William Lamb’s Sandra Vanstan, Ruth Evans and Emily Bean on pushing boundaries in licensed bags and footwear

Guys, it’s great to chat. Firstly, can you give us an introduction to William Lamb and the company’s history?
Founded in 1887 by Stuart Lamb’s grandfather, we began with a small factory making wooden-soled clogs with leather uppers for the West Yorkshire coal mines. At that time, Wakefield – where the business is still based in the same building, albeit extended! – was known for Rhubarb triangle and Lamby clogs. Now we are one of the largest footwear and accessories importers in Europe, distributing more than six million pairs of licensed, branded, and unbranded footwear and accessories.

How does the business keep in touch with the licensing market?
We have a dedicated, experienced team for licensing and have incredibly strong relationships with licensors and agents based on integrity and trust. We also have a close relationship with our customers, who are so much more closely connected to the licensing industry than ever before.

Have you seen changes in the shape of the licensing market over recent years, in terms of the types of brands that are licensed?
Absolutely. It’s so much more diverse and trend-focused, which is one of the reasons why we love to push the boundaries on accessories. We especially love to see products in the market, such as milkshake carton shaped bags. We are also seeing that while movies play an important role in the peaks of successful licensing, it’s no longer the main driving force – which for us and our customers is a good thing with recent movie date changes! Fashion collaborations are also a growing trend, which is very much welcomed… Not only do they look fabulous, but they also create hype and demand for our products.

How do you think design in your category has evolved in recent years?
In recent years we have moved from simple functional products to pushing the boundaries on design and new shapes. We’ve added innovations and are not afraid to explore new materials and techniques. Also, brand collaborations and high-end designers utilising mainstream licences has also helped us take our designs to a more premium standard.

On innovation, how important is it to ‘add value’ to products in this way?
The design team is very focused on innovation. We’re always looking for any extra details and value-added items that can add appeal for consumers and offer USPs to our retailers. We believe by exploring feature materials and add ons, it takes our products to the next level, turning a standard bag into a more premium bag. Add ons and new materials or techniques also add an interactive feature which can lift a product, adding more excitement which appeal to children.

“We are not afraid to explore new materials and techniques.”

How do you keep in touch with design trends from the wider fashion and accessories market?
Our large team of designers are regularly out and about doing comp shopping and product searching. It’s an important part of our role to ensure that we see what’s new on the high street. We also send design teams into Europe and beyond where we see inspiration from further afield. Most recently we have had designers visiting Copenhagen, Disneyland, Verona and Paris amongst others.

We also use trend prediction agencies such as WGSN to keep ahead of key looks and styling, from catwalk to high street. Our licensors are very good at providing us with their own research and trend work. This helps us in developing a handwriting that delights them for their properties.

Does your design team work in tandem with other licensing categories, like apparel, to get their ‘design look’? How do you coordinate things?
General clothing trends do play a fundamental part in influencing both our bag and footwear ranges… How directly we work with clothing ranges can depend on the customer and if they are co-ordinating product cross-category. For example, a supermarket may brief nightwear and slippers to match, or outerwear and bags, and we would work with the licensor and customer on the direction to follow.

A lot of your products are for younger children. What are the challenges you face when designing for young consumers?
The power of character product in the kids’ market is undeniable! Our ethos is not just to service the demand for some of our key characters, but to always try to push ourselves to keep producing better and more appealing products. Trends can ignite so quickly with the power of social media now, so fast reaction times and dynamic sourcing mean we can be quick to market with new products.

In footwear, fit and comfort are key, so lots of technical work goes on behind the scenes to make sure that our products are produced not only to look great, but to be as hard-wearing and comfortable as possible.

Given your portfolio is full of high profile pre-school brands like Bluey, what do you think are the elements that make an IP successful in this category?
Bluey is a great example of a pre-school licence that works incredibly well for us on all levels. Bluey has an appeal across all genders and ages; it’s one of our lead licences on kids’ footwear and bags, and we think it will be around for a good while yet. A successful license must be a license that not only children will love, but the characters need to be easily recognisable and simple enough to be represented in many different of the techniques we use on our various products.

Turning to retail, what would be your snapshot on the retail market for your category at the moment? What new opportunities are emerging in retail?
Some of our biggest retail additions are online retailers who are working in the fan market – and this is a great opportunity for us to work into some of our lesser used licences that might be considered geeky or retro. Primark have dominated the licence world on the high street, but some traditional retailers are following in their footsteps, heavily backing key licences with cross-category co-ordination, in-store POS and merchandising. It’s a great opportunity for us with our wide product offer.

What is next for William Lamb?
We always have new products in development. Our design cycle is continuous, our footwear season begins with our house ranges, followed closely by customer made to order ranges. Bags and accessories run to a similar timescale so every week we have newness arriving. We’re looking at AW25 now, so current projects in the pipeline include new moulds for light-up wellies and school shoes, new bag shapes and techniques, looking at new innovations to continue pushing the boundaries on newness… One of the most important things when starting a new season for all designers here at William Lamb is looking at new innovations and continuously looking at how we can to take things to the next level.

Thanks again guys.