Skechers USA, Inc. is an American multinational footwear company. Headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, it was founded in 1992 and is now the third largest footwear brand in the United States.

History

Skechers was founded in 1992 by Robert Greenberg, who had previously founded

LA Gear LA Gear (or L.A. Gear) is an American shoe company based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1983, the brand is currently owned by ACI International. History LA Gear was started by Robert Greenberg, Ernest Williams, and Stephen Williams. Gr ...

in 1983 (he stepped down as CEO of that company the same year he founded Skechers). Greenberg sought to focus on men's street shoes; Skechers' early products were utility-style boots popular in

grunge fashion Grunge fashion is the clothing, accessories and hairstyles of the grunge music genre and subculture which emerged in mid-1980s Seattle, and had reached wide popularity by the mid 90s. Grunge fashion is characterized by durable and timeless thri ...

. The company quickly expanded to include women and children, with casual and

athleisure Athleisure is a hybrid style of athletic clothing typically worn as everyday wear. Athleisure outfits can include yoga pants, tights, sneakers, leggings and shorts that look like athletic wear, characterized as "fashionable, dressed-up sweats a ...

styles, and went

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

in 1999. In 2011, Skechers launched its performance line for athletes and signed

Meb Keflezighi Mebrahtom "Meb" Keflezighi (; Ge'ez: መብራህቶም ክፍልእዝጊ, ''Mebrāhtōm Kifl'izgī''; born May 5, 1975) is a retired Eritrean-born American long distance runner. He is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and fin ...

as a spokesman. Skechers is the third largest footwear brand in the United States. In January 2019, the company started an expansion of its corporate headquarters to double its office, design and showroom space in the South Bay.

Litigation

In 2012, Skechers agreed to settle a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuit for $40 million based on a U.S.

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...

complaint that it had misled customers with its Shape-Ups ads. In 2019,

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

filed a

patent infringement Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may v ...

lawsuit against Skechers because, according to Nike, Skechers had infringed on the design of their VaporMax and Air Max 270 sneakers.

Forced labor investigation

In 2021, French prosecutors launched an investigation into whether Skechers and other brands had concealed or profited from forced Uyghur labor. Skechers has found no evidence of forced labor taking place.

Products and advertising

The company designs, develops and markets a range of

lifestyle Lifestyle often refers to: * Lifestyle (sociology), the way a person lives * ''Otium'', ancient Roman concept of a lifestyle * Style of life (german: Lebensstil, link=no), dealing with the dynamics of personality Lifestyle may also refer to: Bu ...

and

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

footwear, apparel and accessories for adults and children; brands include Skechers Sport, Uno, D'Lites, the charity line Bobs, Our Planet Matters, Mark Nason, Skechers Work, Go Walk, Go Run, and Go Golf. Since 2020, select shoes have utilized Goodyear rubber. Skechers has promoted its products with celebrities including musicians

Ava Max Amanda Ava Koci (born Amanda Koçi; February 16, 1994), known professionally as Ava Max, is an American singer and songwriter. She signed with Atlantic Records in 2016, through which she released her breakthrough single " Sweet but Psycho" in ...

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

; television personalities

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pub ...

Brooke Burke Brooke Lisa Burke (born September 8, 1971) is an American television personality, fitness personality, author, actress, and businesswoman. She is known for hosting the E! Network travel show ''Wild On!'' (1999–2002), CBS' ''Rock Star'' (20 ...

, and

Amanda Kloots Amanda Kloots (born March 19, 1982) is an American television personality, dancer, actress and fitness instructor. Since 2021, she has been a co-host of the daytime talk show '' The Talk''. Early life Kloots is the second youngest of five childr ...

; baseball player

Clayton Kershaw Clayton Edward Kershaw (born March 19, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) . He has played for the Dodgers for the entirety of his MLB career. A left-handed starting pi ...

and boxer

Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as "Sugar" Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professiona ...

; footballers

Jamie Redknapp Jamie Frank Redknapp (born 25 June 1973) is an English former professional footballer who was active from 1989 until 2005. He is a pundit at Sky Sports and an editorial sports columnist at the ''Daily Mail''. A technically skillful and creat ...

and

Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He is among the top goal scorers in the history of the German national team. Ballack wore the number 13 shirt for every team he has played for, except 1. FC ...

; and American football players

Tony Romo Antonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is an American sportscaster and former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Eastern Illino ...

Howie Long Howard Matthew Moses Long (born January 6, 1960) is an American sports analyst and former professional football player. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons as a defensive end, spending his entire career with the Raider ...

, and

Cris Carter Graduel Christopher Darin Carter (born November 25, 1965) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles (1987–1989), the Minnesota Vikings (1990–2001) and the Mia ...

