Ringer Spy Wolfman sends along this interesting report. Who knows if we’ll ever see some Frodo vests or Gandalf hats at the next MTV Awards!
A bit of information (and it’s good news about a field where the news have given me mixed feelings lately; merchandise).
I was on my way back from a meeting in Munich when I saw a guy carrying an interesting folder at the airport, waiting for the same plane as me. What caught my interest was an obvious “Lord of the Rings” Logo peeping out from beneath his arms. I approached him and he told me that he was on his way back from the European licensing negotiations about our beloved movie trilogy. Asked about his role, he said that he and his company were responsible for textiles, and asked what my feelings about the merchandising was so far. Since I am a hardcore fan only on the literature side (I detest the new German translation, for example), I answered that it’s okay; I like the Weta stuff but could have done without BK and the like. He agreed, and now here it is; at least in Europe, there won’t only be the usual T-Shirts with print-material on it, they will come out with a complete fashion collection (for men and women), with several (!) lines of (he said really wearable) clothing inspired by the movies.
Naturally, he was quite secretive about it, but the cover-drawing I saw looked really neat; appearing to be made of linen, it featured a long dress with tengwar (?) applications at the sleeves and the neck. When he said that his folder also contained the new trailer (for september) and some material for a DVD-release on CD, I should have lured him into a dark corner and knocked him down.
Oh yes; they plan on consulting some die-hard fans from the European scene for final input!!