• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, August 1, 2023

Skechers, riding high on sales from marketing investments and canny celebrity partnerships, is launching a street-ready collection with mega-endorser Snoop Dogg.

Skechers x Snoop Dogg has been in the works for some time, even before it aired its Super Bowl commercial earlier this year, which starred Snoop and his pal Martha Stewart.

“Snoop combined his eye for style and laid-back sensibility with the signature comfort of Skechers, resulting in an authentic collaboration and partnership,” says Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers.

The first run of the unisex collection is available now, with two more limited-edition capsules scheduled to debut in the coming weeks. That includes a collectors’ capsule featuring Snoop’s Dr. Bombay, a mischievous monkey character that began as an NTF.  (He’s been busy. Last week, he launched his Dr. Bombay Ice Cream line.)

The news comes just after the Los Angeles-based shoe company announced another quarterly sales record. Revenues climbed 7.7% in the second quarter to $2.01 billion. And net earnings shot up to $152.8 million, compared to $90.4 million in the comparable period last year. And while it’s feeling the industry-wide pressure in its wholesale business, which declined 25%, direct-to-consumer sales strengthened, advancing 29.1%.

In a call webcast for investors, Greenberg called out its celebrity connections as sales drivers. In recent months, that’s included ads with actress Ashley (“Joy Ride”) Park and rapper Doja Cat and a collection with the Rolling Stones.

“Our marketing efforts connect with consumers wherever they are to build brand awareness to educate shoppers on our features and technologies and, most importantly, to drive demand for our innovative products,” he says.

Those results beat Wall Street expectations, even if a slightly downbeat forecast was a bit of a surprise.

 “We believe management is taking a prudent approach given ongoing wholesale headwinds, uncertainty around the pace of recovery in China, and the challenged macro environment,” writes Gabriella Carbone, an analyst who follows Skechers for Deutsche Bank. And she thinks the company can return to its pre-pandemic profit margins within the following year.