Lisle Licensing’s Becky Sherwood on the agency’s ambitions for Poodle & Blonde

Becky, it’s good to connect. Could you give us a little bit of background to Lisle Licensing?
Lisle Licensing was formed by Colin and Francesca Lisle in 2010 – along with their colleague at the time Gayle Tarrant – and their first license was Zhu Zhu Pets. I joined the business in 2020 having previously worked within the wholesale sector representing Swatch within Swatch Group UK and then Manchester-based fashion brand The Couture Club.

In its infancy, Lisle’s expertise was very much focused on character entertainment and toy licensing strategies. Today our client base is broader and includes Poodle & Blonde, The Style Sisters, artist Lucia Heffernan and most recently, The Dogfather by Graeme Hall.

Let’s focus on British interiors brand Poodle & Blonde for a moment. Can you tell us more about what attracted Lisle Licensing to it?
Year-round we continually research potential brand licensing opportunities with businesses who are looking for commercial growth and would benefit from our expertise. We explore aspirational brands whose assets can be converted into effective consumer products programmes and complement our existing portfolio. Poodle & Blonde ticked all these boxes…

We reached out to its founders Whinnie Williams and Kierra Campbell in 2023, with them becoming a client earlier this year. They complement our successful work with the Style Sisters who have a very minimalist approach, whereas the girls at Poodle & Blonde are much more maximalist in their approach to design, style, colour and nostalgia.

What licensing categories are you hoping to develop with Poodle & Blonde?
To date, Poodle & Blonde have been successful in creating collections of high-quality wallpaper and fabrics, with colourways and designs that blend perfectly as ‘mix and match’ – and includes sustainability options wherever possible. Our focus as their licensing agent will bring to life their expansion dreams across homeware and accessories, tableware and kitchenware, luggage and bags, home furniture, fragrance and textiles.

Before launching Poodle & Blonde, I imagine you spent time with the brand owners getting them ‘licensing ready’. Can you talk us through that process?
We always spend a considerable amount of time getting our clients ‘licensing ready’, even if they’ve already had experience in the sector. We hold in-person immersion days and countless Teams meetings getting to know one another, exploring a variety of opportunities for their licensing programme – and how it will ‘connect’ and ‘enhance’ their existing commercial strategy and brand or product offering.

We very much take an ‘open approach’ to working with existing designs and creative, or even bespoke new concepts. We would never want to shoe-horn a client who has boundless aspirational ideas for their brand.

What are the challenges associated with launching a new brand in today’s licensing market. And how do you overcome these?
For a brand that is ‘unknown’ in licensing, we have to take a proactive approach in building awareness of them within the industry. We are always conscious this takes time and patience and is one of the key points we discuss when getting a new client ‘licensing ready’. Thinking about the long-term objectives is a strategic focus for us. We don’t see this necessarily as a challenge, but as an opportunity to ensure we secure the right partners.

It can take a while to find a ‘home’ – both at retail and with licensees – for newcomers. We have established partnerships who have supported us presenting clients to them who are new to the consumer products space. We love finding original and alternative licensees for clients who can work alongside us to nurture new retail partnerships that align with their brand.

You work with a number of designers and design-led brands. Was this a deliberate direction of travel for the company?
The growth of design-led brands in recent years has bolstered the overall industry and licensing is no longer seen as a revenue generator for just character and entertainment companies. Our new client signings in the past year are testament to this growing demand.

Our desire to work with design-led brands and individuals has evolved from our own passion in this space and was never a planned re-focus for our MD, Francesca. It has grown naturally, identified through trends and awareness levels we have identified – but also been carefully managed to ensure we work with the best-of-the-best and can deliver them with appropriate opportunities for commercial growth.

“The growth of design-led brands in recent years has bolstered the overall licensing industry.”

Focusing on design and product development, how do you keep up to date with trends in design and the different markets you sell into?
This is an easy answer! Listening to conversations, spending time on social media, visiting retail frequently to see what is working and observing upcoming trends and word-of-mouth discussions with licensees. Beyond this, we spend a lot of time talking to our clients about where they see trends coming from across the globe.

I’m sure you get a lot of brands, artists and designers approaching you about ‘licensing their brand’. Do you have some general advice to creatives looking to license themselves or their work?
Brands which are financially stable and have a creative business path gives them an advantage in being close to ‘licensing ready’. Also, it’s important that the brand exists successfully in its core domain. If it’s an artist or a designer for example, they need to have a following on their platforms. Poodle and Blonde had already achieved success in multiple areas before we started working with them on their licensing programme. This meant there was already an awareness of the brand when we start our process.

It’s also important they have all their assets in place in order to diversify; a simple example of this is IP registration which can so often be overlooked.

On Poodle & Blonde, what are your personal favourites from their designs?
I’m so glad you asked me this! I adore their print known as the Clifton Cowgirls which features a stunning Appaloosa horse print. It’s now out the bag that I’m a huge fan of horses and riding!

Ha!
I also love their Food Babies print because not only is it fun, but also a clever take on design and print. It’s based on a cherry blossom tree with small designs of food hanging off the branches. This perfectly epitomises all that Poodle & Blonde stand for as a design brand.

Finally, is there a particular product or collaboration you would love to see happen for Poodle & Blonde?
Poodle & Blonde’s brand ethos is focused on the modernisation of all things retro. In the past they had a sell-out kettle and toaster collab featuring their Tottenham Dalmatian print; to this day they still get requests from fans wanting to get their hands on these two products…

I would love to be able to bring to life a new retro product – or two! – for the kitchen featuring the girls’ most popular current designs on on-trend appliances such as an air fryer or mini-oven. Move over colour-block appliances, let’s get them looking fun and funky with a pop of colour and designs that make a statement!

Great stuff! Thanks again Becky.