Aykroyd & Sons’ Sion Aykroyd on how the licensee will continue to build its portfolio.
The licensed preschool apparel sector is certainly a buoyant one – with properties including Peppa Pig, Thomas, PAW Patrol and Winnie the Pooh leading way.
And, with the likes of Hey Duggee, PJ Masks, Nella the Princess Knight and Super Wings among others beginning to make their mark, it’s more crowded than ever.
Sister title Progressive Preschool chatted to some of the key licensees in the space to find out how 2017 was and how 2018 is shaping up.
Today: Sion Aykroyd, sales and licensing executive, Aykroyd & Sons
“2017 was very active. Preschool was a core age category for us especially on kids’ nightwear. We saw a lot of interest in the established licences such as PAW Patrol, My Little Pony, Beauty and the Beast, etc, while it was refreshing to see new licences such as PJ Masks, Hey Duggee and Bing Bunny breakthrough.
2018 has been very positive and encouraging [so far]. We looked forward to the launch of the Peter Rabbit movie in March. January and February are always the slower months of the calendar for sales, but extremely busy on development for A/W18.
There’s a good balance of preschool licences on offer at the moment. As for improvement, there might be space for a new girls licence to take over the market? We would like to continue to build on a strong portfolio of preschool licences so we can look forward to 2019/20 and beyond.”
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