River Island signs beauty deal with KMI Brands

High street retailer River Island signed a seven-year licensing deal with KMI Brands for them to develop, produce and distribute fragrance, toiletries and cosmetics.

This marks the first licensing agreement for River Island and will allow KMI Brands to distribute River Island fragrance outside of their retail stores and into wholesale.

While details have yet to be released on the exact products, the licensing deal allows KMI Brands to develop beauty and grooming ranges for River Island’s women, men and children categories.

Claire Green, brand director at KMI Brands, said in a statement: “Discovering the heritage of the River Island brand has been a joy. The brand is renowned for stylish, accessible and inclusive fashion and translating this to a dynamic beauty category with experience and purpose at its core is an exciting opportunity to develop further.

“Meeting the extended River Island family of head office and store teams has allowed us to gain a true understanding of the River shopper and company values. This has helped to identify where we can enhance and develop, ultimately with the aligned mission to deliver a great experience for the customer.”

Theodore Sheppard, head of international and business development at River Island, added: “River Island are excited to enter into a partnership with KMI to design and develop our beauty and grooming ranges across our women’s, men’s and kids’ categories.

"As a specialist in the field, KMI have extensive experience as well as a strong understanding of brand values. This makes them an outstanding partner to take River Island forward in these categories which we believe will deliver significant growth in the coming years.”

Rachel Parsonage, managing director at KMI Brands, said: “KMI are approached for licensing opportunities in beauty on a regular basis, in fact we haven’t signed a new licence for 4 years. Despite numerous approaches, for us it’s about finding something unique and special which is almost intangible – it’s a feeling, a vibe and when you peel back the layers to explore the cultural fit, this is the magic we are looking for.

“In the first meeting with Theo and River Island there was a continual reveal of amazing insights and a love of all things River Island. The honesty of their initial journey into beauty was refreshing and this really struck a chord. Together we are excited to deliver products which will delight and surprise.”

KMI also develops fragrances, bath and body and home fragrance for Ted Baker and Orla Kiely.

Image: courtesy of River Island