Apply for a License
We value, appreciate, and respect each company that applies for a UCLA license. Not every company that applies for a UCLA license is granted one but we endeavor to provide constructive feedback to all applicants.
For U.S. territory inquiries, applications may be submitted through the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC):
For all non-U.S. territory inquiries contact the Director, UCLA Trademarks & Licensing
What we look for
UCLA considers the unique product, retail channel, and other strategic capabilities and benefits of each applicant. We look for companies who:
Have unique product offers
Have established retailer relationships and capabilities
Have demonstrated their efforts to implement UC Code standards
Are actively engaged in an ongoing commitment to ethical labor practices and ideally a broader set of sustainability goals
Are willing to describe and document their methodology and current level of progress regarding the ethical labor management program
Are willing to engage in a process of continuous improvement, including training and capacity building efforts, toward meeting UC Code standards throughout their supply chain
This is why our application process will take a little longer.
Expectations for Applicants’ and Incumbent Licensees’ Familiarity with Human Rights and Business Standards and Practices.
A priority for UCLA in its review of each applicant, and on-going throughout the licensing relationship with its licensees, is to understand the status of human rights and business standards and practices implementation throughout a licensees’ and applicants’ supply chains. UCLA seeks to license companies commit to producing products under fair, safe, and humane working conditions in accordance with international labor standards which form the base of the University of California’s Trademark Licensing Code of Conduct (UC Code), and who demonstrate management processes that enable them to achieve progress toward implementation of these standards throughout their supply chain.
Since the late 1990s, UCLA and many other universities have been engaged by students, faculty, and other important stakeholders in their communities to focus on the workplaces of their licensees’ own businesses and those of their supply chain partners. Since that time, measuring the ability of potential licensee applicants’ performance in this area has become increasingly important to the awarding of licenses and the retention of licensees each year at renewal.
To get an application for a UCLA license approved and to maintain a UCLA license, applicants and licensees must demonstrate:
An understanding of and familiarity with basic human rights and workplace rights and conditions codes of conduct for manufacturing.
A code of conduct of the licensee’s own that meets international labor standards of the International Labor Organization.
The ability to demonstrate the implementation of the code of conduct throughout the supply chain, and/or measure the accountability practices of upstream suppliers and manufacturers whose work is a component of the finished licensed product.
Knowledge of the specific supply chain partners, their role in the supply chain, their sources of manufacturing, and the ability to disclose this information accurately and in a timely basis.
Affiliation with the Fair Labor Association, in which UCLA is a university affiliate, in at least the appropriate category of affiliation and ideally, as a Participating Company.
Cooperation with the Worker Rights Consortium, in which UCLA is a university affiliate, in the event of an investigation or request for information involves your company’s disclosed supply chain.
Each potential licensee’s business model, sourcing model, and supply chain may differ substantially from those of others. For this reason, there is not a checklist of actions that applies to all licensees or applicants, all of the time. UCLA expects that potential licensees and incumbent licensees will have developed management systems that are rigorous and appropriate for its operations and those of its supply chain. In cases where supply chain partners are shared by other companies, there may be opportunities for collaborative efforts that will benefit multiple companies, and UCLA encourages these coordinated efforts.
Similarly, the systems that a business must employ to ensure that its own operations and those of its supply chain are actively implementing the code of conduct standards in practice represent an ongoing business function and not activities that are done once or as part of a checklist of steps.
Ongoing implementation and training is necessary to achieve codes of conduct in practice. E-Learning courses are available through the Fair Labor Association at a reduced rate or as a benefit of affiliation, depending upon each licensee’s affiliation level. In addition, topic-specific training events are regularly held by the Fair Labor Association, and numerous other organizations that are dedicated to link businesses in their efforts to develop better practices for achieving codes of conduct in their operations and supply chains, including offering multi-lingual trainings for organizations at all levels of the supply chain.
Please contact us with any questions or further guidance that might be helpful to you.