“We set the standard”: Steve Collier – Creative Director at Brand Alliance – talks innovation in licensed fashion

Steve, it’s great to connect. To kick us off, can you give us a quick introduction to Brand Alliance?
Brand Alliance License is a licensed fashion business that is design driven and design focused. We work with global licenses and retailers to grow and generate collections across multiple product categories – all while ensuring that the brand’s identity and standards are maintained across various products and territories.

What does your role as Creative Director entail?
I am responsible for shaping and guiding the overall visual and conceptual direction of the company and its licensed brands. My role involves overseeing the design process, from conceptualising collections to selecting colours, fabrics and styles that align with a brand’s identity and vision.

I collaborate closely with the lead designers and board of directors to ensure that the aesthetic vision is consistently executed across all platforms, including social media, trade shows, retail presentations and activations. Additionally, I try to stay ahead of the latest trends, draw inspiration from various sources, and make strategic decisions to maintain the company’s relevance and appeal in the competitive licensing and fashion markets.

Brand Alliance has seen rapid growth in recent years, partly driven by your licensed ranges. Was this a strategic move for the company?
The business made a strategic decision to enter into the licensing business over 15 years ago. They noticed that licensed product was selling faster than own label products within a number of the retailers they were working with.

Staring initially with a select handful of properties – including Coca Cola, VW and Marvel Comics – over time this portfolio has grown in response to an ever-evolving customer base, exponentially so in the last five years.

How did you adapt your role to embrace licensing?
When I was asked to work and manage the license side, I was reluctant at first – I was worried I would not be able to be as creative! I was so wrong!

Having a portfolio of immense global brands makes you feel like a kid in a sweetshop… There are no limits to how creative you can be if you treat them like any other brand, apply them to trend where they fit.

We won an award earlier this year for our Coca-Cola motorsports collection for Primark – a double proud moment for me as my daughter Yasmin had worked on the collection.

Fantastic. You also design non-licensed ranges. Does this inform anything on the licensed side of things, and vice versa?
Working across mainline fashion helps across our licensed work. Applying a similar approach, the extensive trend research our teams pull together for mainline fashion helps influence styling, key shapes, fabrications, print technique, trims and branding. It’s a melting pot that we intentionally keep bubbling as the opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas, inspiration and collaboration create special outcomes.

How do you help Brand Alliance present your product ranges to retail design-wise ? Do you get the opportunity to chat with buyers?
As Creative Director, I have a saying: “We set the standard”. We always strive to find new ways to present our ranges, empowering the design team to utilise new creative tools.

We work closely with buying teams and design teams within retail, which helps ensure the ranges are tight and cohesive. Having a direct hand in these conversations with key retailers means we have a constant feedback loop. This helps to inform and inspire our decisions making and future performance.

How do you ensure that you and your design team keep abreast of trends in the wider apparel market – and licensing in general?
In short, constant scanning. We research trends across various platforms and resources. We attend trade shows, exhibitions, gathering intel from festivals and pop culture and so on… We are always on the lookout.

When it comes to taking on new licenses, how much a voice do you have in the decision-making process?
Choosing a license is spearheaded by our Commercial Director, but the process is very much a collaborative one, with a lot of input from design. As Creative Director, I will give my views and market intelligence, which is solid research combined with the energy of our amazing design team who are always coming up with new ideas and suggestions on what licence is hot – or about to catch fire.

How do you overcome the challenge that licensing can bring in balancing the needs of retailers, consumers and brand owner?
We work closely with our licensors and we always try to innovate and push the creative. Our retailers don’t expect graphic slapping from us; we want our products to be commercial and relevant to the end user. Over the years we have built up trust and confidence from our licensors and this helps us deliver product that has a great sell through in most cases.

Brand Alliance has a varied portfolio of rights, including brands sourced from the FMCG sector. Why do you think food and drink brands are so popular in apparel at the moment?
Some of this is from the comfort and familiarity of the well know brands that, in some cases, we interact with every day. It can be powerful to take those brands and look to surprise and delight consumers, particularly as these kinds of brands can often create an even stronger resonance with consumers than entertainment IP. Taste and smell can create those powerful sense memories and a feeling of association that is very emotive.

What advice would you give to FMCG brand managers looking to get going in licensing? How can they make themselves ‘licensing ready’ design-wise?
Think about how they fit into the market, secure a great licensing partner who has strong relationships within retail and look at brand collaborations that will raise awareness. But first, there’s a need to deeply understand their consumers and ensure they interpret their fandom when setting a creative direction… It’s vital to communicate in an authentic tone of voice.

You have had success with brands like Hello Kitty and The Grinch. These are long established brands and ones that have featured in the market before. How do you offer a fresh design perspective to IP like these?
We call it our secret sauce – it’s all about the design process, how we put ranges together and being disruptive in the marketplace. Every brand is a unique proposition and requires different element of our toolkit to execute – there’s no one size fits all strategy.

Last question! Thinking about your wider team and younger designers in particular, how do you think the licensing industry can support and inspire the design community?
It’s always inspiring to visit the licensors and find out more about what they stand for, brand values and their history. Sharing this with the team and inviting the designers to a showcase, a sizzle or a launch is completely immersive. Featuring some of your best designs within a yearly brand bible is also a great way for exposure, creating a piece of history you can look back over.

Thanks again Steve!