Hey First name / friend!

 

Let’s talk about one of the biggest mistakes I made early in my art licensing career. It's something I see so many artists still struggling with today. 

 

For a long time, I believed that if I wanted my work in places like Target, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and all those big dreamy retailers, that I had to pitch directly to those stores. 

 

I would send cold emails into the void, cross my fingers, and imagine some art director at Target stumbling across my message and offering me a massive licensing deal.

 

Spoiler: That’s not how it works. Like… at all. 😅

 

And knowing this will save you years of frustration.

 

Here’s what I wish someone had told me on day one:

 

 

 

Those are the people with established buyer relationships who get product placed on retail shelves.

 

They’re the ones art directors trust, and they’re the ones who bring artists in.

 

A lot of artists waste time emailing the wrong inbox entirely.

Even if your email does land in front of a buyer, these retailers aren’t set up to license directly with hundreds of individual artists.

 

They license through their trusted partners, the manufacturers who handle production, distribution, and trend sourcing.

 

And when I finally understood this, everything clicked.

 

You'll see my art in stores like Target and Anthropologie, but I never signed licensing deals with those retailers. I’ve never even pitched them directly! I signed deals with manufacturers, and they’re the ones who pitched my products to the big stores and got them on the shelves.

 

Here’s how easy it can be to find those manufacturers:

It sounds ridiculously simple, but this is one of those “aha moments” my students have when they join The Art of Collections. They suddenly realize the industry isn’t only available for a shortlist of “lucky” artists. It's open to anyone who is willing to dig in and find the right entry point.

 

In The Art of Collections, I give real advice about what's actually working today. I would never encourage you to pitch directly to Target because I know that it's almost impossible to get placement that way. 

 

Almost every “big store moment” in my career came through a manufacturer, not the retailer itself.

 

Here are a few examples! And as a bonus, all of these manufacturers are ones that actively select my artwork and my students' artwork for placement in big retailers. It's a great starting point for figuring out who to pitch to!

 

✨ Barnes & Noble → through Lang
✨ Target → through WallPops
✨ Anthropologie → through East End Prints
✨ Nordstrom → through Deny Designs

✨ HomeGoods → through iCanvas

 

FYI: these aren’t my only manufacturers for these retailers. I actually work with several partners who place my work in the same stores.

 

Another fun example is that my student Mandy recently got her artwork into Anthropologie, not by pitching Anthro directly, but through Artfully Walls, a brand Anthro partners with for wall art curation. 

Even when I’m in licensing agreements, I don’t always know where my products end up.

 

For example, back in 2020, I was wandering around Nordstrom Rack, minding my business looking at nail polish, and I spotted nail wrap stickers covered in my tiger artwork.

 

 

I hadn’t pitched Nordstrom Rack. I hadn’t even thought about Nordstrom Rack. 😅

 

But Studio Oh — the manufacturer I was working with — had pitched them.

 

Licensing is full of these little surprises.
 

Some products I know about months in advance. Others show up unexpectedly, and I get a little jolt of adrenaline every time.

 

It keeps things fun : )

 

Inside The Art of Collections, I teach artists exactly how the industry actually works. Not the glossy, aspirational version, but the practical, strategic, this-is-what-gets-results version.

 

You'll learn:

And inside The CatCoq Collective, my private community inside The Art of Collections, you get the ongoing support to navigate this stuff in real time. Including celebrating those moments when your work pops up in a store you didn’t even know carried it or getting your first placement with a dream client!

The program opens up again on February 2nd and you get first access to join! Mark your calendar 🎉

 

xo,

 

Cat

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