Blues Group is adding another arm to its existing portfolio, creating a new dressing up division.
The Blues Dressing up division will complement its successful babywear, children’s and adult apparel business and has been a number of months in the planning.
Ruth Golightly, director of sales and design at the company, will add the new division to her remit. During her time as head of buying for childrenswear at Asda, Ruth managed the dress-up department, successfully steering it to growth across events such as World Book Day and Halloween during her tenure.
Supporting Ruth will be Tony Lewis, who joins in the role of director. Tony has over 20 years’ experience in the sector having been part of the original team which built the dress-up business at Christy’s (before it was sold to Amscan in 2010). He joins Blues from Disguise, where he headed up the team which successfully built an autonomous EMEA costume arm for the business.
In addition, Lynda Morris also joins from Disguise in the role of head of creative and design, bringing with her over 20 years’ experience in dress-up and licensed design.
Discussions are already underway with a number of licensors and retailers, with Blues working alongside an established and knowledgeable factory and supply base.
The division is now designing for key events from AW25 such as Halloween, as well as direct to retail product for key retailers.
“This exciting new division for Blues Group began at the start of 2024 – we realised the synergy and missing opportunities across cross category products as we were being asked for this by retailers looking to extend their offering, favouring one licensee/supplier to design and produce for them,” commented Ruth. “Tony was the obvious choice to bring into Blues Group to lead the dressing up business, with his wealth of experience, contacts and knowledge complementing our already market leading baby, kids and adult business.”
Licensors and retailers interested in getting in touch with Blues Dressup can contact Ruth or Tony directly by clicking on their respective names.
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