My Very First Licensing Deal

About a year ago, long before I was signed to an exclusive fabric licensing contract, I had the great thrill to sign my very first licensing deal. There is a company in the US, Jelly the Pug, that makes really fun, colourful girls’ clothing that asked me to design a number of collections for them. The plan is to release them over a number of seasons, starting with Fall 2012.

The first collection was recently released, featuring my Whatever the Weather fabric. They created a whole range of dresses and skirts in both woven cotton and cotton knit.

I was very nervous going into it, not knowing what to expect, whether I was signing a good deal or not. With some very generous information gleaned from a number of other Spoonflower designers who had already taken the licensing leap, I held my breath and jumped right in. I decided that I needed to start somewhere, that the fee they were offering seemed fair, and they didn’t want exclusive rights to the designs. And, quite frankly, the thought of little girls all around the world (they sell internationally) having fun in clothing featuring my designs was too much to pass up.

I can’t begin to tell you how exciting it is to finally see the first results. And the knowledge that there are 4 or 5 more collections to come … well … I’ll be doing a happy dance for a long time to come. Thanks Jelly!