____________________________________________________________________________________________ Aykroyd and Sons
Legacy of style
From Barbie to Marvel , Aykroyd & Sons offers specialist licensed apparel for all the family
With licenses including Bluey , Pokémon , Hello Kitty , Wicked , Paw Patrol , and Peppa Pig , Aykroyd & Sons ( Aykroyds ) is a well-recognized name in the field of specialist licensed apparel . From its early days in garment printing , the company has developed strong partnerships with a range of renowned international licensing organizations , allowing for the design and manufacture of garments , nightwear , and swimwear for children and adults .
Founded in 1918 by John Henry Aykroyd in Manchester , England , Aykroyds remains a family business with the fifth generation – Ffion , Stacy , Donna , and Sion – now leading operations . To learn more about Aykroyds ’ latest developments , we sit down with Ffion and Sion , Managing Directors .
“ Historically , our products have always been clothing , and we moved into licensed clothing in the mid-1980s ,” Sion opens . “ Leveraging our relationships with suppliers that we were supplying with non-licensed products , we began providing licensed items following permission from Mattel to use the Barbie brand and logo on our clothing . At the time , there were very few licensed products available to buy , especially in the category of nightwear . It seemed alien to us to add Barbie branding to our clothing , but it was the start of a new era for Aykroyds .
“ The success of our Barbie license was followed by additional contracts ,” he continues . “ We added Disney to our portfolio in the 1990s , and from there , the licensed side of the business has rapidly evolved into new product categories such as swimwear items like swimsuits , shorts , and toweling ponchos , as well as everyday children ’ s clothing like t-shirts , joggers , and sweatshirts . Today , our portfolio encompasses an entire range of apparel , but we must move quickly to adapt to new licenses and trends as they emerge .”
Ffion adds : “ Our head office is in Altrincham , Manchester , and in the UK , we also have a design studio in Leek , Staffordshire , and our warehouse and distribution center in Bala , Wales , from which we manufactured products for several years before moving production overseas in 2007 . The clothing industry was shifting , and we moved to China 15 years ago , opening our Shanghai office to help with our sourcing strategy by dealing directly with factories .
“ We then further extended our sourcing team in the Middle East with the recent addition of an office in Hong Kong , which
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