By Mark Seavy 

Fashion brands have kept a low profile in licensing for years, with the agreements taking a backseat to the brands. 

But with brand management firms like Authentic Brands Group (Brooks Brothers, Ted Baker, Nine West), Marquee Brands (BCBGMaxAzria, Ben Sherman, Bruno Magli, Anti-Social Club), and WHP Global (Vera Wang, Joseph Abboud, Anne Klein, Rag & Bone) buying up labels, fashion brand licensing is trending.  

“It’s too crowded a market now for fashion retailers and brands not to use licensing as a means for cutting through the clutter with a well-known brand,” a licensing executive said. “By doing so, the fashion industry is increasingly highlighting the role that licensing has always played in the business, but that was previously rather low-key.” 

The value of licensing was further underscored earlier this year when G-III Apparel Group filed a $250-million breach of contract lawsuit against PVH Corp., which had moved to take back licenses for Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger womenswear in North America.  

For G-III, which had been a licensee for both brands for 20 years and generated $15 billion in gross sales, the change meant it would lose more than half its business over a five-year decoupling. It argued in the lawsuit that PVH had moved to reduce sales of the brands as it sought a narrower presence for them at wholesale. 

“The barriers of entry in the fashion world are coming down,” PVH CEO Stefan Larsson said at a recent Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference. “Anybody can start a fashion brand. But the barriers of entry have become the barriers of growth. And when you are one the few iconic brands, you need to make it relevant and current.” 

In doing so, PVH has put a very public face on the brands by enlisting a series of brand ambassadors, including K-pop star Mingyu and Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold (Calvin Klein) as well as Damson Idris (Tommy Hilfiger), who starred in the recent Formula One movie.  

The Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands each account for about 50% of PVH’s annual revenue, Larsson said. PVH also recently signed a new deal for both brands for men’s and women’s outerwear in the U.S. and Canada with Herman Kay-Mystic, which also has licenses for Michael Kors and Anne Klein. 

In the case of Vera Wang, WHP Global—which bought the brand late last year—signed a licensing agreement with Batra Apparel for womenswear and menswear in the U.K. and Europe, the first deal struck since the acquisition. And fashion designer/TV personality Victoria Beckham signed a 10-year agreement with a new eyewear licensee as the Safilo Group replaced Marchon Eyewear. Safilo has similar deals with Marc Jacobs, Boss, and Tommy Hilfiger.