TOPEKA, Kan. and LEXINGTON, Mass., Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE: PSS) today announced that The Stride Rite Corporation will now be doing business as Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group -- a move to better reflect and communicate the broad range of premium and iconic performance and lifestyle brands in the company, as well as its new, strengthened business model.
"We believe this new name elevates the strength and diversity of our brand portfolio, while also representing our role in Collective Brands," said Gregg Ribatt, CEO of Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group. "The new name best describes what brings us together -- a collection of fiercely independent performance and lifestyle brands with unique personalities and strong marketplace positions, each focused on distinct and targeted customer groups. As well, as a result of being part of Collective Brands, we have a renewed and strengthened business model leveraging powerful infrastructure designed to platform our brands and businesses for maximum success in the global marketplace."
Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group includes Sperry Top-Sider, Saucony, Keds and the Stride Rite Children's Group with its brands Stride Rite, Robeez, Keds Kids, Saucony Kids and Sperry Top-Sider Kids, among others, which are sold through Stride Rite retail stores and wholesale partners. There is no change to the time-honored Stride Rite children's footwear brand or the Stride Rite Children's Group as part of this move. Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group continues to be headquartered in Lexington, Mass., a suburb of Boston.
The new and strengthened business model of Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group has been evolving over the past few years, resulting from the 2007 acquisition of The Stride Rite Corporation and formation of Collective Brands, Inc., which supports all its businesses through Centers of Excellence teams -- shared infrastructure in such key functional areas as Global Sourcing and Supply Chain, Finance, Strategy, Store Development, Information Technology, Legal and Human Resources. The Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group leverages this strategic support from its parent company to ensure each brand's leadership position and to seize international growth opportunities, a key strategic initiative.
"The Collective Brands business model enables our brands to operate adroitly and autonomously against their own strategic plans toward specific consumer segments and markets. We then bring the power of Collective Brands' infrastructure and Centers of Excellence to bear in platforming these brands with best-in-class capabilities," said Matthew E. Rubel, Chairman, CEO, and President of Collective Brands, Inc. "This move to create a new identity for The Stride Rite Corporation by doing business under the name Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group is designed to amplify and unleash the important individual brands that collectively make up this vital part of our company, while connecting them to an organization with extensive global reach."
About Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group
Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group is a leading provider of iconic performance and lifestyle brands, each with unique personalities and strong marketplace positions focused on distinct and targeted consumer segments. The company's brand portfolio includes Saucony(R), a top global running specialty brand; Sperry Top-Sider(R), a global nautical lifestyle brand reaching consumers who share a passion for life in, on and around the sea; Keds(R), an iconic American lifestyle fashion brand that invented the sneaker in 1916; and Stride Rite, the leading provider of premium children's footwear in the United States. With an expanding global presence in more than 80 countries, Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group sells its products predominantly through wholesalers in a wide variety of retail formats, including premier department stores, independent shoe stores and specialty and boutique retailers. The Stride Rite unit also sells its children's products through more than 350 wholly-owned Stride Rite stores that are located in malls and select factory outlet centers.
About Collective Brands, Inc.
Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE: PSS) is a leader in bringing compelling lifestyle, fashion and performance brands for footwear and related accessories to consumers worldwide. The company operates three strategic units covering a powerful brand portfolio, as well as multiple price points and selling channels including retail, wholesale, ecommerce and licensing. Collective Brands, Inc. includes Payless ShoeSource, focused on democratizing fashion and design in footwear and accessories through its more than 4,500-store retail chain, with its brands Airwalk(R), Dexter(R), Champion(R), Zoe & Zac(TM), the first-ever affordable green footwear brand, and designer collections Lela Rose for Payless, Unforgettable Moments by Lela Rose, alice + olivia for Payless, Christian Siriano for Payless and STLPxAirwalk, among others; Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group, focused on lifestyle and performance branded footwear and high-quality children's footwear sold primarily through wholesaling, with its brands including Stride Rite(R), Keds(R), Sperry Top-Sider(R), Robeez(R), and Saucony(R), among others; and Collective Licensing International, the brand development, management and global licensing unit, with such youth lifestyle brands as Airwalk(R), Vision Street Wear(R), Sims(R), Lamar(R) and LTD(R). Information about, and links for shopping on, each of the Collective Brand's units can be found at www.collectivebrands.com.
