CS Dif’fusion, a new distribution and licensing company set up by the former general manager of Le Coq Sportif earlier this year, has obtained four Europe-wide deals with Bollé, Royal Elastics, Roland Garros and another brand whose name is not yet official.

For Royal Elastics the company has picked up a 5-year distribution deal for the whole European market, where it has had many problems in the last few years. This Australian brand of street-oriented slip-on footwear broke through in the ‘nineties was acquired by K-Swiss in 2001, but its former European distributor threw in the towel.

Royal Elastics will be re-launched for the European market at the Bread & Butter fair in Barcelona next month. For the Spring season it will only be sold in the UK, but the distribution will be spread across Europe later next year through a network of agents. It will consist of a sports-lifestyle range along with a more urban, graffiti-inspired range. CS Dif’fusion places the brand’s sales potential at one million pairs in five years’ time.

The agreement with Bollé is a 5-year European license for footwear, apparel and accessories, which will be launched at the retail level at the end of next year. It will include a small technical range of winter clothing but it will concentrate on leisure products. Apparel licenses have already been attributed by Bushnell Performance Optics, Bollé’s owner, to other companies in the USA and Australia with a certain success, focusing on golf and tennis. The U.S. line has been selling at Nordstrom stores.

The 5-year licensing agreement with Roland Garros is for a range of leisure footwear. The French Open has a long-standing agreement with Adidas to co-brand performance tennis footwear and apparel, but the license obtained by CS Dif’fusion covers lifestyle-oriented footwear, including a vintage collection. A small initial range has already been sold to department stores and shoe shops in France, the Benelux and Spain for next spring, in addition to tennis pro-shops. The subsequent winter range will have a wider distribution.

CS Dif’fusion was established in Strasbourg by Thierry Scheydecker, former executive at Puma and Le Coq Sportif, among others. Scheydecker has teamed up with Alphonse Clément, formerly in charge of product development at Le Coq. They have recruited another four people and sealed a partnership with Cortina, the Belgian footwear trader, which is taking care of sourcing, financing and shipping the products all around Europe, as it is doing with many other brands.