With its recent deal to develop a national apparel and accessories program around classic rock bands KISS, Journey, Def Leppard and others, apparel company Lucky Brand is plugging into a harmonious spot in the more generally discordant market for music licensed products.
Lucky’s deal with licensing agency Epic Rights will put music brands KISS, Journey, Def Leppard, Billy Idol, The Doobie Brothers, Jefferson Airplane and CBGB on a line of tops and headwear hitting stores next year. The deal is somewhat unique in that it spans such a variety of acts that are unrelated except for their representation by Epic and their classic rock bent.
Classic rock is an evergreen segment of the music licensing business with no abatement in sales of the genre’s staple product—t-shirts—according to pundits, despite an overall dip of 2.5% in retail sales of music licensed products to $2.5 billion in 2014, according to TLL’s Annual Licensing Business Survey.