Shrek 2 licensees hope for movie-like success

By Michele SanFilippo -- Home Textiles Today, 6/28/2004 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

With Shrek 2 breaking box office records for animated releases this summer, licensees are hoping the movie's success translates directly into superior sales of Shrek-bearing home textiles.

"Where it was placed, it did very well, even before the movie came out," said Nancie Siegel, marketing director of juvenile and specialty brands at Springs. "Our placement of 3-D decorative pillows was phenomenal," she added. Siegel said she sees this momentum of growing Shrek product sales continuing through fall and into spring.

Springs currently has two Shrek bedding patterns and one design for bath towels, bath accessories and area rugs. It will also offer a new all-over print design that includes the Puss 'n Boots character on comforters, sheets and decorative pillows with a fall ship date to coincide with the Nov. 4 home video release.

"We think it has tremendous potential to become a core program in entertainment properties," continued Siegel. "Because there was no Shrek bedding available for the first movie, there was a lot of pent-up demand. Plus, Shrek 3 is already on the drawing board."

According to Tammy Foubert, director of licensing at Mohawk Home, Dream Works has been easy to work with and a strong promoter of their properties.

"It's been a wonderful license for us," said Foubert. "Shrek is a lovable property. We think there's a lot of potential for it to be an evergreen license."

Mohawk currently sells eight varieties of throws in various constructions and five 27-inch square tapestry pillows that include Shrek, Donkey, Fiona and the Puss 'n Boots characters. The company will be showing a new cotton throw design in time for the August Gift Market. Foubert added, "With the popularity of Puss 'n Boots, we expect to do some new designs that include this character."

"The response has been really, really good to Shrek 2," said Michelle Wright, marketing manager at Karstan America, referring to placement of the company's fiber-reactive print cotton beach towels. "The first movie was such a success and so well received, we didn't have to build it up or explain it to buyers."

Karstan America offers about 10 to 12 designs of 30-by-60-inch beach towels that feature the various characters. The towels feature single characters, multiple characters and horizontally oriented designs, and retail for $14.99 to $19.99.