NEWS

British bicycle brand United Wheels lands EMEA-wide partnership with Disney, Marvel, and Lucasfilm

Published on: 7th July 2021

The British bicycle brand, United Wheels UK Limited has detailed a new multi-territory licensing partnership with Disney, Marvel, and Lucasfilm movie properties as the company eyes further growth across the European markets and beyond.

Its latest agreement will see the property rights extended across the UK, Ireland, France, Iberia, Italy, Germany, Benelux, and Africa, building on a partnership that United Wheels’ affiliate, Huffy Corporation, has had with Disney since 1996.

From this month, United Wheels will begin marketing Huffy-designed Disney, Marvel, and Lucasfilm licensed wheeled products for order. These lines will be ready for shipment from early 2022.

The extension of the partnership to include EMEA distribution follows the firm’s establishment of its new EU office last year. United Wheels believes it is now well placed to help ‘drive continued growth of the Disney licenses’ across the regions.

“Our company has had such a long relationship with Disney,” said Jon Tilley, general manager of United Wheels UK Limited. “It was only natural for us to reach out to Disney when we decided to make a concerted effort in Europe, to find mutually beneficial ways to work together.

“It’s been great working with the Disney EMEA teams to bring this project to life, and we are excited to be presenting this to retailers through our Huffy brand of products in the coming months. Our position as a leading global player in the bicycle and wheeled goods categories gives us confidence that with an excellent supply chain and great innovation, we can bring strong growth over the next three years. We couldn’t be more excited about this new endeavour with Disney.”

The United Wheels team will start product presentations in July with a two-week virtual trade open event in which potential retailer partners can meet the team and preview some of the new Disney products that will be available for sale in January 2022.

The collection will cover all properties and wheel sizes, ranging from balance bikes to 16” wheel sizes.

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