Launched in July 1999, "SpongeBob SquarePants", the mythical cartoon character created by marine biologist Stephen Hillenburg, has undoubtedly been one of the most successful and loved series ever created in the last twenty years. This is a fact and not a personal statement, even though I must admit I do love SpongeBob's immense optimism, his passion for jellyfish and soap bubbles and his numerous attempts at trying to get his driving licence.
Business-wise SpongeBob is the most profitable property for Paramount Consumer Products: as of 2019 "SpongeBob SquarePants" generated over $13 billion in lifetime retail sales of consumer products. That's the reason why the series, the recipient of multiple Emmy Awards, also won the hearts of many fashion designers: in a previous post published a few years ago, we looked at SpongeBob mania, moving from Marc Jacobs who included a yellow, pink, and purple palette in his Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2008 collection, a show that he closed running onto the runway carrying a bag that incorporated screens broadcasting an episode of the series.
Jeremy Scott's first collection for Moschino (Autumn/Winter 2014-15), an ode to consumerism and junk food, featured coats, tops, bags and shoes with the infamous sponge. Seven years ago Forever 21 and Nickelodeon also came up with a men/women's collection designed by Korea-based artist Mina Kwon, celebrating the worldwide release of "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water", while London accessories designer Beatrix Ong collaborated with Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products on a collection of luxury SpongeBob SquarePants accessories, home wares and garments revolving around a red/blue toile featuring the legendary sponge (View this photo).
The latest to join the SpongeBob fad is Giuliano Calza: designer and co-founder (with his brother) of GCDS. The brand's show during Milan Fashion Week featured a classic SpongeBob/Patrick palette with yellow, pink and lilac prevailing. SpongeBob and friends were evoked in the colours of the shredded yellow or pink acid wash denim overalls and cargo pants, but their images also appeared throughout the collection.
There were moments of craft with mesh dresses and bodysuits with crocheted SpongeBob or Patrick pasties, and crocheted hands protruding from a beaded mini crossbody bag. Calza also attempted to turn the character into a symbol of glamour in his bias-cut gown featuring a rhinestone SpongeBob riding his beloved jellyfish and in a wysteria mini-dress with our yellow sponge being reborn from a shell like Botticelli's Venus.
Patrick in fishnet stockings and fetish boots, an image from the "Goofy Goober Rock" theme song, the climax of "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie", also appeared embroidered on a transparent mini-dress. As a whole, there was irony in the collection and maybe a moment of lightness in a country perilously leaning towards the right at tomorrow's elections, a terrifying thought.
It is hard not to love SpongeBob's positivity and sweetness, his lack of prejudices, undefined sexuality, and his carefree approach to adversities, but there are things that those designers who want to go down the licensed cartoon character path should firmly keep in mind.
You can discuss getting a character licensed for a collection at various character licensing fairs: here you will be able to meet the owner of the cartoon character and discuss how to place images of the character on your products. The licensor (character owner) will receive a royalty off every product you sell. But remember to get a lawyer to read the lincensing agreement if you're not familiar with the legal language, so that you will avoid surprises and misunderstandings once your collection is finished and ready to be presented.
Some designers are well-versed at doing these deals: Jeremy Scott at Moschino often uses popular cartoon characters, so at the company they probably have one person dealing just with this aspect. But, if you're a smaller independent designer, watch out for the deal you may be getting: Calza may have got a good one because SpongeBob is a widely used character, so it is not an exclusive license. But a better option would be to look for a not so famous character or a character that you may want to rediscover, maybe created by an independent artist rather than owned by a powerful company.
This saves you money, allows you to launch/relaunch a character and guarantees you more exclusivity. Besides, it also avoids you to be compared to other designers who may have used the same character. In this case using SpongeBob wasn't the most innovative choice and, while the square sponge is immensely popular so people will obviously talk about this collection on social media, it will also undoubtedly prompt many comparisons. So, be ready to kill your favourite character and learn to be flexible in your choices of characters if you want to get noticed.
Once you get the deal always try to make the character yours, rather than the other way round: Calza used a kind of DIY aesthetics and craft techniques in some of his pieces, getting more inventive with other elements taken from SpongeBob, like the flowers, and that's important to avoid using banal prints.
Last but not least, age demography is very important, so don't forget to always wonder who is your consumer. Who are you trying to reach with such designs? Young people or ironic grown-ups who would be keen to invest in a T-shirt or a dress with a cartoon character even if they are very expensive? Find a balance, otherwise you may end up catering for Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards rather than for the red carpet (Calza included clubbing clothes, streetwear pieces, but also some glamour gowns in this collection, but he should have edited the collection and avoided more literal inspirations like the Patrick Star cape...). So, do your in-depth research before choosing a character to include in your collection: in this way you may be able to dodge the pitfalls of the licensing deal and produce your Best Collection Ever, to paraphrase SpongeBob and his "Best Day Ever" mantra.
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