Change is afoot at Harbor Footwear Group. The Port Washington, NY company has signed a multi-year licensing agreement to produce men’s and boys’ shoes for the Mark Ecko Cut & Sew line with Iconix Brand Group, as well as another to sell and distribute men’s, women’s and kids’ footwear under the Ccilu brand.
Fresh off the attention its mismatched EvoSpeed Tricks grabbed during this year’s World Cup, athletic giant Puma has unveiled a new marketing effort with the mantra Forever Faster. The campaign, which the German company says will be the start of a long-term marketing strategy, recognizes sportsmen with off-the-wall personalities like the world’s fastest man,Usain Bolt, footballers Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero and Marta Vieira da Silva, golfers Rickie Fowler and Lexi Thompson, and the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One team.
Brazilian men dominated at the U.S. Open of Surfing which wrapped up Sunday in Huntington Beach, CA. Brazil’s Filipe Toledo beat his fellow countryman, Willian Cardoso, to take home the $100,000 prize in the men’s tournament, but second place was just fine for Cardoso. This is the seventh U.S. Open that the Rider-sponsored athlete has competed in and is his strongest finish.
Converse presents a melange of takes on its tried-and-true Jack Purcell sneakers for the Fall ’14 season. The all-new Cross Stitch is a fresh twist on the classic kick, re-imagined in tumbled leather with blue stitching on the tongue, a gum Jack Purcell “smile,” square waxed cotton laces and accent brass eyelets.
It’s not every day the British Prime Minister and his deputy stop by to see what’s what. Last Friday David Cameron and Nick Clegg popped into Pentland Brands–makers of Berghaus, Canterbury, Speedo, Ellesse, Mitre and Boxfresh–in London to see how the family-owned company has grown sales in the UK by 18 percent and 33 percent internationally over the past five years.
Footwear and accessory chain DSW has announced the winner in its Shoe Lovers Care Leave Your Mark program: the Alzheimer’s Assocation. The Chicago-based non-profit was nominated by Patti Gilligan, director of change management at DSW, and will receive $75,000 towards its mission. From June 6 through 24, Shoe Lovers everywhere voted up to once per day on shoeloverscare.com to decide which organization they felt was most deserving of the grant money.
Pensole Footwear Design Academy kicked off the Pensole World Sneaker Championship (WSC) yesterday and Founder D’Wayne Edwards calls it the school’s most expansive footwear design master class to date. “The goal of the WSC is to show the world how impactful the sneaker industry is, by highlighting the top aspiring sneaker designers from around the world through the premiere sneaker brands in the industry,” he says.
Following in the footsteps of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, Demi Lovato has signed with Skechers and will appear in the company’s global marketing and social media campaigns through 2016. Lovato, known for hit singles “Heart Attack” and “Neon Lights” as well as two seasons as an X-Factor judge, will make her first official appearance in a new Skechers TV commercial and accompanying print ad later this year.
Dansko CFO Jim Fox has been named 2014 CFO of the Year in the Medium Company Category by the Philadelphia Business Journal. Selected by an independent panel of judges and sponsored by Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, the award recognizes financial professionals in the Greater Philadelphia area for their outstanding performance as corporate financial stewards.
Known for its lightweight EVA footwear, Native Shoes steps into a new silhouette for Spring ’15. Dubbed the Apollo and inspired by classic moccasins, the new design is the perfect pairing of old and new. Spearheaded by Creative Director Mark Gainor, the five-year-old company worked with a second-generation shoemaker in Los Angeles to create the hand-turned wooden last the new shoe is based on, and the China-made end product features a single piece upper made from an ultra lightweight, breathable microfiber on the brand’s signature blown EVA outsole.
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