For the fourth time in the past five years, Manhattan Beach-based athletic lifestyle footwear and apparel global brand Skechers has been honored by the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce as the “Best of Manhattan.” The Chamber also honored the Company with the “Pay it Forward” award, and presented its “Affair to Remember” award to Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk—an annual event that has raised more than $11 million and is on track to raise another $2 million this month for children with special needs, schools and college scholarships.
For its annual “Best of” award ceremony, which was held last night at Westdrift Manhattan Beach, the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce nominates the city’s most impactful businesses and events, and the community votes for the year’s winners on the Chamber’s website. The “Best of Manhattan” honors the business best known for its exceptional job generation, employee culture, customer service and record of giving back to its local community. The “Pay it Forward” award recognizes a company’s history of exceptional generosity that has made a lasting impact on the city, and the “Affair to Remember” award honors an event that cultivates spirit and engagement in the South Bay.
“The town of Manhattan Beach has been an indelible part of Skechers’ story, ever since we started in one of its beach houses,” said Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers. “For more than a quarter century, this has been our home: it’s where we launched our business in 1992 and had our first retail store in ’94. As we’ve grown into a global brand, this community has been at our core, and we’re honored to give back—be it helping with local athletic programs and the Holiday Fireworks, or celebrating the Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk for children with special needs and our schools. We’re constantly grateful for Manhattan Beach’s support and we’re inspired to find new ways to pay it forward.”
An 11-year South Bay tradition, the Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk raises millions every year to support The Friendship Foundation’s peer mentoring and social recreational programs for children with special needs. The event also helps education foundations support teachers’ salaries, limit class sizes and enhance schools’ technology, music and science programs and facilities—and funds the Skechers Foundation’s national college scholarship program, which awards $100,000 annually to students who have financial need and proven excellence in academics, athletics and leadership.
Now the world’s third largest athletic lifestyle brand, Skechers also makes a difference through the BOBS from Skechers charitable footwear collection. Since the BOBS program launched in 2011, more than 15 million pairs of new shoes have been donated to kids in need across the United States and around the globe. A partner of Petco Foundation, the Company has also donated more than $4.23 million, funds that have saved the lives of more than 396,000 dogs and cats and helped 353,000 additional animals.
Skechers previously won the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce’s “Best of Manhattan Full Circle” award for best charity in 2013, and “Best of Manhattan” awards in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
