The Skechers Shoes Success Story Continues

Skechers is an American footwear brand founded by CEO Robert Greenberg. He launched the Skechers brand after leaving the LA Gear athletic shoe and apparel brand in 1992, a brand he had helped build and succeed. Initially, the Skechers brand started out as a distributor for Doc Martins, but they soon launched their own footwear brand on the market in hopes of capitulating on a niche market for men’s casual street shoes. The brand was lucky or did well research the market because no footwear brand had cornered the casual street footwear market. Nike had not yet fully diversified and was still concentrating on sportswear. Skechers found a niche in the market and avoided competing directly against an established brand.

Skechers’ first products included skateboard shoes and general-purpose boots, thick and functional in design. The first successful launch of the brand was the launch of the ‘Chrome Dome’ shoe. It was 1993 and the Seattle grunge music scene had burst onto the scene and the band Nirvana dominated the charts with each subsequent release. The Chrome Dome shoe was made to look worn. The heels looked worn and the shoes looked well worn. At their core, Chrome Domes were grunge and quickly became popular and sought after. Attractive to both genders, the shoe was an urban street boot that reflected the growing popularity of the ‘grunge’ look among younger consumers and went perfectly with a faded pair of jeans and a plaid shirt.

Skechers was able to capitulate to the popularity they were receiving with Chrome Dome and establish themselves as a brand that appealed to young, image-conscious music fans. By 1998, the brand was well established and expanding rapidly, ready to expand into the athletic shoe market dominated by sportswear brands such as Nike and Adidas. The expansion was well timed as sports brands began to become a crossroads from the track to the street. At that time, sports shoes were becoming commonly used as everyday shoes. Skechers USA got their first big break under their own label in 1993, with the introduction of a design known as the “Chrome Dome.” This shoe, which appealed to both genders, was an urban street boot that reflected the growing popularity of the ‘grunge’ look among younger consumers:

The brand has always been image conscious and makes a concerted effort to appear modern, trendy and stylish, even if the shoe designs are not particularly original and often resemble competitor designs with a makeover. In recent years, as the Tone Ups and Shape Ups are simply copies of existing shoes released by other brands, they still exemplify Skechers’ ability to read the market and keep up with consumer demand. The Shape Ups range closely resembles Karl Muller’s MBT design. Masia Barefoot Technology was the brainchild of Karl Muller. You just noticed that if a person walks barefoot on smooth, natural surfaces, such as the ground, they are forced to make small adjustments in balance with each step.

Basically this can be understood as a principle similar to resistance training, each step becomes more than just a simple step, but effectively a mini workout or so Skechers has tried to commercialize the technology in the Shape Up and Shoe ranges. Tone Up. Muller also noted that they would have to keep their balance with each step, but what really inspired Muller to develop MBT was the fact that he often suffered from back pain that could be temporarily relieved by walking barefoot on soft surfaces like rice paddies while I was in Africa. .

The Tone Ups and Shape Ups launched by Skechers continue the aggressive niche marketing used by the brand so far and while there have been controversies and lawsuits along the way, it appears that the Skechers footwear brand is now well established and will continue to be successful. in the future.