Cherokee Inc (Nasdaq:CHKE), a global licensor of brand name apparel, footwear, and accessories, announced that it has entered a license agreement with French company Carrefour Group for its Cherokee brand. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Carrefour is the largest global retailer outside of North America, serving more than 2 billion customers annually in more than 9,000 stores in 26 countries around the world. The Cherokee brand, sold at Target Stores in the US and The Hudson's Bay's Zellers Stores in Canada, is one of the largest lifestyle apparel, footwear, and accessory brands in North America and is on track to approach retail sales of $2bn for the fiscal year-end January 2001. "Our vision is to deliver tremendous value to the consumer by partnering with the world's leading retailers," said Robert Margolis, chairman and CEO of the Cherokee Group. "Our retail direct template was first introduced with Target Stores and has expanded throughout North America with Zellers in Canada. Now the Cherokee brand enters a new growth phase worldwide with Carrefour. We believe that Cherokee now has the opportunity to become one of the largest lifestyle brands in the world." Vincent Mercier, general manager of the Carrefour Group said: "The Cherokee formula has proven to be one of the most successful and compelling concepts in retailing today. We are pleased we have entered into this license agreement and strategically have adopted Cherokee as a world brand for Carrefour. Our plans are to launch Cherokee in the second half of 2001." "We are excited to work with the Carrefour Group to introduce Cherokee into several new international markets," added Stephen Y. Ascher, Jr, executive vice president of Cherokee, Inc. "Cherokee has experienced dramatic growth and consumer acceptance with our current partners and we believe that the Carrefour Group will further amplify Cherokee's position as one of the fastest growing brands in the world today."