Wall Street Journal
January 21, 1999

Coca-Cola to launch a range of clothing

By John Willman in London

Coca-Cola, the world's biggest soft drinks company, is to launch a range of fashion and sports clothing in the first significant extension of the Coke brand. The Atlanta-based company, which has almost half the global soft drinks market, is signing up partners and franchisees worldwide to manufacture and market the Coca-Cola Wear label. The UK will be the first European market for the new line, which will also be rolled out in the US and other important Coke markets worldwide.

The range, which will include jeans, sports clothing and other casual items, will be sold through concessions in department stores and fashion outlets. There are expected to be variations in the clothes according to national tastes.

"The range will be designed to connect back with the brand," the company said yesterday. "The clothes will reflect Coca-Cola's values of authenticity, genuineness and part of people's lives - they will be the kind of thing you'd wear when enjoying our drinks."

Coke already licenses the use of its logo, can design and other symbols for more than 10,000 products, including clothing, in 40 countries. It has four dedicated shops for such merchandise, in New York, Las Vegas and two in Atlanta.

The Wear range will include some products giving prominence to the logo, but it will also include "low branded" articles of clothing which it hopes consumers will buy because they associate the name on the label with the company's values.

This will be the first time the company has used its brand name to give credibility to products which are not primarily designed to display its logo.

Brand extension is common in some sectors such as films, with companies like Walt Disney and Universal opening shops and theme parks. Philip Morris has extended its Marlboro cigarette brand to a range of clothing, while Caterpillar, the earth-moving equipment manufacturer, licenses a range of fashion goods.

In the UK, Richard Branson's Virgin Group has applied the Virgin brand, best known for its music recording business and airline, to a wide variety of products including a cola, clothing, and a train operating company.

Coca-Cola recently reported the first fall in global sales in recent memory due to the economic upheavals in Asia, Russia and Latin America.