By Mark Seavy

As Williams-Sonoma and its related Pottery Barn and PB Teen chains dig deeper into direct-to-retail (DTR) deals, tabletop suppliers are finding a growing appetite for licensing.

The home goods chain in recent years has introduced Harry Potter, Hello Kitty and Marlo Thomas collections, products that have added a bit of sophistication to what can be a character-driven business, tabletop executives said at the New York Tabletop Show last week.

Zrike, for example, is launching Hello Kitty melamine dinner and bakeware for broader distribution starting with HomeGoods and Marshalls. It further extends the brand’s reach in tabletop, where Silver Buffalo (mugs) is among the other licensees.

“Having Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma selling licensed products makes it more desirable and that is really helpful to other vendors,” said Jaime Frederick, VP of sales at Zrike. “They have DTRs with so many licensed properties and that only helps us because it raises the profile and allows us to approach the products in a more sophisticated way.  People respond to that because it is comfort food and a way to incorporate it into the home with more elegance.”

That response also extended at the show outside the confines of character-based licensing and into fashion brands and artist designs. Ramen bowls, for example, have increasingly become a canvas for licensing. Stone Lain has incorporated them as it takes the Chrisitan Soriano brand into Lusso and Larosso brand dinnerware (dinner and salad plates, pasta and soup bowls) for the first time with plans for further expansion in 2024 with new colors, said Debra Povia, sales director at Stone Lain.

Certified International has added ramen bowls using licensed designs from artists Nancy Green and Steve Haskamp. Stone Lain also is fielding a 16-piece stoneware dinner set, the designs of which are part of sculptor Roy Nachum’s “Stone by Mercer Project” And Zrike will bring the Caskata dinnerware brand, known for its porcelain and bone China products into melamine in 2024. Caskata itself has licensed the Cuisinart brand for kitchen products including an enamel five-quart casserole dish and a 16-quart lobster stockpot.

“You have to push the envelope to be more sophisticated,” Frederick said.

Those new designs are coming as companies adapt to seasonal trends that have been pushed to ever-earlier start dates with Halloween items arriving in stores in July, followed by Christmas goods in September.

As part of that trend, dinnerware suppliers have adopted. Lenox, best known for its bone China dinnerware settings, is expanding its Peanuts license for ornaments to Easter- and Halloween-themed accent plates that can be placed atop standard plates to mark the seasons, said Jennifer Dibenedetti, VP of marketing at Lenox. The focus on character-based licenses is part of broader shift away from brands like fashion label Marchesa, artist Brian Gluckstein and lifestyle brand Domino and a sharper focus on seasonal and wedding goods that have long been Lenox’s strength.

“It’s becoming a very item-driven business and rather than designing whole collections, we are developing multiple designs for items,” Linda O’Donnell, design director at Certified International. “Since bowls are selling well rather than also doing an oval platter, pasta bowl and mug, we are focusing on them. It is developing, showing, and sampling since we have a look we are known for and when we try to step out, sometimes it doesn’t fly.”