How ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Star Wars’ Merch Became (Really) Big Business
As fantasy properties come to dominate popular culture, their associated wares now spread into every imaginable category, from parkas to robotic vacuums
ON DEC. 7, “Star Wars” fans lined up for hours across America, not to see a new movie, but to buy a jacket: one of only 500 Columbia Sportswear parkas inspired by the royal blue coats that the “The Empire Strikes Back” film crew wore while shooting in Norway in 1979. Justin Anderson, 31, an operations specialist at a Chicago tech company and a “huge fan of ‘Star Wars,’” sacrificed his lunch hour to wait outside a Columbia store to plop down his $500. “I got lucky,” said Mr. Anderson, who proudly posted a photo of himself in the parka on the Star Wars Reddit page later that day—to the envy of his fellow fans.
“I’m...