We chat to Cherokee Global Brands ceo Henry Stupp about plans for the lifestyle brand.
Tell us a bit about the brand?
Henry Stupp, ceo, Cherokee Global Brands: Born in California, Hawk is the leading globally recognised ‘skate culture’ lifestyle brand that combines style and performance. Tony Hawk is one of the most globally recognised athletes and a New York Times best selling author. He has over 2 million Instagram followers, 4 million Twitter fans and over 6 million Facebook fans.
Beyond apparel, what do you think will be the key categories to drive this as a lifestyle programme?
All major categories that young men and boys utilise in their everyday lives… backpacks, bags, accessories, footwear, home, school supplies, electronics, etc.
Your partnership with CPLG covers EMEA. Are there particular territories where you feel the brand will resonate more strongly/territories where you will look to put your focus on expansion?
Tony Hawk is the most prominent athlete to bridge action sports with the global consumer market. The Tony Hawk Signature collection is a complete lifestyle brand experience. As Tony himself has said, “Skateboarding is more than a sport it’s an entire culture”. Tony has a tremendous following throughout the EU with millions of digital followers/fans.
Skateboarding continues to grow rapidly across the Middle East and new emerging markets in Eastern Europe. Japan, as well as all of pan-Asia, will become very significant markets for Hawk over the next 48 months with skateboarding being introduced at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
What makes the brand stand out in the market place?
Cherokee Global Brands 360-degree platform is a powerful tool that enables us and our licensing partners to expand wholesale and retail relationships. The combination of our platform of capabilities and our portfolio of high-equity lifestyle brands allows us to enter markets quicker than ever before with well-designed product and fully integrated marketing plans.
The recent launches in the Czech Republic for Cherokee and Tony Hawk in Canada reflect the agility of our unique business model.
The launch of the Tony Hawk Signature Collection in over 400 stores across Canada with a large scale live event and skateboard demo received a terrific response, generating over 22 million consumer impressions in Canada that ultimately yielded a multi-million-dollar marketing impact.
The collection launched mid-August in stores and online featuring a comprehensive assortment of apparel, accessories and footwear for both boys and young men. To celebrate the launch, we hosted a well-publicised event that attracted thousands of excited consumers and Tony Hawk fans. The live event featured a custom vert skateboarding ramp demonstration by Tony Hawk and his pro-skate team.
The growth, acceptance and excitement of the Tony Hawk brand globally is encouraging and is reflective of the benefits of taking a strategic and diversified approach to distribution to ultimately expand the Hawk brand to consumers. Despite some of the challenges facing mid-tier retail in general, consumer demand for an expanded Tony Hawk product offering remains strong in the United States, and we will continue to work with Kohl’s to optimise the brand’s performance and define future opportunities for the Hawk brand in the US. Tony Hawk is truly a global brand, and we believe we’ve only scratched the surface of its potential.
Similarly, following last year’s launch with Sports Direct, the demand for Tony Hawk-branded products in the UK and Europe continues to grow amongst consumers and retailers alike. The demand for more Tony Hawk signature products has been stronger than initially planned, and we’re pleased to report that we’ve already confirmed a contract renewal to extend the term and scope of the current licensing arrangement. We view Sports Direct as a platform partner for expanding the Tony Hawk brand in Europe, and we continue to see our partnership as one of strength.
We’re also very optimistic on the long-term opportunities for the Tony Hawk brand in Asia and here again expanding into multiple channels presents an exciting opportunity. We’re in discussion to open freestanding Tony Hawk stores in both China and in Japan, where we expect the addition of skateboarding as an official sport for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to be an extremely positive growth driver in this region.
