ASICS Awarded Consecutive Fleet Feet's Footwear Vendor Of The Year
Contact:
Heather Spears
ASICS Marketing
Communications
(800) 333-8404
Public Relations
Irvine, CA (July 13, 2006) - ASICS® America Corporation was awarded the honorable title of 2005 Footwear Vendor of the Year by Fleet Feet, Incorporated for the second year in a row during their National Franchise Conference on June 28th in Hilton Head, South Carolina. This year’s conference marked the 30th anniversary of the first Fleet Feet store opening in Sacramento, California, in 1976. ASICS was selected by the majority of the 67 franchised athletic US retail stores. The award traditionally recognizes a footwear manufacturer for providing excellent product, support, and services to Fleet Feet stores.
ASICS won this award last year and has held the number one spot in market share within Fleet Feet for the last several years. Jim Hoff, Vice President of ASICS America Corporation remarked, “ASICS is proud to once again be honored as the Fleet Feet Vendor Of The Year. We are cognizant of the quality of the competition for this prestigious recognition and that makes it that much more exciting to receive. We are thrilled to be held in such high esteem by our valued partners...The Fleet Feet retail stores and corporate office. Awards such as this give us great motivation throughout our organization.”
Luke Rowe, Vice President of Business Development for Fleet Feet, acknowledges that ASICS had an exceptional year in 2005. “ASICS continues to provide great product up and down their footwear line but, it was the ability of their management team to become more responsive to our business needs with positive solutions that earned them the award this year.”
ASICS continues its streak of success into the first half of 2006 with sales up over 25% over the first half of last year, this number being dominated by footwear. ASICS has shown enormous success with double digit growth in 2005 and record breaking sales figures on several running shoe models, including the GEL-Kayano® and GEL- Nimbus® series. In addition, ASICS recently received a “Gear Of The Year” award by Outside® Magazine in the magazine’s annual Buyer’s Guide issue for the new revolutionary GEL-Kinsei™ running shoe. Outside Magazine proclaimed, “GEL-Kinsei adjusts to various foot types and running styles, while improving performance across the board. You’ll feel like a celebrity in these futuristic kicks…” ASICS product line can be viewed on www.asicamerica.com.
