PICKERINGTON, Ohio, May 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- R.G. Barry Corporation, the Dearfoams(R) company, (AMEX:DFZ) today announced that it has signed a transfer agreement under which it will buy the NCAA College Clogs(TM) business from Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW).
College Clogs(TM) footwear features the embroidered logos and official colors of many major NCAA colleges and universities and is sold through independent and on-line retailers, college bookstores and non-promotional department stores.
"The NCAA licensing program fits nicely with our long-term growth strategy by giving us an entry into the outdoor athletic sports channel," said Thomas JZ Konecki, R.G. Barry Corporation Senior Vice President Sales, Licensing and Business Development. "This program also allows us to capitalize on a number of our core strengths, such as product design and development, importing and marketing." "The market for collegiate licensed products is growing, and we believe that sports marketing giant IMG's recent acquisition of the leading collegiate licensing firm will ultimately accelerate that growth," added Greg Tunney, R.G. Barry Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer. "It is estimated that total worldwide retail sales for all types of college merchandise last year was in the neighborhood of $3 billion, and we think the NCAA-licensed College Clogs(TM) program will allow us to capture a small piece of that growing global market." The companies expect the business transfer to be complete within two weeks.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
About R.G. Barry Corporation
The Dearfoams(R) company is one of the world's leading developers and marketers of products for the accessories footwear category. To learn more about its business, visit the Company's Websites at http://www.rgbarry.com/, http://www.dearfoams.com/ and http://www.terrasoles.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain statements in this news release, which are not historical fact, are forward-looking statements, and are based upon information available to the Company on the date of this release. Our forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those currently anticipated. Factors that could cause or contribute to our actual results differing materially from those currently anticipated include our ability to successfully supply and market College Clogs(TM) and various other risks to our business previously detailed in our press releases, shareholder communications and Securities Exchange Act of 1934 filings, including those in the disclosure in "Item 1A - Risk Factors" of Part I of our 2006 Transition Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 1, 2006. Except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake to update the forward-looking statements contained in this news release to reflect new information that becomes available after the date hereof. DATASOURCE: R.G. Barry Corporation CONTACT: Roy Youst, Director Corporate Communications-IR of R.G. Barry Corporation, +1-614-729-7275 Web site: http://www.rgbarry.com/ http://www.dearfoams.com/ http://www.terrasoles.com/
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