Rocket Licensing, the local licensing agent in the UK for Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has announced the launch of a new babywear range as part of what is set to be a strong licensing campaign in Sainsbury’s for 2018.

Licensee Paul Dennicci Ltd, a leading name in quality textile design and manufacturing and a strongly performing partner for the brand over a number of years, launched its latest range of The Very Hungry Caterpillar babywear (newborn – 24 months) into Sainsbury’s earlier this month.

The six-piece range, which is already performing well online and in store, consists of a sleepsuit, bodysuit, romper, pre-walker booties, long-sleeve bib and hooded towel. The range stands out for its pretty embroidered and appliqued details and fresh white and polka dot design. Notable among the features of the range are delightful stand-up antennae on the caterpillar-face pre-walkers, differently coloured fruit feet on the sleepsuit and an applique-embroidered pear on the polka dot bodysuit.

This fresh new collection follows on from the two babywear skus launched into Sainsbury’s earlier this year for World Book Week. The lovely striped green novelty sleepsuit with caterpillar hat and ‘I am totally cute’ bib from this initial range started off a promising year for The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Sainsbury’s, where collections continue to grow and new categories have been introduced. The brand’s 2018 presence in Sainsbury’s includes cards from Woodmansterne and dress-up costumes from Amscan, in addition to the best-selling books from Penguin and toy range from Rainbow Designs.

In 2018 the brand’s reach is set to be greater than ever, with sales increasing, continued brand exposure through cross-category promotions in leading retail channels and heightened activity ahead of the brand’s 50th birthday in 2019.

Rob Wijeratna, Joint Managing Director of Rocket Licensing, says: “The lovely new babywear range carries on the Paul Dennicci tradition of stylish, innovative design and highly practical babywear and is sure to have enormous appeal to fans of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 2018 has got off to a very busy start for the brand and we are excited to announce further plans as the 50th anniversary in 2019 gets ever closer.”