Puma to launch superhero and cartoon apparel

Puma has signed a licensing agreement with Hollywood's Warner Bros Consumer Products to launch collections for the Tom and Jerry and Superman franchises. The agreement will see the German based athleticswear company launch apparel, accessories and footwear,

to appeal to everyone's super hero within. The new Superman movie, which is not due for release until July 2015, is already garnering much media attention due to its casting.

The collections will fuse entertainment and sport

The agreement excludes Superman products for the US and Canada and Tom & Jerry for Chile, but will see Puma produce four co-branded collections “that celebrate the natural synergies of entertainment and sport”.

Tom and Jerry products will span both children and adults “capitalising upon the proud heritage and vast cross-generational appeal of the brand”, while the Superman collections, including Superman, Supergirl and Superbaby, developed in partnership with DC Entertainment, will focus on children aged 1-12.

Pilar Zulueta, executive VP and and GM for Warner Bros Consumer Products EMEA, said: “By joining forces, we will create on-trend, sports-inspired lifestyle products that will encourage consumers to join the chase, find the Super Hero within, or quite simply be the best that they can possibly be.”

Reinhard Dischner, GM Business Unit Fundamentals and Kids at Puma, aded: “We have found a great partner who will support us to achieve our ambitious goals for our Kids' products in our Fundamentals category. "The unique design language of the characters featured on high-quality Puma garments is a dovetailed symbiosis and absolutely crucial for our target consumers. And the fact that Tom is a cat - just like our Puma brand logo - is a nice coincidence.”

The first co-branded collections will launch for spring/summer 2015 and will be available from December through a retail distribution network that will include Puma stores, Puma e-commerce sites, department stores, hypermarkets, sports retailers and specialist footwear stores and independents.

Image: Kate Moss Superman t-shirt