Cheeky Monkey stationery and bags to appear in Claire’s Accessories across UK & Europe

Cheeky Monkey is coming to Claire’s Accessories! Yes, the wild, well-known Withit character, “Cheeky”, who loves to clown around and cause chaos, is on his way to the leading specialty retailer of fashion accessories and jewellery. The fun, design-based Withit characters are a big retail, licensing and internet hit. And they’re about to get even bigger thanks to Withit’s exclusive deal with Claire’s Accessories. In June, Claire’s will launch a specially designed range of exclusive stationery, bags and backpacks. It will feature the much-loved Withit character Cheeky Monkey in a skull 'n' crossbones motif.

The line will appear in selected Claire’s Accessories stores throughout the UK and in stores in major European markets from 7th June. It includes A4 and A5 notebooks, mechanical pens and pencils, 16-piece super stationery set, zip top purse, school sized backpack, mini courier bag, and a cool Converse-trainer-shaped pencil case…with laces!

All the items will feature a Cheeky Monkey with a new edge – a “skull 'n' crossbones” design against a pink heart all under the title “Cute But Cheeky”, and using glitter, foil and embroidery finishes with button badges, studs and checkerboard detailing. It's a fresh direction for Withit, using skull 'n' crossbones with skater checks in black and white on glitter pink hearts, purple and turquoise ‘punk’ style lettering and – of course – Cheeky Monkey giving a ‘cheeky’ wink, that all comes together in a series of fun, punchy designs that will be a big hit with tween and teen girls aged 9-15.

But that’s not all. There’s a big market of young women and gift buyers of all ages who will love Withit’s quality and design-led merchandise. In fact the Cheeky Monkey range has enormous potential across a vast number of consumers, something that the Withit range has proved time and time again.

Withit’s Cheeky Monkey is one of the hit characters from the gallery of 16 Withit Icons, developed in the 1990s and licensed from 2001. Since that time Glamour Puss, Mad Cow, Top Dog, Happy Bunny, Miss Cheeky, Chocolate Moose, Lost Sheep and many other characters have been part of a retail success story in more than 50 countries and across a wide range of categories including apparel, nightwear, stationery, bags, accessories and many more. Withit also scored a major success with a UK, Europe and Middle East-wide promotion with Burger King for the 2009 Back to School period that involved the distribution of a staggering 4.7 million back-to-school items.

And now there’s www.withitworld.com, the Flash-animated world of Withit, where the characters’ 50,000 fans can find out more about their favourites, play games, download wallpaper and screensavers and join the Withit Club. Links to the fansite will appear on the Claire’s range as well as many other Withit products from their online shop.

Melanie Berry, EVP GMM Buying Europe of Claire’s Europe, says: “Withit’s enormous appeal to fun-loving tweens and teens means that the Withit brand is ideal for Claire’s. The Cheeky Monkey character in particular lends itself perfectly to this light-hearted but high-quality line of products that we think will be a great success in Claire’s Accessories stores throughout Europe.”

Brad Caines, Creative Director of Withit, who designed the range, adds: “Bringing Cheeky Monkey together with Claire’s took us in a new direction with brilliant results. Great finishes, edgier graphics, a real cohesive look. With Claire's reach and reputation we feel confident of winning even more fans of the Withit brand.”