Retailer secures seven-year licensing deal with KMI Brands to create cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances.
High street fashion retailer River Island is making the move into cosmetics, toiletries and fragrance, after striking a seven-year licensing deal with KMI Brands.
This marks the first partnership of its kind for River Island, and will also see KMI Brands – which also develops fragrances, bath, body and home fragrance for Ted Baker – distributing River Island fragrance outside of its retail stores and into wholesale, reported The Industry.Fashion.
“Discovering the heritage of the River Island brand has been a joy,” said Claire Green, brand director at KMI Brands. “The brand is renowned for stylish, accessible and inclusive fashion and translating this to a dynamic beauty category with experience and purpose at its core is an exciting opportunity to develop further.”
Theodore Sheppard, head of international and business development at River Island, added: “River Island are excited to enter into a partnership with KMI to design and develop our beauty and grooming ranges across our women’s, men’s and kids’ categories.
“As a specialist in the field, KMI have extensive experience as well as a strong understanding of brand values. This makes them an outstanding partner to take River Island forward in these categories which we believe will deliver significant growth in the coming years.”
The deal marks the first new licence that KMI Brands has signed in four years, said md Rachel Parsonage. “The honesty of [River Island’s] initial journey into beauty was refreshing and this really struck a chord,” she said. “Together we are excited to deliver products which will delight and surprise.”
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