New Balance announced that Boston-based KLONE LAB, LLC will be their U.S. licen sing partner for sandals and slides effective January 2010. The KLONE LAB, LLC team brings more than 39 years of footwear experience to the partnership with brands like adidas, Reef, Converse, Speedo, and Timberland.
“KLONE LAB, LLC is well positioned to bring New Balance fit and function to the dynamic sandal business,” says John Cullen, general manager of licensing for New Balance. “The KLONE LAB, LLC team's experience and expertise in the footwear industry will allow us to offer a range of innovative sandals to complement our existing line of performance footwear, apparel and accessories.”
The KLONE LAB, LLC executive team will be led by CEO, Tom McGee who has more than 19 years of product and brand marketing experience with leading global footwear brands including adidas and Converse. Most recently, he was the Global VP of Footwear for the men's casual division at Timberland Inc. President, Matt Palma, brings more than 16 years of sales, marketing, and retail merchandising experience to the team having worked at Target, the Holmes Group and most recently as the VP of Sales and Marketing for iRobot, where he helped drive the company revenue from $6M to $160M in a 5 year period. Stan Rosenzweig is a Managing Partner and will lead the operations and logistics team for KLONE LAB. As COO of the Holmes Group and President of Euro Pro, Rosenzweig oversaw all operations and logistics supporting a $650 million global business. Brett Ritter will serve as the Global Head of Design & Product. With 16 years of experience in the footwear industry, among other positions, Ritter has served as the VP of Product for Reef and Brand Manager/Director of Design for TEVA.
KLONE LAB, LLC will launch a small sandal and slide collection in spring/summer 2010 for New Balance and will add a full line of kids and wellness product for the spring/summer 2011 season.
