ST. LOUIS, Feb. 3 -- Brown Shoe Company, Inc. today announced a licensing partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to create four new footwear lines, featuring popular Looney Tunes(TM) characters, Tweety and Taz, as well as DC Comics Super Heroes, Superman(TM) and Supergirl(TM).
The launch of all four character lines at major mass market and other footwear retailers is scheduled for the back-to-school season, and will include athletic and casual shoes, boots and slippers. Supergirl footwear will debut earlier, appearing at select retailers this spring. Targeted for kids ages 3-7, the footwear lines will be available in children's sizes 9-3.
"Warner Bros.' DC Comics and Looney Tunes characters, from the heroic to the hapless, have a timeless appeal. Today's kids love them and parents fondly remember them from childhood," said Marci Ranger, director of children's marketing for Buster Brown & Co., the kids' division of Brown Shoe.
The Looney Tunes characters can be seen exclusively on The Cartoon Network, with 28 hours of regular programming per week that reaches an average of 32 million viewers. Bugs, Daffy and the gang will also star in their own feature film at the end of the year, titled "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." DC Comics currently features Superman in eight monthly comic books. The Super Hero also appears regularly on television, both in animation and live-action. Smallville and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman air weekly on the WB Network and TNT, respectively. The Justice League animated series can be found weekdays and weekends on The Cartoon Network.
About Warner Bros.: Warner Bros. Consumer Products is a division of Warner Bros., an AOL Time Warner Company, and is one of the leading licensing and retail merchandising organizations in the world.
About DC Comics: DC Comics, a division of Warner Bros., an AOL Time Warner Company, is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world and home to such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Sandman. These DC superheroes and others have starred in comic books, movies, television series (both animated and live-action) and cyberspace, thrilling audiences of all ages for generations. DC Comics' Web site is located at http://www.dccomics.com.
About Brown Shoe: Brown Shoe is a $1.76 billion footwear company with worldwide operations. The company operates the 920-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, Star Wars, Spider-Man and Bob-the-Builder character footwear for children. Brown Shoe press releases are available on the company's web site at http://www.brownshoe.com.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These include general economic conditions, competition, consumer apparel and footwear buying trends, and political and economic conditions in Brazil and China, which are significant footwear sourcing countries. The company's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission contain detailed information relating to such factors.
SUPERMAN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and (C) DC Comics. LOONEY TUNES, characters, names and all related indicia are trademarks of and (C) Warner Bros.
