Collective Licensing International inked a multi-year licensing deal for Airwalk with Japan’s ITOCHU Corporation, which will make the company a master licensee of the brand in China, Hong Kong, and Macau. In collaboration with Shanghai Sport 100 Company Limited, which serves as its retail and wholesale distribution partner, ITOCHU plans ot open 40 new retail doors in China for Airwalk branded products by year end.
As part of the new agreement, ITOCHU is also spearheading a significant retail growth plan for the brand in China with about 40 retail locations to feature Airwalk products across the country by the end of 2011. The retail locations are Airwalk shop-in-shops located in department and sporting goods stores. The first four shop-in-shops opened in Shanghai late last month. Additional metropolitan locations for Airwalk shops-in-shops include locations in Bejing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Sport 100 is also selling Airwalk products via wholesale to additional multi-brand stores throughout China.
“With a century of business under its belt, ITOCHU is an ideal partner for us to launch and drive the growth of the Airwalk brand in China,” said Bruce Pettet, president and CEO of CLI. “ITOCHU will be critical to the continued global success of Airwalk. We look forward to a great collaboration with the goal of elevating the brand with the global youth consumer base.”
“Airwalk is a very important brand in the U.S. and in Asia, and we are confident in its future in the Chinese market with the extensive marketing tools that Collective provides its partners,” said Hitoshi Okamoto, president of ITOCHU. “We have no doubt that our partnership will be very successful.”
ITOCHU has established a sub-licensing agreement with the major Chinese sports retail chain SPORT 100 (Shanghai Sport100 Co., Ltd.), and will utilize the company’s sales network to kick off its expansion of the Airwalk brand into China.
The announcement comes on the heels of the Asia X Games 2011 in Shanghai, where members of the Airwalk skate team took several podium titles. Skateboarder Andy Macdonald won his fourth Asia X Games gold medal in Vert, while street skater Tulio Oliveira earned bronze in the Street category. While in Shanghai, the athletes made appearances at the newly opened Airwalk Shanghai retail location.
