Baseball Legend Ozzie Smith Teams Up with Skechers
Hall of Fame Shortstop to Appear in Campaign for Relaxed Fit® from Skechers Footwear Collection
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Skechers has teamed up with Major League Baseball (MLB) Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith for a new marketing campaign featuring the brand’s Relaxed Fit from Skechers footwear collection. The campaign kicked off yesterday with a television commercial that aired during MLB opening day and will extend through December 2016.
Ozzie Smith teams up with Skechers (Photo: Business Wire)
Smith’s first commercial debuted on Sunday, April 3. The humorous campaign compares Ozzie’s double play skills with the style and comfort found in the Relaxed Fit footwear collection.
“I’m excited to be working with Skechers on this campaign because they make some of the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn,” said Ozzie Smith. “I’ve been a fan of the brand for years, and I love how Skechers Memory Foam feels so relaxing on my feet.”
“Baseball fans recognize Ozzie as the best defensive shortstop of all time so we’re thrilled to have him join the Skechers team,” said Skechers president Michael Greenberg. “Ozzie’s impressive accomplishments and notoriety make him the perfect champion to follow in the footsteps of baseball legends Mariano Rivera and Pete Rose in representing the Skechers men’s collections.”
Nicknamed "The Wizard" for his defensive brilliance, Ozzie Smith set major league records for career assists (8,375) and double plays (1,590) by a shortstop as well as the National League (NL) record with 2,511 career games at the position. Smith won 13 consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Awards (1980–1992) as the best shortstop in the league and helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the 1982 World Series. A 15-time All-Star, he accumulated 2,460 hits and 580 stolen bases during his career and won the NL Silver Slugger Award as the best-hitting shortstop in 1987. Ozzie retired from baseball in 1996 after playing 19 years in the major leagues, the first four years with the San Diego Padres and the final fifteen with the St. Louis Cardinals. Smith was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame for the inaugural class of 2014. Off the field, he has spent countless hours assisting non-profit organizations in the St. Louis area including the American Heart Association, St. Louis Effort for AIDS Dining Out for Life program, and serves as president of the Gateway PGA Foundation which reaches out to inner city youth via mentoring and golf programs. Ozzie also serves as the Education Ambassador for the Baseball Hall of Fame and headlines a "Play Ball with Ozzie Smith" fundraiser every year in Cooperstown during Induction Weekend.
Ozzie joins Skechers’ current “Hall of Fame” roster which includes legendary New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, world champion boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and music icon Ringo Starr. Previous Skechers men’s campaigns have featured sports legends such as Pete Rose, Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Joe Namath, Tommy Lasorda, Mark Cuban, Karl Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rick Fox, Wayne Gretzky and Meb Keflezighi.
Skechers Relaxed Fit footwear is known for a roomier fit and Skechers Memory Foam footbed that delivers instant comfort. The collection is available in Skechers retail channels worldwide.
About SKECHERS USA, Inc.
SKECHERS USA, Inc., (NYSE:SKX) based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as performance footwear for men and women. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States and over 160 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, more than 1,340 SKECHERS retail stores, and the Company’s e-commerce website. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia, and 13 wholly-owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan, Latin America and throughout Europe. For more information, please visit skechers.com and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s future domestic and international growth, financial results and operations including expected net sales and earnings, its development of new products, future demand for its products, its planned domestic and international expansion and opening of new stores, the completion of the expansion and upgrade of the Company’s European distribution center, and advertising and marketing initiatives. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking language such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will result,” “could,” “may,” “might,” or any variations of such words with similar meanings. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include international economic, political and market conditions including the uncertainty of sustained recovery in Europe; entry into the highly competitive performance footwear market; sustaining, managing and forecasting costs and proper inventory levels; losing any significant customers; decreased demand by industry retailers and cancellation of order commitments due to the lack of popularity of particular designs and/or categories of products; maintaining brand image and intense competition among sellers of footwear for consumers; anticipating, identifying, interpreting or forecasting changes in fashion trends, consumer demand for the products and the various market factors described above; sales levels during the spring, back-to-school and holiday selling seasons; and other factors referenced or incorporated by reference in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. The risks included here are not exhaustive. The Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and the companies cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can the companies assess the impact of all such risk factors on their respective businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Moreover, reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance.
SKECHERS USA, Inc.
Jennifer Clay, 310-937-1326
Source: SKECHERS USA, Inc.
Released Apr 4, 2016 • 12:34 pm EDT