Bluetorch announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Total Sports Distribution Inc., signed a definitive agreement with Colorado based Collective Licensing International LLC to license the Airwalk name for apparel in the United States market. The licensing agreement allows Bluetorch's subsidiary Total Sports Distribution to start shipping product into the U.S. market in July 2004.
Bruce MacGregor, President and CEO of Bluetorch Inc. said, “I am delighted to have this agreement signed allowing us to get on with the task of selling and marketing the brand in the U.S. As I've mentioned before, the Airwalk brand was ranked second by an industry publication in terms of consumer awareness among all action or extreme sports labels. This is a tremendous opportunity for company. The Airwalk apparel business will certainly have an impact on our 2004 revenues.”
Added MacGregor: “Given our strong relationship with Collective Licensing, we have been proceeding under the assumption that this agreement would be finalized. Therefore, we will be able to hit the road running as we have already designed the fall 2004 line. We will be attending Magic (largest apparel trade show) in Las Vegas at the end of the month to preview the line to key retailers for fall 2004 delivery.”
The definitive agreement comes on the heels of the Company's announcement January 6, 2004 that they had signed a letter-of-intent with Collective Licensing to license the Airwalk brand in the U.S.
Bluetorch Inc. also stated that management intends to allocate additional funds to accelerate its product and marketing efforts, particularly as they pertain to the Airwalk brand. This obliges the company to alter its previous forecast of being cash flow positive in the second quarter of 2004. MacGregor stated, “It would be short sighted not to make a higher level of investment in product and marketing given the opportunity this agreement provides the Company in terms of maximizing Airwalk's contribution to our revenue stream and profits.”
