Having landed an MLB license for casual footwear, novelty licensee Forever Collectibles is looking more like an apparel company every day.
With the company’s recent success in apparel, like last year’s Ugly Sweaters sensation licensed by nearly every major sports property, Forever Collectibles is moving more and more into licensed apparel. The company started in 1998, marketing sports-licensed novelties, like bobbleheads.
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The company’s Ugly Sweaters have been a hit with consumers.
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Aside from footwear, Forever Collectibles has quietly expanded its rights with MLB and NFL to include apparel categories such as women’s and men’s tops and shorts, jogging pants, boardshorts, yoga pants, polos and T-shirts. Forever’s new apparel will be sold in mid-tier distribution such as Kohl’s and JCPenney, with pricing from $30-$60.
“I give them lots of points for innovation and creativity. So for some categories we consider underserved, we’ve expanded their rights,” said Noah Garden, MLB executive vice president of business.
Forever Collectibles’ NFL apparel will be available in the third and fourth quarter; MLB togs will be at retail in the fourth quarter and first quarter of 2016. Considering that footwear brands have controlled the most valuable sports apparel rights for the past 20 years, it’s almost as if Nike or Adidas started selling bobbleheads.
“We have no designs on the authentic [on-field apparel] business,” said Michael Lewis, Forever Collectibles founder and CEO, and a former marketer at Puma, Adidas and the defunct Apex One, all of which once had NFL on-field rights. “There are more revenues than ever for sports licensors, but very few licensees are making their living solely from the licensed business. There’s still room for growth. Look at our Ugly Sweaters last year. If all the big [apparel] rights holders were doing their jobs, we never would have gotten those rights.”
