Clothing Logos May Be Worth Saving
Soft-drink logos have been enormously popular with collectors over the years. Almost anything with the traditional Coca-Cola script-style of writing on it--trays, signs, bottle openers--is eagerly snapped up by Americana buffs at collector shows and flea markets.
Now it has dawned on such companies that logos, many of which already are household items, can be aggressively marketed on clothing lines. This translates into even more product recognition and profits.
And, for collectors, this means whole new fields are opening up. Today’s logo-laden clothing will surely turn into tomorrow’s collectibles.
About two years ago, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola licensed its logo to Murjani International Ltd. of New York, a clothing manufacturer and retailer that is making leisure clothes--rugby shirts, jeans, denim jackets, sweat shirts and the like--that either carry the familiar logo emblazoned on the clothing or, more subtly, just on the label where only the owner knows it’s there.
In Purchase, N.Y., headquarters of arch-competitor Pepsi-Cola Co., Ken Ross, a public relations official, says a similar licensing deal was cut last year with a Pennsylvania firm, VF Corp., which manufactures Lee jeans. Pepsi, he added, was not copying Coca Cola’s success, but, in fact, had been studying the marketing of its own clothing line “for a number of years.” According to Ross, Pepsi is initially aiming at marketing its leisure clothing through large department stores. Like the Coca-Cola logo, the familiar red, white and blue Pepsi label might be splashed across the clothing, subtly written in small letters on a pocket or hidden on a label.
For both firms, the clothing line is, of course, a natural way to increase the visibility of two soft-drink products that, arguably, are already the most recognizable in the world.
Other food and beverage firms have been monitoring the Coca-Cola and Pepsi gambits. For example, Pennsylvania-based Hershey Foods Corp., with its famous chocolate-bar logo, also got into the act last year with Hershey’s Clothes for Kids.
“Consumers are looking for that kind of thing,” Hershey public relations manager Carl Andrews says.
We could say the same thing about collectors.
Our recent travels took us to a bookstore tucked away in the old section of Santa Fe, N.M., where we ran across “Used and Rare Books, a Primer for Bookfinders,” by Betty and Riley Parker. The 14-page booklet ($1.50, New Mexico Book League, 8632 Horacio Place N.E., Albuquerque, N.M. 87111) contains 14 book-collecting tips that might seem obvious to veteran collectors but that provide some quick guidance for collectors who are just getting started.
For example, we have received inquiries over the years from collectors who want to know if a book’s dust jacket enhances its value. According to the authors: “Dust jackets have become a prestigious part of the book in the last decade.
“For instance, a fine first edition of a modern novel, such as Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath,’ can sell for about six times more with a fine first-edition dust jacket than without one. It is increasingly important to keep the dust jacket even if you do not like it or want it.”
Ronald L. Soble cannot answer mail personally but will respond in this column to questions of general interest about collectibles. Do not telephone. Write to Your Collectibles, You section, The Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.
