Today's consumer is greatly influenced by media and he exhibits a propensity to follow icons to the extent of bringing them into his everyday life. This growing trend amongst consumers is being tapped by apparel companies by taking up licensing of popular characters and icons to be used in their merchandise. This is especially true for the kids and youth market since they identify with these characters and icons more strongly. According to Cartoon Network, the business of license merchandising of animated characters is estimated at Rs. 360 crore in India.

India has emerged as the No. 1 market in Asia-Pacific for companies like Cartoon Network in terms of viewership and more importantly revenues. “Interestingly, children's licensing and merchandising market accounts for 10% of Cartoon Network's revenues i.e. approximately Rs. 300 crore, of which a large percentage is contributed by apparel, accessories, footwear and home textile products.”

This trend is picking up very fast in India with many companies taking up licenses of popular cartoon characters. Cartoon Network had launched its Powerpuff Girls and Dexter apparel through 1,500 retailers in India, including ITC's Lifestyle stores. Disney entered into a pact with Indus Clothing in 2006 to launch Disney jeans in India. Mattel has granted The Shirt Company the license to manufacture and market Barbie apparel in India. Nickelodeon, the children's channel, has tied up with Bombay Dyeing for a merchandising arrangement. Weekender has taken up the retailing for ToonWorld and Gini&Jony has tied up with Garfield.

This trend is not restricted to kidswear alone. Brands are also looking towards icons like cricketers, footballers, rock stars, wrestlers, and super heroes such as Spiderman, Superman, Tarzan, Krishh, etc. to sell their merchandise. Apparel merchandise with these icons are widely available in the unorganised market, however some sports retailers are already retailing them at their stores.

Nike retails the Indian cricket team jerseys at their stores. Similarly, Reebok has gone a step further and is retailing cricketer T-shirts like Rahul T-shirts, Bhajji T-shirts, 12th man to name a few.

Another similar trend has been used by Biba, the women's ethnic wear brand. Biba has ventured into film merchandising i.e. they liaisoned with the fashion designer of the film to market the apparel worn by the actress in the movie and timed its launch in their store with the release of the movie. By doing this, they have moved to the starting point of women's wear trends.

Going forward, how will apparel companies further cash in on this trend – will they add more celebrities like tennis players, rock/pop stars, or will they create more home grown characters or will they enter into partnerships with movies/tv/colleges to co-brand their merchandise?