New international and US partners sign up for brand in variety of categories.
Ahead of its 90th anniversary in 2019, Popeye is heading into retail with a raft of new US and international deals across apparel, footwear, limited edition prints, publishing and events, King Features has confirmed.
Popeye fans around the globe will be able to celebrate the salty sailor with new apparel collections, including a line of t-shirts and sweaters in Canada from Vision/Eleven Apparel and apparel, accessories and novelties from American Features in Japan.
In Europe, Saborn and Manifatture S.A. are bringing adult and children’s apparel to Benelux and Italy, respectively, and Oaktarget Garments Limited is launching a new line of t-shirts, hoodies, and pajamas in the UK and Ireland.
Taymory is also debuting new Popeye performance swimwear and accessories across multiple territories in 2018, while Chocoolate brings adult tees to HK, Macau, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malyasia, Canada and the UK starting in spring.
Additional new Popeye product lines coming in 2018 and 2019 include a footwear collaboration with Sperry, toys from Funko and adult costumes from Rubie’s among others.
King Features has recently unveiled a new brand logo and packaging, an interactive website and a new YouTube channel, which has boosted Popeye’s social media with over 3.2 million minutes of content viewed in the last month alone.
It is also developing all-new creative based around streetwear trends which will be unveiled at Licensing Expo, while new Popeye content is being developed for the first time in almost 15 years leading into the anniversary.
“Over the last two years, we have worked to extend Popeye’s reach to new and younger demographics while enhancing engagement among our existing fans,” said Carla Silva, vp and gm, global head of licensing at King Features. “As we head into his anniversary year we are continuing towards this goal with a strong focus on growing Popeye’s social platforms, creating new content for his anniversary, and fostering creative collaborations with high-end partners across the globe.
“Now, 2019 is primed to be Popeye’s biggest year ever with dozens of partners on board to help celebrate the pop-culture icon with exciting product lines, events, and content.”
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