Alan Vickers, the sporting goods industry veteran appointed last year to coordinate the international development of American Sports Goods (ASG), is negotiating exclusive distribution deals for the company's brands – Avia, Ryka and Nevados – with major sports retail chains in various European countries and elsewhere around the world.
The new effort follows a repositioning of ASG's three remaining brands and a reorganization of its management following the company's acquisition in February last year by Brown Shoe Company. A fourth brand of ASG, And 1, was sold a few months after the takeover.
Avia, which has its own factory in China, will specialize in fitness and running, offering innovative design and its Cantilever technology. Ryka will remain a women's-only sports brand with premium fit, fabrication and style. Nevados is being positioned as an outdoor lifestyle brand with an emphasis on function and value.
Intersport already has a successful exclusive partnership with Ryka for all the Scandinavian countries. A new partner, whose identity could not be disclosed, now has an exclusive deal for Avia all over Scandinavia. Proged remains ASG's exclusive partner for Spain and Portugal, but while it doesn't cover France anymore, the Spanish company has signed a regional apparel license that will cover the whole Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
ASG has also signed an exclusive agreement for South Africa with Tekkie Town, one of the country's leading sporting goods retailers. In the Middle East, it has signed up with Sportland for Avia and Ryka. Vickers is now talking to several major retailers in various European countries on exclusive national partnerships, and working on deals in Brazil and India.
Meanwhile, Vickers has secured a deal for the distribution of all the three brands of ASG in South America, Central America and Mexico with Distributora Deportiva, or DIDE, which already had a deal for Ecuador and Peru. DIDE will also be ASG's regional apparel licensee. The new contract with DIDE doesn't cover Brazil or Argentina, where Vickers is pursuing negotiations with local players. Mexico will be covered by Gustavo Robles, who was previously in charge of New Balance and Puma in the country. In Canada, the long-standing distributor of Avia and Ryka, Advanced Sports, now has a license for Ryka apparel.
Brown Shoe said that expenses related to the integration of ASG and the realignment of its brand portfolio resulted in charges that caused the company to book a loss of $8.2 million in the fourth quarter of its financial year, ended on Jan. 28. The company had operating losses in its wholesale division, which includes ASG, and in its specialty retail division, which consists mainly of its Naturalizer stores. Furthermore, it suffered a drop in the profitability of Famous Footwear, its big chain of shoe shops in the U.S.
The acquisition of ASG helped to boost the wholesale division's sales by 17.9 percent to $205.1 million for the quarter, and they are expected to continue to improve. The company's earnings should improve on an adjusted basis in the first half of this year (more on Brown Shoe in Shoe Intelligence).
