Dickies to bring footwear distribution in-house

US: Dickies to bring footwear distribution in-house

By just-style.com | 23 April 2010

Work wear company Dickies has announced that its wholly-owned affiliate Kodiak Group Holdings will distribute its Dickies footwear in the US, after ending its partnership with Rocky Brands.

Design and production of the Dickies’ footwear in the US will begin immediately with marketing and distribution expected in early 2011, the company said.

Rocky Brands had served as the exclusive licensee of Dickies footwear since January 2005. That license agreement is set to expire on 31 December by "mutual agreement".

Williamson-Dickie, maker of Dickies, acquired Kodiak Group Holdings Co in 2008.

"The location of our offices at the Williamson-Dickie headquarters in Ft. Worth helps us stay connected to the Dickies brand direction and the demands of their customers," said Wes Smith, vice president and general manager of Kodiak-Terra USA. "It’s exciting to have the ability to market three powerful brands in our portfolio. Each brand has its own unique direction and emotional connection with consumers. We want to capitalise on those strengths."

Rocky Brands CEO Mike Brooks said: "We have enjoyed partnering with Dickies to create top quality, value priced footwear for the American worker. With their acquisition of Kodiak Group Holdings in 2008, a Canadian based apparel and footwear manufacturer, we anticipated it would be difficult for us to retain the Dickies footwear license beyond 2010 and we have been taking steps to replace that business beginning next year."