Fisher-Price deals bringing up baby
Fisher-Price is extending its presence in the apparel category with two newly announced licensing deals last month. The company has partnered with Dream Apparel to create a brand new line of sleepwear for infants and toddlers, including one-piece and two-piece pajama sets, as well as nightgowns and robes. Additionally, Fisher-Price announced a new brand alliance with Mayfair that features layettes, including onesies, booties and hats. Both the Dream and Mayfair product will be available at select Sears stores; the Mayfair product will be available in September for average retail price points around $18. The Dream product will hit select Sears shelves in November, with an average retail price point of $25.
“Fisher-Price is a trusted brand with more than 75 years of positive relationships with parents and children alike,” said Lesley Levenson, vp of Fisher-Price Consumer Products. “Now more than ever, kids can experience their favorite Fisher-Price brands in fun and creative ways throughout their entire day and night.”
Both apparel lines will use the colorful Fisher-Price “Animals of the Rain-forest” design, which is a popular theme across the brand’s bedding and baby gear product lines. Fisher-Price is capitalizing on this theme this year by teaming up with other licensees to create several other products with the rainforest motif. Greatech Vision, for example, will create a new line of sunglasses; Regent/Baby King will make a new line of feeding items; Simplicity for Children will make a play-yard and a bassinet; Blue Ridge will make travel accessories; Catini will produce a line of diaper bags; Springs Global will make a new line of bedding and Tollylots will create a new line of “Little Mommy” doll accessories.
Given the brand’s firm presence in the world of an average pre-schooler, the company’s various licensed partnerships make sense, especially for infant and toddler apparel, its licensees say.
“A firm with the brand equity and history of Fisher-Price, with its dedication to all things pre-school, is a natural fit for baby apparel,” said Mitchell Tawil, Mayfair’s evp and national sales manager. “Mayfair will align its long-established core expertise with that of Fisher-Price. The result will be a brand with credibility, longevity and exceptional functionality.”
Fisher-Price has grown quite a bit as a brand since its humble beginnings in 1930. At that time, its original founders, Herman Fisher, Irving Price and Helen Schelle, introduced the brand at the International Toy Fair in New York City with a collection of 16 wooden toys. Most notably since then, Mattel acquired Fisher-Price in 1993, a merger that allowed most of the brand’s growth internationally and with new product extensions.