Molly “Molona” Robbins
trendy women’s label Bebe. A few years later, she became Vice graphic designs can also appeal to wide range of people and age
President of Licensing at a company which specialized in T-shirts. groups. People who have traveled to Latin America or people who
Her wealth of career experience at that point convinced her that she live in cities with large Hispanic population are also familiar with
could be successful running her own company. many of the distinctive names and images.
Actually Molly runs several companies. Her company, It’s not an easy task to create this type of line. It can take any-
LicenZing, is the umbrella corporation that makes deals and does where from a few weeks to a few years to negotiate the rights to the
marketing and public relations for a number of graphics and to get the finished product in
clients and companies including her own stores. You can imagine the kind of red tape
Palomita and Chucho brand clothing lines. She involved in licensing logos and trademarks from
often helps brands to expand so that they make major corporations. It takes endless emails,
a “bigger footprint in the retail market.” A meetings, paperwork, legal obstacles and the
marketing strategy she is also employing for her supervision of every type of production detail.
own company: Palomita’s rapidly growing pop- This is especially difficult in Mexico with the
ularity among girls and juniors was the catalyst language barrier and because the practice of
for its brother brand, Chucho that was recently using iconic vintage images is not as wide-
launched in Spring 2008. spread there. But once Robbins shows them
Based in San Rafael, California, Molly the T-shirts they usually get it and come
designs her colorful graphic T-shirts and paja- around. This is the job Molly Robbins was
mas ($10-$35) that sport the familiar Latino born to do. Her Spanish language skills, bicul-
advertising personalities and logos, like the exu- tural sensibility and background in legalese and
berant lettering for Boing! soft drinks, colorful apparel marketing serve her well.
logos for Zote and Roma soaps, various can- Robbins, whose father was a lawyer, says
dies, other treats and even vintage international that a legal studies education can be applicable
icon Topo Gigio, the puppet mouse with big ears and a childlike to any industry. “It gives me a unique skill and is invaluable to
voice that appeared on "The Ed Sullivan" show in the '60's. For me…Legal is the core of my foundation for many reasons. Not only
Latin Americans particularly, these are familiar images and cultur- for the [intrinsic] educational value, but for learning to research, pri-
al icons. "The kids see these logos all the time in the grocery stores oritize, conduct business dealings, and for the analytical process of
and on TV; they are a huge part of our culture for Latinos of all being able to look at things from different angles to see all the posi-
ages," said Robbins in a recent interview. tive and negative aspects, and for negotiating agreements. I am
The exclusive use of the Latino consumer products and charac- involved in the legal aspects of my business at least twice a week, if
ters creates a result that is unique, nostalgic and trendy. It is a bril- not more.” Although Robbins says she downplays the legalese so as
liant idea and a major opportunity for retailers to reach Hispanics- not to intimidate people adding, “I think lawyers sometimes get a
- a growing and lucrative market. And not only Hispanics; the bold bad reputation!”
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