South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Disney World takes big, bright approach to souvenirs for 2021
When Walt Disney World designed the look for its 2021-branded merchandise, it went with big, bright and maybe a bit boastful. The resort is peppered with easy-to-spy souvenirs with a red-yellow-blue color scheme, built around very big Mickey Mouse head graphics this year.
Disney merchandisers refer to the look as “Wear It Proud.” The bombastic approach is an emerging, global trend.
“It is that unapologetic ‘I love this brand. And I want everyone to know that I love this brand,’ ” said Kevin-Michael Lezotte, a manager of merchandising on Disney’s Florida-based product-creation team. “That is the true essence of what you see in the dated 2021 program. It’s that love for the brand, love for the characters.”
Disney has cast a wide, colorful net for this 2021 look with more than 60 products available, including mouse ears, spirit jerseys, ornaments, picture frames, tumblers, snow globes, T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, bucket hats and tiny versions of Disney Skyliner
gondolas.
Mickey’s recognizable head dominates the looks, but other characters and theme-park attractions pop up. Primary colors, frequently in blocks, are used, but they appear deeper than your basic blue, red and yellow crayons.
“I think we’re in that period right now where color is important. Especially in the world that we live in ... we all want to get outside and to celebrate color,” Lezotte said.
The richer hues help expand the line beyond a kiddie look, he said.
“In this program, in the apparel, we go from adults down to infants. It is really about that family celebration,” Lezotte said. “It is a trend that we don’t see going away. Social media certainly has influenced that. People love to take pictures in front of the icons at the parks with their entire family all in coordinating outfits.”
Disney made date-specific souvenirs — with the year prominently featured upon them — since at least the early 1990s, Lezotte said. Before that, the resort was more anniversary-driven, say, for the 10th anniversary of Magic Kingdom or other milestones, he said.
The dated program is one of the bestselling lines in the theme parks, Lezotte said.
“People have that sort of attachment to being part of a tribe, and so if you’re able to buy the sweatshirt every year, then that means that you are a part of a tribe. … I think people love it for that reason,” said A.J. Wolfe, who runs the unofficial Disney Food Blog and follows theme-park trends.
“If they went to Disney World, even once, they like to commemorate that year.”
Fans also like merchandise tied to events, such as the openings of Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or the end of the run for the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, she said.
“I think people also buy, as investments, merchandise that they think they’re going to be able to sell on eBay or sell as the years go on,” Wolfe said.
The 2021-dated souvenirs and their color-blocking remind Wolfe of 1990s looks.
“It does feel like we’re still pulling on designs from the past that we know were popular,” she said. “I mean, it is not subtle at all. … It’s very accessible to anybody, but I do think it is very, very bold. You have to want to stand out.”
The creative process for Disney’s dated material starts about 18 months in advance, Lezotte said.
“We’re looking for emerging trends, things that we think will continue to grow and will appeal to our broad demographic base,” he said.
“Hydration is something that you’ve seen evolve at the parks over the years, so recently, they added an acrylic tumbler with a straw,” Lezotte said. “This also plays into sustainability.” It’s one of the top-selling items in the 2021 program, he said.
But who could predict the dark cloud that was 2020 and the effect it would have on dated merchandise? Who would buy a T-shirt that reminds them of last year?
Every year, the challenge is to have plenty of stock (making for happy customers) but not have many left over (making for unhappy stockholders), Lezotte said.
“When we began 2020, we were able to make sure that we were positioning ourselves in a way from an inventory standpoint to minimize what we would be left with and to allow us to kind of make that clean break at the end of 2020,” he said.
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