USA: Gadzooks Goes Sweet On Candie’s Brand Apparel

Candie's, Inc (Nasdaq NMS symbol: CAND) today announced that it has entered into an exclusive apparel license agreement with Gadzooks, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Gadzooks will exclusively offer categories of apparel and swimwear under the CANDIE'S label in Gadzooks specialty retail stores. Candie's apparel under license with Gadzooks will be available starting October 15, 2000. Neil Cole, Candie's chairman and CEO stated, "This agreement is mutually beneficial to both companies. It brings Candie's closer to reaching its objective, which is to focus the company's in-house efforts on footwear and marketing, and allows Gadzooks to continue to build its branded apparel business. "The licensing partnership with Gadzooks allows us to begin implementing a successful apparel strategy for the Candie's brand without the additional resources required to operate Candie's jeanswear through our apparel joint venture." Commenting from Gadzooks, Paula Masters, senior vice president of merchandising stated, "The popularity of the Candie's brand fits in well with our branded apparel strategy. We continue to refine our national and teen brand name product assortments, and Candie's will compliment and strengthen our junior apparel offerings, which include DKNY Jeans and Guess."