Craghoppers has secured an exclusive North American license to manufacture a collection of National Geographic-branded adventure travel apparel that will hit North American stores next spring.
The deal marks the first North American apparel license announced by National Geographic since fall 2011, when Greater Clothing Company of New York launched a line of National Geographic-branded lifestyle and performance menswear at better department stores. That launch included both an adventure travel and a rainwear collection.
In both instances, National Geographic said it would use net proceeds from sales of the apparel to support vital exploration, conservation, research, and education programs. National Geographic earned $40.5 million, or 8.8 percent of its revenue, in 2012 from royalties, but those revenues play an outsized role in supporting its mission because nearly all of it is profit, tax records indicate. Those records show National Geographic magazine, by far the non-profit’s largest business, ran a $121 million deficit in 2012.
While founded in the UK more than 40 years ago, Craghoppers only entered the U.S. market in Spring 2011, when it introduced its Craghoppers brand, performance gear designed by Bear Grylls – then appearing on Discovery Channel in his Man Versus Wild TV show – and NosiLife, a insect repellent apparel collection.
Craghoppers is owned by the Regatta Group, a privately held British company that also owns the Regatta outdoor and Dare 2b snow sports apparel brands. The Regatta Group’s brands are available at more than 20,000 stores in 30 countries.
