MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following strong demand after launching in Asia, SKECHERS USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX) is extending its anime collaboration to the United States and Canada with the launch of Skechers X One Piece. The colorful collection unites Toei Animation Inc’s popular anime series with Skechers D’Lites, one of the footwear company’s original styles.
“Pairing the iconic long-running anime series One Piece with one of our top heritage styles resonated with our consumers in South Korea and China who have been driving trends for the past few years,” began Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers. “And now fashion moves at light speed, so as influencers around the world had already been embracing Skechers D’lites and the chunky sneaker trend, we started to see style purveyors—from Hypebae, Hypebeast, GQ, and High Snobiety—covering Skechers X One Piece collaboration as a must have fashion style. We knew it was time to introduce the collaboration to the United States and Canada—and fast, and we’re glad it is with Toei Animation, the pioneers of Japanese animation.”
“As one of the most respected footwear brands in the world, we’re excited to partner with Skechers in launching this exciting fashion initiative in the United States and Canada,” said Masayuki Endo, President of Toei Animation Inc. “Skechers D’Lites embrace the energy and enthusiasm of our fans, who like One Piece’s Straw Hat Pirates, are always on the move looking for life’s next adventure. We are confident that this collaboration will yield long-lasting success for both Toei Animation Inc.’s and Skechers’ merchandising efforts.”
Previously exclusive to the South Korean and China markets, the collection will be imported in six different colorways, each embracing a unique One Piece character: Luffy, Chopper, Sanji, Zoro, Law, and Doflamingo. The footwear will initially be available beginning July 2018 at Skechers retail stores, www.skechers.com and select specialty stores.
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece is the best-selling manga in history with more than 430 million copies worldwide. In 1997, it spawned an acclaimed anime series that has produced 890+ episodes. Following the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his fearless Straw Hat Pirates, fans are taken on a fantastical journey across a world teeming with wonders and imagination. A multi-generational property, it continues to captivate viewers both young and old. The story and its characters have also expanded across other media into film, television, and video/mobile game as well as theme park in Japan.
Skechers pioneered the chunky sneaker look two decades ago with the Skechers Energy for men and women as well as the Skechers Stamina for men. The style evolved and the Company introduced Skechers D’Lites—a lighter version of its original style—in 2007. Though the collection has always had a dedicated consumer base, sales accelerated across Asia over the last two years after regional marketing included K-Pop groups. In 2017, the Company relaunched an even lighter update of Skechers D’Lites in celebration of its ten-year anniversary.
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 160 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, 2,570 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 and the Middle East, and wholly-owned subsidiaries in Canada, Japan, throughout Europe and Latin America. For more information, please visit skechers.com and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).
About Toei Animation, Inc.
Based in Los Angeles, Toei Animation Inc. manages the film distribution of Toei’s top properties, including Dragon Ball all series, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Digimon series, Saint Seiya, and many others to North America, Latin America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Toei Animation’s Los Angeles office further handles all categories of consumer product licensing based on its film and television brands within these territories. For more information, please visit http://www.toei-animation-usa.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, 2017. 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.
