The development of K Swiss shoes

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The development of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
In January 1987,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Steven Nichols ex president of Stride Rite Corporation,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], having raised more than $116 million,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],bought K Swiss from the Brunner brothers for a mere $20 million. Nichols,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], in keeping with the shoes' elite status,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], as the price of a pair of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] were much higher than any of it's contemporaries,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], chose to run his ads in athletic magazines,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], billboards and radio for selected cities. He expanded on this exclusivity-strategy by closing all the accounts in Japan,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], with the exception of certain high-end stores. By the end of 1989 the company recorded sales in excess of $60 million for the US market,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], by 1990 the selling price for a pair of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], in Japan was equivalant to USD100, establishing it as a "luxury" item.
Nichols,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], opened a 251,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000 square foot distribution center in 1991,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], he in the same year also formed a partnership with C & J Clarks to distribute [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] to seleted department store in Europe and the UK.
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych] was granted the patent to both the Cushion Board sole construction and the D-R Cinch lacing system, in February 1992. The "Belais" and the "Belais-LT" was introduced in 1993 and the company expanded into the basketball as well as the aerobics apparel markets. Moving from the indoor arena tp hiking and casual wear,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],K-Swiss introduced twelve new [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] in 1994,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and expanded their magazine-advertisment platform to include Backpacker and Outside.
The company's first television advertisment,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], targeting a much broader market segment than previously began in 1996,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],resulting in sales of $116 million and stock trading at $28 per share by 1997. Although [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] opened account with stores like Nordstrom, Footlocker,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Footaction and Dillards,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the company still maintained its policy of not flooding the market.
In a 1999 interview with Sporting Goods Business,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Nichols stated, ‘Many of our shoes we introduce for a very short period of time and then at some future date we reintroduce it and we reintroduce it on allocation to make sure that nobody buys [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] too many. … When a retailer sells out virtually to the last pair, that's when we're the happiest.'
The $17-million ad campaing, called "Club K-Swiss" launched in 1998 resulted in sales of $162 million for that year. K-Swiss continued to expand worldwide
with sales in excess of $500 million by 2005.