub is a digital kitchen brand that has seen rapid growth across Europe, the US, Latin America, and China thanks to its regular output of video content across social media platforms. The brand’s mission is to ‘transform the kitchen into a space for sharing and having fun.’

To date, Chefclub content has tallied up more than two billion organic views each month, with 100 million followers worldwide.

Its new partnership with Fashion UK follows the recent deal with Groupe SEB for the production of a range of Chefclub by Tefal cookware. The company joins to strengthen the growing roster of Chefclub licensees as well as its international presence in the licensing arena.

Simon’s Cat expands global paw print with ZenWorks and lands raft of new licensing partners

Banijay Brands has detailed a raft of new licensing deals for its digital content sensation, Simon’s Cat, spanning fashion, crafting, puzzles, and accessories, as well as securing new developments for the brand across the Japanese market through its new agent, ZenWorks.

Kicking off with the latest additions to the licensing programme, Simon’s Cat is continuing to expand across categories with partners including Fashion UK on board for ladies’, mens’, and kids’ apparel, accessories, and essentials for the UK market, and Wulydermy who will be launching a selection of craft kits for UK release this year.

Meanwhile, the global online retailer and manufacturer, Ecell, will launch Simon’s Cat phone covers in Q3, while Heye has just sold out of the first print run of its 1,000-piece Simon’s Cat puzzle. Pinfinity will be releasing a range of augmented reality Simon’s Cat branded metal pins, and the Australian medical wear specialist, Dr. Woof, has signed a deal which covers branded medical and clinical apparel.

This all sits alongside the official Simon’s Cat webshop refresh, managed by key e-commerce partner, Star Editions, which also released a collectable limited edition branded coin to coincide with the new store look.

Following the success of its previous Simon’s Cat releases, leading social commerce platform, Spring, is extending its partnership with the brand to deliver an extensive range of products this year for worldwide distribution, which will include a collaboration with Rubik’s Cube, bespoke apparel drops, and a limited edition ‘Kitten Care Kit’ collection of pet products.

Further global developments for the brand sees Banijay Brands appoint the licensing agent ZenWorks Licensing to represent the Simon’s Cat in Japan. On top of this, and following the success of its initial partnership, apparel specialists Quanshang in China has renewed its deal for a second year.

Jane Smith, group director, brand licensing at Banijay, said: “Simon’s Cat is such a lovable brand that resonates with fans all around the world. The extensive licensing programme, that continues to expand, is testament to its enduring popularity.”

Simon Tofield, creator of Simon’s Cat, added: “I am always amazed that there are so many Simon’s Cat fans all over the world. Our audiences are incredibly passionate about Simon’s Cat and it is wonderful to be able to offer them such a brilliant array of products.”

The Simon’s Cat brand enjoys international success across multiple categories including gaming, publishing and apparel. There have been more than 90 million digital sticker downloads, in excess of 20 million mobile gaming downloads and over 2 million books sold across 30 countries.

Simon’s Cat has over 18 million fans and subscribers across social platforms, with the iconic films totalling more than 2 billion views. Recent successes include the brand-new match-3 mobile game, Simon’s Cat Story Time, from developer Tactile Games, which launched last month, exclusively on Apple Arcade, Apple’s award-winning game subscription service.

Fashion UK, Portico Designs and Rubber Road among new UK partners for How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Fashion UK, Portico Designs, and the pop culture licensee Rubber Road are among a tranche of new UK licensing partners now signed for Dr Seuss Enterprises festive IP How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The latest signings arrive as WildBrain CPLG secures a new wave of European deals for the property.

In the UK, Portico Designs will release a line of calendars and diaries, Fashion UK is developing new kids’ daywear, and Rubber Road has introduced The Grinch to it popular collectables line up Tubbz. Meanwhile, Enesco is launching figurines and CHristmas decorations, Ecell is developing new phone covers and accessories, and Widdop & Co has signed up for gifting and home accessories.

Additional fashion partnerships have been secured outside of the UK with Trucare for the Middle East and North Africa, and Elyaf for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The new product ranges will launch from October 2020.

John Taylor, VP Northern Europe and managing director UK and France at WildBrain CPLG, said: “Thanks to his quirky humour and holiday spirit, the Grinch has firmly established himself as an icon for the festive season. This broad line-up of new partners means the brand will continue to have a robust presence during the Christmas retail period, and also have a wider range of products available than ever before.”

“We are excited about the broad reach of Grinchmas at retail this year, due in large part to all the great work WildBrain CPLG has done to select fantastic licensees who creatively connect our fans with the Grinch through consumer products,” said Susan Brandt, president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises.

These new partnerships join long-standing apparel and homeware UK licensees for the brand which include: Somerbond, BC International, Park Agencies, Misirli, Brand International, Dreamtex, Paul Dennicci, Cooneen, IG Design Group, Hype and Aurora.

Beyond the UK, the licensing programme also features European partners LPP for adult and kids wear and H&M for apparel and accessories, alongside Thalia for gifting in Germany, Australia and Switzerland.