“IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE -ANDY WARHOL

Since Warhol died the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has controlled the copyright to his art. In the past 10 years fees from licensing have grown from $US400,000 to $US2 million-plus a year (there is no breakdown solely for fashion).
Michael Hermann, the foundation's director of licensing, says that while requests have steadily increased, "the foundation seeks to work with organisations that understand and embrace Warhol's non-conformist spirit"."During his life Andy Warhol wore Levi's and in 1984 Levi's commissioned Warhol to create paintings of their iconic logo," says Hermann of the Warhol Factory X Levi's collection which, since launching in 2006, has featured jeans with silver thread (playing on the silver-walled Factory), shirts with dollar signs, jackets bearing Warhol's famed Marilyn Monroe work, and images inspired by the artist's Shadows series."Given this historical relationship and the stature of both Andy Warhol and Levi's as American icons, the foundation felt that a project made sense," says Hermann.

-The Australian
August 13 2008