SKECHERS
USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX) is staging the ultimate comeback: signing
boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard for a knockout campaign in SKECHERS’
popular Relaxed Fit collection. The legendary showdown will highlight
the all-star fighter in a worldwide marketing campaign starting in Fall
2015 that will extend across all media through December 2016.
Sugar Ray Leonard signs on with SKECHERS (Photo: Deborah Wald and SKECHERS USA)
Leonard is the first boxer to lace up for Relaxed
Fit footwear, whose marketing “Hall of Fame” currently includes Pete
Rose, Joe Montana, Joe Namath and Ringo Starr. “I am looking forward to
being a part of this campaign with SKECHERS,” said Sugar Ray Leonard. “I
love going toe-to-toe with the best – and I’m ready to put on a pair of
shoes as comfortable as Relaxed Fit and go a few rounds for this brand.”
“Sugar Ray is a natural media magnet: his charm and charisma have kept
him on the air for more than 30 years as America’s boxing icon,” said
Michael Greenberg, president of SKECHERS.
“Now that he’s delivering blow-by-blow commentary on NBC Sports’ Premier
Boxing Champions series, it’s the perfect time for millions to see
his signature style in Relaxed Fit footwear. We’re excited to have a
champ like Sugar Ray in our corner.”
Famed for his quick agility in the ring, Leonard won the gold medal in
the light-welterweight class at Montreal’s 1976 Olympic Games. Known as
“Boxer of the Decade” in the 1980’s, the International Boxing Hall of
Fame inductee has won 36 out of 40 professional matches in his career
along with numerous amateur titles, including three National Golden
Gloves titles, two Amateur Athletic Union championships and the 1975
Pan-American Games crown. His defeat of Marvin Hagler for the World
Boxing Council's middleweight title in 1987 is known as one of the
greatest professional boxing matches in history. Leonard has always been
devoted to the community and to helping those in need. He founded the
Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation to raise funds for research and awareness
towards a cure for Type 1 diabetes and also participates in a variety of
national and international causes benefiting children's charities.
Coming soon, baseball great Mariano Rivera will be featured in a SKECHERS
Relaxed Fit footwear campaign. Previous SKECHERS men’s campaigns have
featured Ronnie Lott, Tommy Lasorda, Mark Cuban, Karl Malone, Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, Rick Fox, Wayne Gretzky and Meb Keflezighi.
Known for fashionable designs, a roomier fit and a unique SKECHERS
Memory Foam footbed for instant comfort, the Relaxed Fit from SKECHERS
collection is available in SKECHERS
retail stores as well as department stores and footwear retailers around
the globe.
About SKECHERS USA, Inc.
SKECHERS USA, Inc., 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 120
countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores,
more than 1,000 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 12
wholly-owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan 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 growth, financial results and
operations, its development of new products, future demand for its
products and growth opportunities, its planned opening of new stores,
advertising and marketing initiatives, and the expansion and automation
plans for the Company’s European Distribution Center. 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, 2014. 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.
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