. Skechers Performance has featured distance runner

and professional golfers Brooke Henderson and

Matt Fitzpatrick Matthew Thomas Fitzpatrick (born 1 September 1994) is an English professional golfer. After winning the 2013 U.S. Amateur, he later won his first professional tournament at the 2015 British Masters. In 2022 he won his first major championship ...

. On March 1, 2019, Skechers launched a print and digital

comparative advertising Comparative advertising, or combative advertising, is an advertisement in which a particular product, or service, specifically mentions a competitor by name for the express purpose of showing why the competitor is inferior to the product naming it. ...

campaign titled "Just Blew It" to highlight the

Zion Williamson Zion Lateef Williamson (born July 6, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the power forward position. Following a freshman-year stint with the ...

failed shoe incident with rival

. On February 3, 2021, Skechers launched a commercial campaign titled "To the Max" featuring Tony Romo to put into the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

. The brand returned to the game on February 13, 2022, with two commercials: "On the Road" and "Legalize" featuring Willie Nelson. In 2022, the brand expanded into

pickleball Pickleball is an indoor or outdoor racket/paddle sport where two players (singles), or four players (doubles), hit a perforated hollow polymer ball over a net using solid-faced paddles. Opponents on either side of the net hit the ball back and ...

, signing several athletes and sponsoring the first nationally televised pickleball tournament in the U.S.

Sponsorships

Golf * Brooke Henderson * Emily Pedersen *

Russell Knox Russell Knox (born 21 June 1985) is a Scottish professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He had considerable success from 2014 to 2016 during which time he won the 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions and the 2016 Travelers Championship. Together with ...

Colin Montgomerie Colin Stuart Montgomerie, OBE (born 23 June 1963) is a Scottish professional golfer. He has won a record eight European Tour Order of Merit titles, including a streak of seven consecutively from 1993 to 1999. He has won 31 European Tour events ...

Belén Mozo Belén Mozo (born 25 September 1988) is a Spanish professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. As an amateur, Mozo won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship in 2006. Later that year she joined the USC Troj ...

Billy Andrade William Thomas Andrade (born January 25, 1964) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Champions Tour. He was previously a member of the PGA Tour, where he was a four-time winner. Early life Andrade was born in Bri ...

Matt Atkins Matthew David Atkins (born December 13, 1990) is an American professional golfer. Atkins was born in Aston, Pennsylvania. He played college golf at Henderson State University for one year before transferring to the University of South Carolina A ...

Wesley Bryan Wesley may refer to: People and fictional characters * Wesley (name), a given name and a surname Places United States * Wesley, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Wesley, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Wesley Township, Will County, I ...

Matt Kuchar Matthew Gregory Kuchar (born June 21, 1978) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and formerly the Nationwide Tour. He has won nine times on the PGA Tour. Kuchar briefly enjoyed success in the early 2000s before sufferin ...

* Ashlan Ramsey

Philanthropy

Skechers launched its Skechers Foundation in 2010. Skechers and the Friendship Foundation host an annual walk in Manhattan Beach to raise money for a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that helps connect special-needs students with their peers. Skechers has donated more than 16 million pairs of new shoes to children in need worldwide through its Bobs charity program. The shoes support Head Start programs, education foundations, homeless shelters, disaster relief and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. The brand has also raised over $9 million to help Petco Love, Woodgreen Pets Charity, and other animal welfare groups.

Entertainment

Skechers has developed—with

MoonScoop Group The MoonScoop Group was a French animation and production company that created and published animated television series. Its corporate headquarters were located in Paris, France, along with offices in the United Kingdom and the United States. I ...

and animator/co-producer John Massé—an animated series, ''

Zevo-3 ''Zevo-3'' is an American animation, animated television series co-produced by Maslen Entertainment, Splash Entertainment, MoonScoop Entertainment and Skechers#Entertainment, Skechers Entertainment for Nicktoons (American TV channel), Nicktoons. ...

'', and several direct-to-DVD features produced by

SD Entertainment SD Entertainment is an American animation studio specialising in direct-to-DVD and theatrical movies for children. The "SD" in the initials of the company name stand for Sabella Dern, the respective last names of its founders: former MGM Animatio ...

: *''Twinkle Toes'' (2012) *''Hydee and the Hytops: The Movie'' (2013) *''Twinkle Toes Lights Up New York'' (2016)

References

External links

* * (consumer) * (corporate) {{Authority control 1992 establishments in California 1999 initial public offerings 1990s fashion 2000s fashion American companies established in 1992 Athletic shoe brands Clothing brands of the United States Clothing companies based in Los Angeles Clothing companies established in 1992 Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Manhattan Beach, California Manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles Manufacturing companies established in 1992 Shoe brands Shoe companies of the United States Sportswear brands