MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Skechers has upped the speed quotient of its elite runner roster by signing two-time Olympian and six-time U.S. Champion Anthony Famiglietti to its team of athletes who race wearing innovative Skechers GOrun performance footwear. Fam, as he’s known in the running world, is working on being the fourth man in history to break a four-minute mile on the track after age 40. He got closer to that goal at The Running Event (TRE) in Austin in December by setting a treadmill mile global benchmark of 3:55 wearing the award-winning Skechers GOrun Razor 3 Hyper. And in January at the Endurance Exchange in Tempe, he established a two-mile treadmill global benchmark of 8:24 wearing the same shoes.
“It’s exciting to be joining Skechers, as that now means I’m on the same team as iconic runners Meb and Edward Cheserek, two of the greatest distance runners in history,” said Anthony Famiglietti. “The new line of innovative Skechers performance products have afforded me a second life as an elite competitor. Their groundbreaking new Hyper Burst foam offers me a racing sneaker that is incredibly lightweight, yet radically durable enough to protect my battle-worn feet from decades of elite racing. I’ve been a longtime fan of their running shoes and of all the branded sneakers offered to me for my record attempt, I specifically sought out the Skechers GOrun Razor 3 Hyper. I knew it would get me to my goal as it did in my world’s fastest dog/human mile run of 3:59 earlier in 2019. Matching my track mile PR of 3:55 in shoes I hadn’t even broken in was insane. These shoes are a big part of what helped me get my fast back in 2019 and I want to use the story of my regained speed to help others either find or regain theirs too with Skechers!”
“Anthony’s story of endurance and triumph at any age is inspirational,” added Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers. “He illustrates a core value of our running collection—no matter what your experience or ability, it’s easy to find a perfect fit in our Skechers GOrun range. We love the guts, attitude, and fortitude that he showed running a sub-four-minute treadmill mile.”
Born in New York, Anthony Famiglietti’s collegiate career began at Appalachian State, where he was the 1996 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year in Cross Country, 1997 Southern Conference XC Runner of the Year runner-up, and 1998 Southern Conference Champion in both the steeplechase and the 5000 meters. In 1998, he transferred to University of Tennessee and in 2000 placed second at the SEC Championships. Post-college, Fam represented the United States in the 3000-meter steeplechase at Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. He’s a three-time US World Team member and a six-time US champion in road and track, including 5K, 8K, 15K, and steeplechase. Now 41, Fam is working towards becoming the fourth man over 40 to run a four-minute mile on the track, and currently holds global benchmarks for treadmill mile (3:55) and two-mile (8:24). In 2009, Fam was also the subject of the independent documentary Run Reckless, which followed him and his various friends through journeys of perseverance. He describes his philosophy in sport as being centered on setting aside the day-to-day burdens that entrap us and running with pure reckless abandon.
Since its debut with the first model of Skechers GOrun worn by Meb Keflezighi in 2012, Skechers Performance footwear has earned respect throughout the running world and won numerous awards within the footwear industry—including the Skechers GOrun Razor 3 Hyper named “Gear of the Year” in the September/October 2019 issue of Runner’s World. The entire Skechers GOrun collection for men and women is available at Skechers retail stores and skechers.com, as well as select retail partners.
About SKECHERS USA, Inc.
Based in Manhattan Beach, California, Skechers 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 3,550 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.
Reference in this press release to “Sales” refers to Skechers’ net sales reported under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. This announcement also 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; the disruption of business and operations due to the coronavirus; 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 September 30, 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 we cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all such risk factors on our 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.
