Article: Licensed apparel business undergoing a makeover with focus on direct-to-retail exclusives and less celebrity.

As Project Runway famously opines, "One day you're in. And the next day, you're out." In the licensed apparel business, it appears celebrity deals are yesterday's news, while direct-to-retail exclusives are all the rage. Also:

* High-end and mass channels continue to blur more than ever;

* Direct-to-retail (DTR) is showing early signs of wearing thin;

* Designer and celeb exclusives are still hot, but require more than a name on a label;

* Business is polarizing into fashion-centric lines based on fashion-based properties, with everything else left to T-shirts.

Channel Blurring

There is a lot of channel blurring in ...

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