Entrepreneur launches junior, girls clothing line for Latinos

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 2, 2007

Duck and Lulu t-shirts

Photos: Palomita

Mexican entrepreneur, Molly Robbins and her company LicenZing LLC, launched Palomita, a new junior and girls fashion brand for Hispanics at the Magic show in Las Vegas earlier this year. Robbins secured exclusive rights to use trademarks and vintage art from various Latino companies, including the logos and characters, for to junior and girls apparel. Relying on nostalgic art from Latin America, the brand is designed to appeal to Hispanic women of all ages, an underserved market segment, with the company motto “Por fin una marca para ti” (Finally a brand for you).

Molly Robbins, Palomita founder

Based in San Rafael, California, Palomita features designs from fruit drinks of Pascual Boing, clothing detergents Zote and Roma, Topo Gigio the puppet mouse, and pastries from Bimbo. The items are manufactured by Wish Licensing in Central America of cotton and rayon mix, and some in 100 percent cotton.

“We have also focused on the strength of the social media; we have a My Space, work with blogs, and an array of Latino news web sites. We participate in events such as the Miss Universe Pageant, MTV Latino Awards 2007, Tri City pageant etc.,” said a company spokesperson about Palomita’s promotional efforts. “We have worked with radio stations such as Bloomberg news and local 1010 am radio; we also work with Latino news papers nationwide; finally we have strategically placed ads in magazines nationwide. We are where Latinos are, everywhere.”

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The company website offers t-shirts, pajamas ($20) and market bags ($24) for sale. Palomita clothes are available at JCPenney, Sears Mexico and online. Mervyns and Wal-Mart are considering carrying the Palomita line.

A line with masculine designs and products from cement companies, tire manufacturers, beverage and confection makers, Chucho, will be launched early next year. The initial launch will have 10 to 15 designs in an assortment of colors for buyers to choose from.