Atelier Cologne Exits, Samuel L. Jackson Honored, Shinola’s New Mattress
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Atelier Cologne is pulling out of the U.S. and Canada, the brand said in an email to customers on Thursday that was obtained by WWD.
The email said Atelier Cologne is “entering a new chapter for the brand to craft even more modern and elevated perfumes to inspire the next generation of perfume enthusiasts,” and that to “come back with a completely new Atlelier Cologne,” the company will withdraw from the U.S. and Canada by mid-March.
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Both online and store operations in the U.S. will be closed. Currently, Atelier Cologne is offering 40 percent off on its website.
Atelier Cologne was acquired by L’Oréal in 2016, during a busy era for niche fragrance deals. At that time, industry sources estimated the brand had between $55 million and $60 million in wholesale revenue.
Atelier Cologne was launched in 2009 by Sylvie Ganter and Christophe Cervasel, who elevated eau de cologne into fragrances that contained higher concentrations of essential oils, called Colognes Absolues.
A spokesman for L’Oréal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some niche beauty brands have faced troubles post acquisition, especially since the onset of the coronavirus. L’Oréal competitor the Estée Lauder Cos. recently closed down Becca and Rodin Olio Lusso, acquired in 2016 and 2014, respectively. — ALLISON COLLINS
JACKSON HONORED
Samuel L. Jackson is the Chairman’s Award recipient for this year’s NAACP Image Awards. The actor will be honored during the 53rd annual awards ceremony, which will air on BET on Feb. 26.
Lexie Moreland/WWD
The Chairman’s Award recognizes accomplished creatives who use their platform for public service. Past honorees include John Lewis and Ruby Dee, Danny Glover, Tyler Perry, then-President Barack Obama and Maxine Waters.
“Many might not know that, prior to his acting career, Jackson was a staunch activist during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, even serving as an usher at Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. His continued public service and advocacy for social change make him an excellent recipient for the Chairman’s Award,” said Leon W. Russell, chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, in the award announcement.
Over his multidecade career, Jackson has appeared in more than 100 films, with noted roles including Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. Jackson — who remains one of the highest-grossing actors in the world — will also receive an honorary award from the Academy this year, along with Elaine May and Liv Ullmann.
The actor has a busy year ahead. Jackson’s numerous projects on the docket for 2022 include the Matthew Vaughn spy film “Argylle,” a Marvel series and “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” for Apple TV+. — KRISTEN TAUER
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
In what could be seen as another example of brands catering to homebound customers, Shinola has teamed with Serta to create the 313 mattress collection. The Detroit-based accessories and lifestyle brand is all about building back up its home city and the numerical name is its area code.
Courtesy
The three-style collection is meant to play up Serta’s comfort-first ethos. Shinola’s design influence can be seen in its trademarked lightning bolt logo that is embroidered on the mattress and bold striped border.
Having entered the home category a few years ago, Shinola has found the segment to be a very successful one, according to Shinola’s vice president of creative design Ruthie Underwood. The brand also has a Detroit hotel that opened in late 2018. Serta isn’t exactly an unfamiliar partner, since the company provided a different style of Serta mattress for the hotel. The company is not planning to open more hotels at this time, Underwood said.
The 313 memory foam mattress is offered in twin XL, queen and king/California king sizes with retail prices ranging from $890 to $1,500. The 313 style is shipped to shoppers in a box so that a box spring is not needed. Underwood said that part of the appeal of the collaboration was not necessarily offering a high-ticket item. It was more about extending the relationship with Serta and creating a quality mattress for the home, she said. The 313 mattresses will be sold via Shinola’s and Serta’s sites, as well as at the Shinola home store in Detroit and at select home-related stores. At this point the company has no plans to sell its 313 mattress to hotel guests, as some major hotel chains do.
Looking ahead, Shinola is gearing up for the launch of a new women’s platform, more products and the expansion of its USA portfolio, “very tightly curated products that are made in the USA,” Underwood said. — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG
BACK AGAIN
Missoni and ACBC have renewed their partnership to release a second drop of sustainable sneakers.
Introduced last year, the collaboration between the Italian luxury house and the Milan-based footwear start-up, which specializes in the design and production of eco-friendly shoes, has been expanded with a limited-edition style with a vintage flair.
Dubbed Basket, the sneakers revisit an archival model designed by the brand’s founder Ottavio Missoni in the ‘90s with sustainable materials. Entirely crafted in Italy and offered in low- and high-top versions, the sneakers feature uppers made from fruit peelings, inner lining and heels made from recycled plastic bottles and soles mixing rubber and corn-derived materials.
Presented in combinations of primary colors as well as more subdued accents in teal, lilac and light blue shades, the style also bears Missoni’s logo and signature zigzag pattern.
The Basket sneakers launched on Wednesday at Missoni and ACBC physical and online stores, retailing at 385 euros and 395 euros for the low-top and high-top versions, respectively.
Courtesy of Missoni
ACBC — the acronym standing for Anything Can Be Changed — was established by Gio Giacobbe and Edoardo Iannuzzi in 2017 via Kickstarter, and last year it became the first Italian footwear company to get the B Corp certification. The firm has collaborated with the likes of Giorgio Armani’s EA7, Alice + Olivia, Love Moschino and Save the Duck, in addition to Missoni. — SANDRA SALIBIAN
ATHLETES’ AID
Fanatics is ready to help college athletes capitalize on their images and likenesses.
Fanatics, the country’s largest licensed sports retailer, is teaming with OneTeam Partners to launch a co-branded jersey program featuring the name and number of current student-athletes, beginning with the fall college football season.
OneTeam, which specializes in commercializing the group rights of athletes, will work with Fanatics to provide current college football players with the opportunity to be compensated for inclusion in the customization programs of officially licensed jerseys.
Last year, student-athletes across the country were granted the right to make money from their names, images and likenesses, or NIL, as a result of an NCAA policy change.
Although the Fanatics and OneTeam initiative will start with football, it is expected to be expanded to other sports in the future.
“As the commercial landscape continues to develop for college athletes, their collective value is only beginning to be realized,” said Malaika Underwood, senior vice president of licensing at OneTeam. “Our focus has been on creating broad-scale licensed product programs that wouldn’t otherwise be possible without group rights. The Fanatics jersey program, which will cut across schools and eventually men’s and women’s sports, will give fans the ability to buy the jersey of their favorite college athlete and is exactly the type of thing we can help bring to market. What we bring on the athlete side layers onto Fanatics’ strong existing partnerships with most major colleges and universities.”
Fanatics already partners with more than 150 colleges and universities across the country, selling product online, in physical stores inside stadiums and arenas, as well as through wholesale channels.
“Broad-scale group rights for college athletes is the only pathway to bring this program forward,” said Derek Eiler, executive vice president of Fanatics College. “OneTeam is the perfect partner because of their group licensing expertise and their thoughtful approach in college. Aligning with OneTeam was a critical step to develop a scalable and efficient college football jersey program. We are excited to create an even deeper connection between schools, college athletes and fans through licensed merchandise.”
Fanatics will offer customizable Nike, Adidas and Under Armour football jerseys and OneTeam will handle the group rights of the athletes, who can opt in to participate through the Compass NIL app.
OneTeam launched as a joint venture between the NFL Players Association, MLB Players Association and RedBird Capital Partners to maximize the collective value of athletes’ rights across group licensing, marketing, media and investing. — JEAN E. PALMIERI
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