• February 16, 2012

Its besneakered bulldog ad may have generated Super Bowl buzz, but times are tough at Skechers. The Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based says sales in its fiscal fourth-quarter tumbled to  $283.2 million, compared to $454.6 million in the same period a year ago. And it reported a net loss of $57.7 million for the quarter, compared to $3.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The company attributed the 37.7% sales decrease  “to a difficult comparison against a record fourth quarter 2010 that included higher priced toning footwear, combined with lower than expected sales across many of our other Skechers footwear lines, primarily in our domestic wholesale business," COO/CFO David Weinberg says in the company’s release. "Our international business was also impacted by the slowing of toning sales as well as economic difficulties in many markets.”

Despite the worldwide boredom with toning shoes, the company says it has high hopes for Skechers GOrun, its first performance fitness line.