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Mulberry renews De Rigo eyewear license to 2031, scaling quiet luxury

Bottom Line Impact

The 2031 renewal gives Mulberry a capital-light, high-margin growth lever and brand reach, while fortifying De Rigo's portfolio against verticalized rivals, with potential to add £2-3m in annual royalty income by FY26 if scaled, improving margin mix and reinforcing quiet luxury equity.

Executive Summary

Mulberry has extended its eyewear license with De Rigo through 2031, locking in a multi-year platform to scale an accessible, high-margin lifestyle category aligned with quiet luxury and sustainability. The renewal strengthens De Rigo's branded portfolio amid intensifying verticalization in luxury eyewear, while offering Mulberry incremental royalty income and global reach without capex.

Actionable Insights

Immediate Actions (Next 30-90 days)
Negotiate royalty escalators (e.g., +100-150bps above thresholds), annual minimum guarantees with 3-5% A&P co-op, and sustainability KPIs (e.g., % SKUs with bio-based materials) embedded in the license addendum.
Rationale: Aligns financial upside with scale, ensures marketing support, and hard-wires ESG delivery to protect brand equity and margins.
Role affected:CFO (Mulberry)
Urgency level:immediate
Secure 12-18 month supply of certified bio-acetate and bio-nylon, implement SKU-level traceability, and reduce lead times by 15-20% via nearshoring or calendar compression to support in-season reorders.
Rationale: Material assurance and agility enable sustainability claims, mitigate cost volatility, and improve sell-through in fast-moving channels.
Role affected:COO (De Rigo)
Urgency level:immediate
Short-term Actions (6-12 months)
Set a 3-year eyewear growth charter with De Rigo, including regional door targets (e.g., +300-400 net doors by FY27), DTC penetration goals (20-25% of eyewear sales via mulberry.com and stores), and capsule drops aligned to leather icon launches.
Rationale: A quantified joint plan drives accountability and maximizes halo effects from leather icons while building a defensible, margin-accretive category.
Role affected:CEO (Mulberry)
Urgency level:short-term
Deploy an always-on quiet luxury campaign tying eyewear to core bags (Bayswater, Alexa) with AR try-on and store-side cross-merch; aim for +150-250 bps attach rate uplift on leather purchases within 6 months.
Rationale: Cross-selling converts traffic from hero products into incremental units and reinforces design codes across categories.
Role affected:CMO (Mulberry)
Urgency level:short-term

Strategic Analysis

30-90 days: lock 2025 collection line-up and minimum guarantees; align A&P calendars for SS25 and AW25; secure bio-based materials procurement; update Mulberry DTC and wholesale merchandising to cross-sell eyewear with hero leather SKUs; define regional door targets (optical, department stores, travel retail).

6-12 months: eyewear can contribute high-margin royalty streams and brand heat at lower price points, supporting traffic and acquisition of younger/entry customers. Scenario: if retail sales reach £25-35m by FY26 at an 8-10% royalty, Mulberry could add £2-3m largely margin-accretive income (50-150bps EBITDA uplift), while De Rigo gains stable volumes and a differentiated British heritage label in Northern Europe and APAC.

Kering Eyewear and LVMH's Thelios continue verticalization, compressing open-license whitespace. A long-duration deal anchors De Rigo's portfolio, but demands sharper differentiation via sustainability, design DNA, and speed-to-market. For Mulberry, eyewear reinforces lifestyle positioning vs British peers and can defend share in Europe while building brand salience in APAC where leather penetration is lower.

Upstream: increased demand for certified bio-acetate and bio-nylon; need for traceability partners and audits. Midstream: De Rigo must optimize OTIF and reduce lead times to 90-120 days for core SKUs; invest in AR try-on assets for omnichannel. Downstream: optical channel and travel retail gain newness; Mulberry stores and e-commerce can lift basket via add-ons; sustainability claims require robust substantiation to avoid greenwashing risk.

Risks & Opportunities

Primary Risks

  • Category crowding and verticalized competitors reduce shelf space and bargaining power in key optical and travel retail accounts
  • Supply constraints or cost inflation in bio-based materials undermine sustainability positioning and margins
  • China and APAC demand volatility limits ramp-up in high-growth regions for entry-price accessories

Primary Opportunities

  • High-margin royalty income with limited capex improves Mulberry's earnings resilience
  • Sustainability-led design differentiation can win premium placements and Gen-Z consideration
  • Travel retail recovery and AR-enabled omnichannel can accelerate discovery and conversion

Market Context

Luxury eyewear is benefiting from quiet luxury signaling and accessible entry price points, but the landscape is reshaped by verticalization (Kering Eyewear, Thelios) and consolidation pressures on independent licensees (Safilo, Marcolin, De Rigo). A long-dated Mulberry-De Rigo renewal bucks the in-house trend, signaling confidence in outsourced specialization while leaning into sustainability, a rising purchase driver for Gen-Z and younger Millennials. With China growth uneven and US demand normalizing, eyewear offers a capital-light lever to sustain brand heat and traffic in Europe and travel retail, while testing APAC with lower-risk inventory commitments compared to leather.

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