Category: general

As reported by FTD here, Habitat will close. It is the end of a long story started by a great talent, Terence Conran.

The first Habitat store opened in 1964. From there it expanded into an international chain of furniture and interior design stores.

Habitat was then acquired by Ikea with the intention to establish a higher priced chain. A concept, that The Gap followed with the acquisition of Banana Republic.

But the concept did not work. Thus, Ikea sold, or rather gave away, Habitat to Hilco for three (3) Euro. Hilco tries to revive troubled brands – mostly through licensing – like Polaroid, The Sharper Image, Linens ‘n Things and Bombay Co. Through Brand Matters it owns Ellen Tracy and acts as licensing agent for the Bob Marley estate.

The profitable stores are now up for sale, the other ones will be closed.

LicenseMag reports that Skechers and Li & Fung USA signed a license for Fitness apparel and accessories collections for men and women.

The multi-year licensing agreement will include Shape-ups, Tone-ups and Skechers Resistance branded activewear, outerwear and performance accessories.

Scheduled launch is 2012.

Distribution will be through department stores, sporting goods and independent retailers in the U.S.

Skechers also has licenses in place for kidswear, accessories and eyewear. It is expanding heavily.

Ellen Tracy has announced a license with Li & Fung for women’s fashion.

Not too long ago Ellen Tracy, established in 1948, was one of the Top bridge lines, along with Dana Buchman and Liz Claiborne.
It had quite a stable of licenses for eyewear, shoes, hosiery, handbags, coats, dresses, suits, women’s fragrances, jewelry, sleepwear, intimate apparel, men’s outerwear and luggage.

It was then taken over, turned into a licensing operation and various retail exclusive deals were made as well as direct to retail licenses. In 2009 vendors filed for Chapter 7.

Li & Fung is a huge Chinese apparel company, that bought 11 US companies over the last two years. Among its growing stable of brands and licenses is Skechers.

Der Brillenmarkt für Markenlizenzen bleibt turbulent. Nach Ferragamo und Lacoste wechselt nun auch Valentino zu deren Lizenznehmer.

Marchon hält zudem Lizenzen von Marken wie Jil Sander, Nautica, Calvin Klein, Diesel, Fendi, Nike und Michael Kors.

Ab Januar 2012 wird Marchon die Valentino Lizenz halten, die zuvor bei Safilo lag.

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Procter & Gamble wird Lizenznehmer von 007.

Die Prestige Division des Parfum-Geschäfts wird unter Herrenparfums unter der Marke James Bond 007 produzieren und vertreiben.

Ob dem Filmstudio der Schritt vom Productplacement zur Lizenzmarke gelingt erscheint fraglich, seit der Filmcharakter sich immer mehr vom Gentleman zum Action-Held entwickelt.

Am Bekanntheitsgrad dürfte es jedenfalls nicht scheitern.