ICONIX EUROPE | PROFILE
In a challenging and ever evolving retail landscape, it is becoming increasingly critical for brand operators to partner with Licensors who offer them much more than simply IP. Iconix Europe, the European arm of one of the World’s premier brand management companies Iconix Brand Group, operates an owned portfolio of 23 brands across Sports, Fast Fashion, Streetwear, Heritage and Home, including global brands such as Starter, Ed Hardy, Ocean Pacific, Ecko Unltd. and Zoo York.
Whilst its American counterpart Iconix Brand Group licenses its brands to a global network of over 1,100 companies that include many of the largest retailers and manufacturers in the world (which in the US extends from Value tier players such as Target, Costco and Walmart, to Mid-tier such as Kmart, JCPenney, TJMaxx and Kohl’s, to Better and Luxury tier players such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Saks, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Dillard’s), Iconix Europe works to tailor these global brands to European fascia via a process of localisation and in depth working knowledge of the European market place, operating the portfolio via best in class retailers at all market tiers including via key players Zalando, Snipes, Sprinter, Aktiesport, Asos, TKMaxx, USC, Harvey Nichols, Titus, Carrefour, Scout, Prisma, La Rinascente and Coin as well as via dedicated brand websites.
Iconix Europe specialises in offering its partners a 360 level of support, ensuring that every licence signed is set on the strongest possible path to success from day one. From extensive brand materials made available to partners via best in class asset management platforms, to world class global networking on both distribution and supply/sourcing, digital and social activations, product innovation, trend forecasting, packaging/POS creation and marketing and press rollouts, Iconix continue to demonstrate that added value is a critical component to success during this paradigm shift in the industry.
A key highlight from the company this year which demonstrates the way in which Iconix’s strategy of providing superior Licensee added-value is driving success includes their extensive repositioning and relaunch of the Ed Hardy brand, which they commenced firstly by a significant remastering of the brand materials and trend/product direction whilst maintaining the original artwork and DNA of the brand, and secondly via the rollout of a premium women’s collaboration collection which was sold via Topshop and Selfridges and rapidly sold out, generating buzz for the brand relaunch. The brand has since gone from strength to strength, with distribution via Footasylum, USC and top independents. Footwear has been a key category for Ed Hardy over the past few seasons, with Zalando recently launching SS19 men’s footwear, generating a fantastic 75% sell through. Iconix and their UK Licensee have also recently launched the official Ed Hardy UK ecommerce site to offer consumers a total look offering.
A similar success story has been seen on the Starter Black Label brand as it launched into Italy for the first time; with no previous brand footprint in the region, Iconix worked closely with their Italian apparel, headwear and footwear partner to place the brand into key retail accounts such as La Rinascente, Non Solo Sport, Sorelle Ramonda, Coin, Scout, Shore 21 and top independents, supported by extensive marketing including stadia sponsorships, major celebrity endorsements, top level photoshoots, press and product gifting; the business as a result is demonstrating rapid growth, more than doubling in size from 2017 to 2018 and forecast to do so again for 2019.
Another key highlight for 2019 has been Iconix’s rollout of premium halo collaborations which it has undertaken to provide its Licensee’s with additional brand buzz around the portfolio; collabs carried out on the Starter Black Label brand for 2019 for example include Etudes Paris which featured at Paris Fashion Week and was covered in Vogue and High Snobiety, Acne Studios which was covered by Complex, Hypebeast and Highsnobiety, Marcello Burlon which is distributed at Harvey Nichols and Harrods, Mercer Amsterdam which will launch via a large scale pop up event with campaign tie-in, as well as major European highstreet players Snipes (which features prominently in the retailer’s premier doors and online), and Aktiesport Netherlands.
Iconix specialise in utilising their global network of partners and suppliers to provide Licensees with extensive networking into new distribution, new supply opportunities and new sourcing channels which allow their partners to tap into a wide range of product categories and tag on opportunities across all the brands in the portfolio. By way of example, a new Iconix partnership on the Zoo York brand with the wholly-owned subsidiary of Fila Korea Ltd. has provided Iconix’s global partners with access to a high quality tag on range across a wide variety of skus at excellent price points; such tag on opportunities are made available to partners on categories as diverse as luggage, underwear, fragrance and cosmetics, skateboards, activewear, handbags, tailoring and more.
