Manolo and Prada, move aside. Some brawny brands from America's industrial heartland are vying for "designer" space under the Christmas tree this year.
Midwestern manufacturers such as Caterpillar, John Deere and Harley-Davidson - best known for building powerful machines - are muscling into consumer categories from apparel and footwear to toys and houseware with extensive lines of products bearing the companies' logos.
Among the top sellers are child-size, battery-powered tractors and motorcycles that small children can ride around on at speeds of up to four or six to eight kph. There's even a miniature Harley in pink for girls.
Some children may be wishing for a Deere rocking tractor, new this year, or Harley-Davidson's new version of a child's wagon in the motorcycle maker's trademark orange and black.
The captains of industry are also targeting the apparel category in a big way, hoping consumers will want to wear jackets, boots and other items with brand names that may be more typically associated with rugged machinery than with trendy designer fashion.
In fact, Caterpillar, maker of excavators and other construction gear, has attracted a following among the young and hip in Europe, who covet its footwear.
"It's American and it's blue collar," said Thomas O'Guinn, a business and sociology professor at the University of Illinois who studies "brand communities."
While in Sweden recently to conduct research, O'Guinn noticed a lot of fashionable young people strolling around in Caterpillar work boots. "It's that sort of roll-up-your-sleeves, white T-shirt Americana that they like," he said.
Kimberly Neible, marketing manager for Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar, said the brand began to take off in Europe during the "grunge" music era of the early 1990s. The company now sells between seven and nine million pairs of shoes annually worldwide.
Caterpillar tailors its clothing and footwear to the youth market, particularly the 18- to 26-year-old crowd, with whom it hopes to raise its profile.
"To that age group one of the things we represent is authenticity. We are the work brand," Neible said.
Marketing experts say a key to ensuring the long-term vitality of a brand is to build relationships early.
"The question with all of these heritage brands is how do you stay relevant to the younger generation? If you can introduce the brand at a younger age, that goes a long way," said David Aaker, professor emeritus of marketing at the University of California, Berkeley.
The manufacturers say toys, from toddler-size Cat dump trucks to Harley's remote-controlled Fat Boy bike with "revving" sound, are among their most popular licensed products.
Big kids will also find no shortage of branded gadgets and gear. Deere & Co, for example, is introducing a line of gardening tools this year and offers a gift category on its Web site with items ranging from green suspenders to golf shirts.
On a recent afternoon at the Harley-Davidson store on Chicago's Near North Side, shoppers browsed among items that included wine glasses, dog sweaters and, of course, lots of black leather.
Sandy Williams, 57, fingering a pair of high-heeled leather boots, said she was looking for a Christmas gift for her husband, Ed, who had requested "anything Harley."
He joined a Harley owners club about five years ago and enjoys the camaraderie, she said. "I think it's the loud noise. They just like the feeling of having all that machinery under them. Typical men stuff," said Williams, whose two-year-old grandson already has a biker jacket.
What began as a strategy to boost brand awareness has become a healthy profit generator, these companies say.
Harley-Davidson reported general merchandise sales of $164 million last year, or almost five percent of its total sales, according to spokesman Mike Morgan.
Caterpillar, which does not break out revenue from merchandise, said sales at the retail level had doubled in five years to $850 million last year. The figure includes toys, footwear and apparel, Nascar racing tie-ins and scale-model replicas of its equipment.
Companies like Caterpillar and Deere licence their names to specialty manufacturers and receive royalties of between three percent and 10 per cent of retail sales, with "no downside" risk because their partners produce the products, Aaker said. "It's an incredible margin."