Stride Rite Corporation Announces Grant of Footwear License for PRO-Keds(R) to Hip-Hop Clothing and Music Mogul Damon Dash
20 July 2004 - 6:42AM
PR Newswire (US)
Stride Rite Corporation Announces Grant of Footwear License for
PRO-Keds(R) to Hip-Hop Clothing and Music Mogul Damon Dash
LEXINGTON, Mass., July 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Stride Rite
Corporation (NYSE:SRR) announced today that it has entered into an
exclusive licensing agreement with Hip-Hop Mogul Damon Dash, CEO of
Rocawear clothing and Roc-A-Fella records, for the distribution of
men's, women's and children's footwear under the PRO-Keds brand.
The line will be introduced at the MAGIC trade show in Las Vegas in
August 2004, and will be available at retail in January 2005.
"PRO-Keds is a classic American brand I grew up with as a kid,"
said Damon Dash. "It's a sneaker that's been around for years and
stands the test of time and trends. I am a sneaker fanatic myself,
so the possibility of combining a sneaker brand with what I'm
already doing with Rocawear, Team Roc, State Property, and C.
Ronson got me truly excited. I am looking forward to building
PRO-Keds as we continually invent creative ways to extend our
brands across all ages and ethnicities." "Damon Dash and his team
at Roc-A-Fella and Rocawear have accomplished a great deal and are
clearly a leader in hip-hop. PRO-Keds has historical roots in the
Urban Market. Connecting the PRO-Keds brand with the marketing
capabilities Damon brings will uniquely position PRO-Keds for
future growth," said Richie Woodworth, President of PRO-Keds for
Stride Rite. Woodworth continued, "Rocawear has solidified its
position as one of the rising stars of the apparel business.
Roc-A-Fella records, with its stable of artists including Jay-Z and
Kanye West, are at the top of the music business. Integrating a
brand like PRO-Keds, with its deep athletic and urban heritage,
into this organization at a time when music is challenging sports
as the key promotional vehicle in the sneaker market is a terrific
opportunity." PRO-Keds was established in 1949 by Keds as an
athletic footwear line primarily aimed at basketball. The first
PRO-Keds product was the classic Royal, a canvas basketball shoe in
high and low tops featuring a distinctive red and blue power stripe
adjacent to the toe. Over time, new styles were added across the
categories of basketball, baseball, football, tennis, and track and
field. Items utilizing exclusive shock-absorbent support and
cushioning techniques were also developed to keep pace with the
rapid advancements in footwear technology. By late 1970, PRO-Keds
had become synonymous with some of the biggest names in basketball
history and professional sports, and attained cult status as the
first real sneaker with style among New York City's early hip hop
community. In 2002 PRO-Keds re-issued the classic Royal, the
historic Royal Master, and the iconic Court King styles. About
Stride Rite The Stride Rite Corporation markets the leading brand
of children's shoes in the United States. Other footwear products
for children and adults are marketed by the Company under
well-known brand names, including Keds, Sperry Top-Sider, Tommy
Hilfiger, Grasshoppers and Munchkin. Information about the Company
is available on their website -- http://www.strideritecorp.com/.
Information about the company's brands and product lines is
available at http://www.striderite.com/, http://www.keds.com/,
http://www.grasshoppers.com/, http://www.prokeds.com/ and
http://www.sperrytopsider.com/. About Damon Dash At 33 years old,
Damon Dash has constructed an empire, a highly revered hip-hop
kingdom that began with music powerhouse Roc-A-Fella Records and
now incorporates the #1 urban fashion company Rocawear, including
State Property, Team Roc and C. Ronson under the Roc Apparel
umbrella. Dash also owns two film companies Dash Films and
Roc-A-Fella Films, a sports management company, and a non-profit
community outreach program called Team Roc via the NYC Mission
Society. In addition, Dash recently launched a luxury watch company
Tiret, America Magazine, Armadale Vodka and will soon launch a line
of consumer electronics. As part of his community efforts Dash
co-chairs the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, which is the largest
non-profit, non-partisan national coalition of hip-hop artists and
recording industry executives, founded in 2001 by Russell Simmons
and Dr. Benjamin Chavis. For more information about The Roc go to
http://www.rocafella.com/ and http://www.rocawear.com/. Safe Harbor
Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: This announcement includes forward-looking statements which
reflect our current views with respect to the future events or
financial performance discussed in the release based on
management's beliefs and assumptions and information currently
available. When used, the words "believe", "anticipate",
"estimate", "project", "should", "expect", "appear" and similar
expressions, which do not relate solely to historical matters
identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to
risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are not guarantees of
future events or performance, which may be affected by known and
unknown risks, trends and uncertainties. Should one or more of
these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should our assumptions
prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those
anticipated, projected or implied. Factors that may cause such a
variance include, among others: the volume of anticipated sales may
decline; revenues from new product lines may fall below
expectations; the launch of new product lines may be delayed;
general retail sales trends may be below expectations; current
license agreements may be terminated; consumer fashion trends may
shift to footwear styling not currently included in our product
lines; our retail customers, including large department stores, may
consolidate or restructure operations resulting in unexpected store
closings; and additional factors discussed from time to time in our
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We expressly
disclaim any responsibility to update forward-looking statements.
DATASOURCE: Stride Rite CONTACT: Bridget Russo of Rocawear,
+1-212-497-2190, ; or Richie Woodworth of Stride Rite,
+1-617-824-6555, Web site: http://www.rocawear.com/ Web site:
http://www.strideritecorp.com/
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