Our Licences

Every licensed design at Threadheads is made under a signed agreement with the company that owns the character. That is what an official licence is: written permission to use the property, artwork submitted to the licensor and approved before it goes anywhere near a garment, and a royalty paid to the rights holder on every sale.

We work this way for two reasons. It is the only version that pays the people who made these characters, and it is the only version that lets us design properly rather than guess at what will survive a takedown notice. An approved licence is a starting point, not a finished product. What we do with it is original artwork, drawn mostly by our own artists and some by partner artists, printed on heavyweight combed cotton in sizes XS to 4XL. The licensors we hold agreements with are listed below.

Warner Bros

Our largest licence by volume. It covers Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry, the DC characters including Batman and Superman, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Seinfeld, Friends, Rick and Morty, Mortal Kombat and the horror classics, among other properties. Artwork for every one of them is approved by Warner Bros before release.

Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop is the non-profit organisation behind Sesame Street and licenses the characters directly. Our Sesame Street range is made under that agreement, including the Tokyo Sesame capsule, with every design approved by Sesame Workshop before it goes to print.

Sanrio

Sanrio licenses the Hello Kitty and Friends range to us. Our designs feature the Friends cast: Cinnamoroll, Pompompurin, Keroppi, Bad Badtz-Maru, Chococat, Pochacco and Tuxedosam. The agreement covers Australia, the United States, Europe and New Zealand.

Paramount

Paramount covers SpongeBob SquarePants, Garfield, MTV, Rugrats and Beavis and Butt-Head. The process is the same across all of them: original artwork submitted, approved, and royalties paid on every sale.

Mattel

Mattel licenses Masters of the Universe to us, covering the characters and marks of the He-Man universe. Every design in that range is approved by Mattel before release.

Tezuka Productions

Tezuka Productions holds the rights to Astro Boy and licenses the character to us directly from Japan. Our Astro Boy designs are approved by the studio, which matters more than usual with a character whose linework is the point.

Bruce Lee Family Co

Bruce Lee Family Co licenses the Bruce Lee name, likeness and marks. Our Bruce Lee range is made under that agreement and approved by them, with royalties paid on every sale.

What this means when you buy

If a piece is in a licensed collection at Threadheads, a licensor has seen the artwork and signed off on it, and the people who own the character are paid when it sells. The design itself is ours: original compositions, drawn mostly in-house, on garments chosen for the artwork. You can see the full range across every licence in Licensed Collabs.