Completing a process begun last July, Goleta, Calif.-based Deckers Outdoor Corp. said Monday it has fully acquired running brand Hoka One One for an undisclosed amount. The company took a minority stake in the French brand last July.
Jim Van Dine, president of Deckers’Ahnu and Tsubo brands, will serve as president of Hoka One One and oversee it from the company’s offices in Richmond, Calif.
According to Van Dine, infusing Deckers’ back office capabilities and cash into the business will help the brand meet underserved demand. Hoka also will show product updates as well as debut new styles for spring ’14, he said.
“We’ll probably quadruple this year, and we’ll look to continue that pace or close to it over the next several years,” Van Dine said.
Van Dine said the growth would come largely from expanding the store’s current account base of around 180 doors to a broader number of U.S. run specialty and outdoor specialty markets.
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“What we have said to our sales force and our customers is that we will remain exclusive to those [specialty] channels,” he added. “We won’t go beyond that for at least the next couple of years, until we have product that can segmented. And running specialty will always have some exclusives.”
Brand founders Jean-Luc Diard and Nicolas Mermoud will both continue to be heavily involved in the brand’s product development and marketing.
