Brand Licensing Europe is just around the corner, taking place from October 7th to 9th, 2025 at Excel London. This year, the event is set to welcome almost 300 exhibitors, including over 70 brands who will be new to the show floor this year. Italian representation will once again be strong with names such as Atlantis Headwear, Leoni Spa, Panini, Pea Srl, Rainbow, Sabor, Sinigaglia, Siretessile Srl, and Sugi International Limited, alongside the participation of the leading independent Italian licensing agencies attending the event, such as Maurizio Distefano Licensing and Booster Milano, ETS and more.
A particular highlight for 2025 is the impressive retail attendance: BLE is seeing remarkable sign-ups from across Europe, with major players including Aldi, Lidl, Deichmann SE, Inditex (Zara, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Stradivarius), PEPCO, C&A, and JUMBO. From the UK, confirmed retailers include Tesco, M&S, MandM, Matalan, John Lewis, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Mori, Miniso, POP MART, Menkind, Waterstones, Yours Clothing and many more. And retail presence doesn’t stop there—BLE 2025 is expecting attendance from the US, Australia, China, and Korea, underlining its global significance.
This year’s BLE also promises a full programme of purposeful content woven across all three days of the show: from new charity partnerships with Save the Children and Sebby’s Corner, to a strong focus on sustainability through dedicated talks, as well as wellbeing initiatives like the Care Bears Zen Den, the event highlights how licensing can make a positive social impact. Networking opportunities are also expanding, with mixers for new attendees, sip & share sessions, and speed networking, while career development is supported through mentoring, student programmes, and panel discussions designed to guide the next generation of professionals. And for a lighter touch, visitors can also enjoy special activations such as the pickleball court hosted by Erve and LOTTO.
With such a strong line-up and ambitious programming, we spoke to Ella Haynes, Event Director of Brand Licensing Europe, about the trends, highlights, and new opportunities at this year’s edition.
LI: Ella, BLE 2025 is set to welcome nearly 300 exhibitors, including over 70 exhibitors who are new to the event this year. What does this growth tell us about the state of the licensing industry right now, and what should visitors be most excited to discover on the show floor this year?
EH: The growth in exhibitor numbers at BLE mirrors the growth in the licensing industry generally. This year’s Global Licensing Survey from Licensing International noted a 3.7% uplift globally. We (BLE) are also releasing European stats at the BLE press conference at 1030am on Tuesday 7 October, which will reveal a positive story for licensing across Europe.
We always have a high number of new exhibitors at the show, but this year it is particularly strong, which is indicative of the creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit driving new licensing businesses and ideas into the market as well as a broader understanding and recognition of the power of licensing among new territories and categories.
Visitors should be excited about discovering the breadth of brands available for license on the showfloor, which grows every year; the quality of the content, from the Mattel x Amazon MGM Studios keynote to the sessions in our new Networking Hub dedicated to helping visitors do better business in Italy, France and Germany; to the character parades, the activations (Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Guinness 0%, Pickleball, F1 and more); and the networking – don’t miss out on the BLE Opening Night Show Floor Drinks at Smurfs Cosy Cafe and Pan Am Sky Bar; Tuesday, 07 October: 5:00pm – 7:00pm – everybody is welcome!
LI: Italy has once again an interesting presence at BLE this year. How do you see the role of Italian companies within the European licensing landscape, and how did it change in the past year?
EH: Italy continues to be one of the most important European markets in the licensing landscape. It’s great to see the likes of Panini, LEONI, Rainbow, SUGI, Sinigaglia and Sabor return to BLE this year, as well as new Italian exhibitor Siretessile, which represents the iconic Fiat 500.
LI: Retailer participation is particularly impressive this year, with key sign-ups from across Europe. How do you interpret this increasing global interest from retailers?
EH: In recent years, we have invested heavily in building relationships with retailers from all European territories and across all product categories, educating them about the opportunities licensing offers them and making it as easy as possible to attend BLE and meet brands. Last year, we achieved record retail attendance and, this year, I’m confident we will bring in the same great quality of buyers to keep all our exhibitors happy.
This year we have worked harder than ever to bring more retailers from mainland Europe to BLE, and registrations are very promising with Aldi, Lidl, Primark, Deichmann and Inditex (home to Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Bershka and Oysho) among those planning to attend.
The spectrum of retailers keen to find out more about licensing is expanding all the time. The BLE Retail Mentoring Programme in the UK attracts ever more diverse retail brands and this year that included Miniso for the first time. Other UK retail registrations include Tesco, M&S, Matalan, John Lewis, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Mori, Miniso, POP MART, Waterstones and lots more.
We do everything we can to make it as easy as possible for retailers to attend the show, meet the right brands, see the right products and enjoy the most relevant content, as well as providing the Retail Lounge cared for by Care Bears for R&R and peer to peer networking, show tours and intro guides to BLE and brand licensing.
LI: Sports has become an increasingly central category in licensing. How has the interest in sports evolved at BLE over the past few years, and what does it mean for the show to have a sports celebrity brand) like Diego Maradona (a highly popular name in Italy) represented?
EH: The Sports Zone at BLE really does reflect what’s happening in the industry and what’s interesting is how many new sports, tournaments, associations and athletes are waking up to the benefits of licensing and want to get involved. So, on the show floor this year, we have football clubs from all over Europe – including Galatasary from Turkey, which is new for 2025 – but we also have F1 and motorsports (from 24 Hours of Le Mans and Apex Licensing to Tyrrell, Lotus, British Racing Motors, Oracle Red Bull Racing and MotoGP) – Pickleball, cycling, rugby, and more.
LI: Looking ahead, what areas of the licensing industry do you expect will experience the most growth, and how will BLE continue to serve as a hub for those opportunities?
EH: Brands that lean into kidult and nostalgia – or ‘newstalgia – like anime, gaming and pop culture are definitely on a growth trajectory, and we will continue to see apparel, museum and heritage, and non-profit growing, too. We see an increasing number of charity brands at BLE, and it’s great to see them maximising the opportunities licensing offers as a revenue driver when fundraising has been so difficult in recent years.
LI: Finally, why shouldn’t Italians miss this year’s event?
EH: Italian retailers and manufacturers shouldn’t miss BLE this year because it remains the biggest and best event in Europe to discover global brands looking for partners in Italy, as well as those looking to expand category-wise globally, all under one roof, together with unrivalled networking, product inspiration and amazing educational content designed to make a direct impact on their business prospects.
