General Financial Releases
Brown Shoe and Phillips-Van Heusen Complete Licensing Partnership for Bass Footwear Brand
ST. LOUIS – February 2, 2004 — Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) and Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (NYSE:PVH) today announced that they have closed the previously announced transaction for PVH to license to Brown Shoe the design, sourcing and marketing of footwear at wholesale under PVH’s well-known Bass label. PVH will continue to operate its Bass factory outlet stores, which sell apparel and accessories, as well as footwear under the Bass and G.H. Bass labels.Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation is one of the world’s largest apparel and footwear companies. It owns and markets the Calvin Klein brand worldwide. It is the world’s largest shirt company and markets a variety of goods under its own brands, Van Heusen, Calvin Klein, Izod, Bass and G. H. Bass & Co., and its licensed brands Geoffrey Beene, Arrow, Kenneth Cole New York, Reaction by Kenneth Cole and BCBG Max Azria.
Brown Shoe is a $1.84 billion footwear company with worldwide operations. The company operates the 900-store Famous Footwear chain, which sells brand name shoes for less. It also operates 400 Naturalizer stores in the U.S. and Canada that sell the Naturalizer brand of shoes and accessories. Brown Shoe, through its Wholesale divisions, owns and markets leading footwear brands including Naturalizer, LifeStride, Connie, Buster Brown; it also markets licensed brands including Dr. Scholl's and Carlos by Carlos Santana for adults, and Barbie, Superman, Supergirl, Spider-Man and Bob-the-Builder character footwear for children. Brown Shoe press releases are available on the company's web site at www.brownshoe.com.