FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) today announced a raft of new licensing deals for Rebecca Bonbon, the hugely popular Japanese character and super cute fashionista, created by the original Hello Kitty™ designer Yuko Shimizu. The Rebecca Bonbon brand continues to gather momentum and break into more categories and territories with a host of new licensees across Europe. Italian licensee Sicem International will be developing 200 SKUs of ladies’ and girls’ fashion apparel including t-shirts, sweatshirts, fleeces, trousers and jackets. The apparel will initially launch at Oviesse retailers in January 2011. With 500 retail locations in Italy and beyond, Oviesse is one of the leaders in Italian high quality fast fashion. Rebecca Bonbon collections from Sicem will be available in boutiques and independent shops across Italy from September 2011.

JF Ramos, FME’s first local licensee for Rebecca Bonbon in Portugal, will be producing a range of girls’ apparel covering everything from sweaters to nightwear, as well as distributing stationery including folders, notebooks and pencil cases. The products are set to launch in February 2011 across multiple retailers in Portugal.

The UK are gearing up for a co-ordinated launch for 2011. The UK will lead with fashion lines and have nightwear and daywear deals in the pipeline. Impex will be producing Rebecca Bonbon fashion bags – covering everything from leather bags to travel bags and luggage. Groovy will be launching a range of jewellery including necklaces, rings and bracelets as well as dog chains, bag charms and key chains. Roy Lowe and Sons will be producing Rebecca Bonbon branded socks and tights for girls and women.

To entice the target consumer further, Groovy will also be creating a number of gifting and houseware skus. These include lighting, such as lava and glitter lamps, wall mirrors, door curtains, ceramics and decorated glassware. Other licensees producing gifting lines such as plush will be announced shortly. Other key categories for launch include toiletries, cosmetics and greeting cards.

In Germany, FME are pleased to announce a major fashion deal with Germany’s biggest multi channel retailer, OTTO. Rebecca Bonbon apparel is available now through their website (www.otto.de) as well as through OTTO’s mail order catalogue across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. OTTO’s launch collection is trendy, cosmopolitan and feminine, including everything from t-shirts, skirts and accessories aimed at young women.

Mark Newton, EVP Licensing EMEA, FME commented, “FME is continuing to grow Rebecca Bonbon as a global lifestyle and fashion brand, and partnering with licensees who understand the local markets plays a major part in developing the brand. Her universal charm continues to appeal to both consumers and licensees, with whom we share the same vision.”

Rebecca Bonbon is a young French bulldog who lives a luxurious life in New York in her apartment overlooking Central Park. Rebecca loves all things sweet, especially bonbons, which is how she came to be affectionately known as Rebecca Bonbon. FME acquired the exclusive rights from Crown Creative in 2008 and represents the brand globally (excluding Japan, Korea and China).

Existing Rebecca Bonbon European licensees include French company Alpa who are producing more than 60,000 branded products; the Leomil Group who are producing both footwear and apparel; Italian company Manifatture Zotti for apparel; German company Trend Import and UK stationery company Blueprint. In the US, FME recently announced the launch of an exclusive retail deal with Sears Holding, with Kids Headquarters serving as master licensee. FME worked with Sears and Kmart simultaneously to roll out the girls' lifestyle brand in over 2,000 stores across the US and Canada which launched in August.