SKECHERS Launching Branded Line of Leather Accessories
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SKECHERS USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX), a global leader in the lifestyle footwear industry, today announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with French Craft Leather Goods Co., Inc. to design, produce and distribute a SKECHERS-branded line of leather goods and accessories for men, women and kids. The new line of belts, buckles and wallets will hit retailers in June 2010.
"Over the last 18 years, the SKECHERS brand has grown to become a global leader in lifestyle footwear," said Michael Greenberg, president of SKECHERS. "And now SKECHERS' brand recognition is bigger than our core product, making this the perfect time to expand our licensing program into new categories. We couldn't ask for a better partner than French Craft to help SKECHERS meet the needs of our consumers from head-to-toe and beyond."
"French Craft is excited to be joining the SKECHERS family as a leather goods licensee," began Andy Fox, president of French Craft. "We're confident that this line will provide SKECHERS consumers with the perfect way to complement and accessorize the footwear and brand they love so much."
Embracing the SKECHERS style and image, belts and wallets in the new trend-right collection will be constructed using full grain leather, split leather, suede, cotton, or nylon with a focus on contemporary embellishments and accents. Buckles will be cast in zinc, steel or brass. Additionally, the wallet line will include an assortment of trifolds, bifolds, credit card cases, front pocket wallets, checkbook wallets, pass cases and children's coin purses.
"French Craft represents a strong addition to our fast growing portfolio of best-in-class licensees," explained Paul Flett, senior vice president of licensing at SKECHERS. "Through this partnership we will develop synergic accessory products that complement our brand proposition. This ultimately helps us meet increasing consumer demand for SKECHERS across exciting new product categories."
SKECHERS belts, buckles and wallets will be available in fine independent department, specialty and sporting goods stores throughout the United States and Canada.
In addition to French Craft, SKECHERS has partnered with licensees to produce a wide range of products including children's apparel, sunglasses, legwear, medical scrubs, backpacks and bags. The Company is currently negotiating with additional licensees both domestic and abroad and continues to seek out partnerships and opportunities that will bring the SKECHERS brand to new product segments around the globe.
About French Craft Leather Goods Co., Inc.
French Craft Accessories was founded in 1934. Originally located in New York, the company relocated to Los Angeles in 1950. With over seventy years of industry experience, French Craft today is at the forefront in the fashion accessories field. The Company's customers order from an enormous inventory of products in Los Angeles that includes belts, buckles, wallets, hats, watches, and gift sets. Wholesalers benefit from French Craft's extensive merchandising staff which handle the complete design process from development and sampling through production and worldwide shipping. For more information, visit www.frenchcraft.com.
ABOUT SKECHERS USA, Inc.
SKECHERS USA, Inc., based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of footwear for men, women and children under the SKECHERS name, as well as under several uniquely branded names. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States via department and specialty stores, Company-owned SKECHERS retail stores and its e-commerce website, as well as in over 100 countries and territories through the Company's global network of distributors and subsidiaries in Canada, Brazil, Chile, and across Europe, as well as through joint ventures in Asia. For more information, please visit www.skechers.com.
This announcement may contain forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or simply state future results, performance or achievements, and 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, national and local general economic, political and market conditions including the global economic slowdown and the ongoing financial crisis and market instability; 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 Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. 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 Company cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all such risk factors on the business 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.
Source: SKECHERS USA, Inc.
Released May 13, 2010 • 9:05 am EDT