Why Skechers Is Going All in on Performance Sportswear
The brand is mixing big-name ambassadors like Joel Embiid and Harry Kane with rising stars such as Kiki Iriafen, while also investing in sports-focused retail experiences.
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When you think of Skechers, what comes to mind?
School shoes? Budget option sneakers? Footwear worn by your elderly aunties and uncles for their supposed podiatric benefits?
Lately, Skechers has decided it’s time for a new look. The American footwear giant is turning to sports to revamp its appeal. Boring everyday sneaker brand no more, they say. Meet Skechers the performance sports footwear player.
Over the past two years, the brand has set out (with a big chequebook) to sign elite athletes predominantly across soccer and basketball — including Harry Kane and Joel Embiid — to help promote a growing assortment of products under its “Performance Division,” including football boots and basketball sneakers. (Skechers has long made “athletic” footwear and worked sporadically with athletes from running to motorsports, but the past few years have seen the company launch a multi-pronged strategy to grow its reputation as a performance sports player.)
Skechers is one of a cluster of established but unlikely retail giants disrupting the stranglehold on the athlete sponsorship market previously enjoyed by the likes of Nike, Adidas, Puma and Under Armour. In previous SportsVerse editions, we have examined the strategies of Lululemon, On and even legacy players like Mizuno in poaching high-profile athletes with big paydays and giving them the signature athlete treatment they probably wouldn’t receive at the Swoosh or the Stripes.
Even retailers like Decathlon are getting in on the act, developing performance sports footwear lines around athletes like French World Cup winner Antoine Griezmann.
Before I get into what I think is interesting about Skechers’ strategy compared to many of the other newcomer brands to the athlete sponsorship world, let’s quickly recap the brand’s aggressive push into the sports world over the past two years.
Skechers’ Push Into Performance Sports, 2023-2025
Soccer: In August 2023, Skechers announced England striker Harry Kane had signed a lifetime footwear deal ahead of his move to Bayern Munich, becoming the face of the brand’s football (soccer) division. The brand later added Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko, West Ham forward Mohammed Kudus and Real Madrid goalkeeper Misa Rodríguez.
NBA: In April 2024, Joel Embiid signed a long-term endorsement deal with Skechers, becoming the face of its basketball category and joining fellow NBA players Julius Randle and Terance Mann on the brand’s roster. It would later add Josh Green of the Charlotte Hornets.
WNBA: Skechers entered women’s basketball in summer 2024 with the signing of the Los Angeles Sparks’ rookie Rickea Jackson. Last week, the brand announced the signing of USC star Kiki Iriafen, the projected #2 pick in the first round of the 2025 WNBA daft.
Retail: In January 2025, the company opened its first Skechers Performance store, described as “an immersive destination with half-courts where consumers can try out the latest innovative products.”
But Why?
The bottom line is that Skechers doesn’t need to do any of this.
The American footwear company generated record sales of $9 billion in 2024, up 12 percent year-on-year. It’s doing just fine.
But Skechers came to the same realisation that many already highly successful consumer brands have in recent years (including Skims, Lululemon and a host of beauty companies): to assert the cultural relevance of your brand and its products, having a strategic presence in sports and relationships with top athletes is essential.
Building a Roster
And instead of dabbling in superficial collaborations, Skechers is pouring millions of dollars into making its sports category a marketing and product-based success.
Its most recent athlete ambassador announcement came late last week. After USC was eliminated from the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball Tournament, star center Kiki Iriafen was revealed as the brand’s latest women’s basketball ambassador, ahead of her involvement in the 2025 WNBA Draft, in which she is a projected to be a #2 or #3 pick.
I liked this singing for a lot of reasons. Iriafen is without doubt a future WNBA star. She’s young, marketable and a stellar role model on and off the court. She would no doubt have had several offers from brands looking to sign her up before she turned pro. It shows that Skechers is thinking strategically, with an eye on the future, and considering how and where it invests in marketing dollars in its sports strategy, rather than throwing big cheques at high-profile but ultimately not very marketable established athletes. Iriafen is the first ever college athlete the brand has signed.
Iriafen’s signing was announced with a memorable commercial, which plays on her reputation as a standout academic student at Stanford before transferring to USC, as well as a basketball player. The commercial sees her enter a class late from practice and deliver a lecture on what makes the perfect basketball shoe, breaking down the components of the shoes she will wear as a Skechers athlete when she makes her debut in the WNBA in May.
Investing In Sports For the Long Term
The brand’s sports strategy extends far beyond social media announcements.
The inaugural Skechers Performance store in Canada, described as “an immersive destination with half-courts where consumers can try out the latest innovative products,” is an interesting example of just how committed the company is to being seen by consumers as a legitimate technical sports apparel and footwear maker.
We can all agree that Skechers is unlikely ever to be a “cool” sneaker brand.
But that’s okay. Who cares about being cool when you have $9 billion in annual revenue?
The brand understands its place in the ecosystem. It’s not trying to compete with Nike to dominate sports culture.
But its recent moves in the world of sports are a great case study for how brands and retailers of all kinds are looking to athletes and performance products as a way to drive credibility and excitement.
That’s all for today, friends. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Until next time!
DYM
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Using Joel Embiid as their signature athlete was a double edged sword. On one side you can tap into Europe and Africa through his heritage but he legit may never play basketball again.
There's also one potential new NBA athlete coming in: OG Anunoby, who's been wearing Skechers for the past few months now!