We had reported here, that Rodenstock is re-entering the licensing business. Now licenses are becoming important in a different way.
According to the Sueddeutsche, the Richemont Group together with an investor is offering to buy Rodenstock. What does Richemont bring to the table? Brand licenses for eyewear.
Richemont owns brands like Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, IWC, Dunhill, Chloe, Montblanc, Jaeger-Le Coultre, Baume & Mercier und A. Lange & Soehne.
Dunhill already has an eyewear license, so does Chloe and Montblanc. The licensees will be watching carefully, when reading that their licenses are offered to Rodenstock.
Richemont Group went the same route before with leather goods.
In the 90s they bought Seeger. From then on, Seeger produced leather goods for Montblanc. But that als meant the slow and silent death of Seeger from 1999 on. Last year Seeger was supposed to be closed, but eventually was sold to a German family. They are now re-launching the brand. You can find a short German article about this at Brand Eins.
Ausgabe von Brand Eins finden Sie einen Artikel dazu mit dem Titel: Neuer Stolz in Offenbach”.