Skechers Partners with LINE FRIENDS on Limited Edition Collection

The LINE FRIENDS

The LINE FRIENDS

Skechers launches a collaboration with global character brand LINE FRIENDS with seven of their characters, including BROWN. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Skechers launches a collaboration with global character brand LINE FRIENDS with seven of their characters, including BROWN. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Jul 16, 2019 • 9:00 am EDT

Adorable globally-recognized characters set to appear on wide range of Skechers footwear for women and girls

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Building on recent experience in the limited-edition footwear market, Skechers prepares to launch its next collaboration—this time partnering with global character brand LINE FRIENDS in a series of products spanning various Skechers footwear collections for women and girls.

Skechers launches a collaboration with global character brand LINE FRIENDS with seven of their characters, including BROWN. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Skechers launches a collaboration with global character brand LINE FRIENDS with seven of their characters, including BROWN. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The LINE FRIENDS | Skechers collaboration will first feature adorable characters BROWN, CONY, and SALLY. Post-launch waves will expand the collection with EDWARD, JESSICA, LEONARD, and BROWN’s younger sister CHOCO. The cute iconic characters will appear on a range of Skechers styles including Skecher Street, Skechers Sport and Skechers Cali for women, plus Skechers Kids sneakers and sandals for girls.

“Jumping off the instant success of our Skechers D’Lites X One Piece collaboration, we’re thrilled to now partner with LINE FRIENDS—one of the fastest growing global character brands in the world right now,” said Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers. “And with the massive millennial appeal of the LINE FRIENDS characters, we expect our collaboration will lead fashion-savvy fans to talk, wear and get excited about Skechers.”

LINE FRIENDS is a global character brand originally started from BROWN & FRIENDS, which was created for use as stickers for the leading mobile messenger app LINE and its 200 million active users worldwide. The warm and interesting eleven friends each carry unique charm and personality and have captivated users from every generation. Seen on popular character products to animations, games, cafes, hotels, and even theme parks, the LINE FRIENDS are actively appearing everywhere you look around the world.

Initial styles are available now in the United States, Canada, China and Hong Kong with additional styles arriving later this summer. In the United States, the LINE FRIENDS | Skechers collection will be available at Skechers retail stores, www.skechers.com and select retail partners.

About Skechers U.S.A., Inc.

Based in Manhattan Beach, California, Skechers (NYSE:SKX) 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 170 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, more than 3,060 Skechers Company-owned and third-party-owned retail stores, and the Company’s e-commerce websites. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia, Israel and Mexico, and wholly-owned subsidiaries in Canada, Japan, India, and throughout Europe and Latin America. For more information, please visit about.skechers.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

About LINE FRIENDS

LINE FRIENDS is a global character brand originally started from BROWN & FRIENDS, which was created for use as stickers for the leading mobile messenger app LINE and its 200 million active users worldwide. Taking a step further, the company has emerged as a global creative studio by offering diversified content based on its wide array of Intellectual Property(IP)s including 'BT21', 'Animation Running Man', 'ROY6' and 'Usamaru'. LINE FRIENDS also has collaborated with a number of renowned brands including Bang&Olufsen, Converse, LAMY and Brompton, all aligned with the company’s philosophy and value to showcase premium character products. LINE FRIENDS has operated more than 140 stores in a total of 12 markets in trend-leading cities such as New York, LA, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai. Since it became an independent company in January 2015, LINE FRIENDS continues to win the hearts of millennials worldwide through interactive digital communication and differentiated brand experience across multiple retail touchpoints. For more information, please visit www.LINEFRIENDS.com.

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, Skechers’ 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, opening of new stores and additional expenditures, 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 challenging consumer retail markets in the United States; 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, especially in the highly competitive performance footwear market; 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 Skechers’ annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2019. The risks included here are not exhaustive. Skechers 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.

Jennifer Clay
SKECHERS USA
jennc@skechers.com
(310) 937-1326

Source: Skechers U.S.A., Inc.