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EXHIBIT 99.1
Company Contact: Gary H. Schoenfeld
President and
Chief Executive Officer
Vans, Inc.
562/565-8267
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Investor Relations: Chad A. Jacobs/Thomas Ryan
Integrated Corporate
Relations, Inc.
203/222-9013
VANS, INC. NAMED FOOTWEAR NEWS COMPANY OF THE YEAR
--VANS ALSO NAMED ONE OF THE 200 BEST SMALL COMPANIES BY FORBES MAGAZINE --
-- VANS REPORTS COMPS TRENDING IN DOUBLE DIGITS AND
REITERATES COMFORT WITH FIRST CALL CONSENSUS EARNINGS ESTIMATE --
Santa Fe Springs, California, November 14, 2000--Vans, Inc. (NASDAQ: VANS) today
announced it was named Company of the Year by Footwear News, the leading
footwear trade publication. This follows Vans' recognition by Footwear News as
Marketer of the Year in December 1998. The Company also announced that it was
recently named one of the 200 Best Small Companies in America by Forbes
Magazine.
"We are very pleased to receive these two major distinctions," stated Gary H.
Schoenfeld, Vans' President and Chief Executive Officer. "I would like to
commend our entire team for their enthusiasm, dedication and commitment to
excellence and innovation, which have been the driving force behind our success
to date."
Mr. Schoenfeld further commented, "We continue to raise the bar internally, as
we strive to further our position as the leading sports and lifestyle brand for
today's youth market. We are happy that our efforts are being recognized on a
number of different levels."
Maryann LoRusso, Editor-in-Chief, Footwear News commented, "The editors of FN
have chosen Vans as this year's Company of the Year for a variety of reasons.
Besides experiencing stellar sales growth this past year, the company continued
to strengthen its brand through focused, integrated marketing and a precise
understanding of its target market. The brand has achieved an almost cult-like
status among kids across the globe, and we expect amazing things from Vans in
the years to come."
The Company also announced that it continues to be comfortable with the First
Call consensus earnings estimate for the second quarter of fiscal 2000 which
ends November 25, 2000, and that its retail stores have continued to achieve
double digit comp store gains quarter to date.* The Company expects to release
its second quarter earnings after the close of the market on December 19, 2000,
and to web cast its conference call with analysts at 4:45 eastern standard time
that same day.
Vans, Inc. is a leading branded lifestyle company for the youth market. Vans
reaches its 10 to 24 year-old target consumers through the sponsorship of Core
Sports,(TM) such as skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing and wakeboarding, and
through major entertainment events and venues, such as the VANS
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Triple Crown(TM) Series, the VANS Warped Tour,(TM) the VANS World Amateur
Skateboarding Championships, the world's largest VANS skate parks, and the VANS
High Cascade Snowboard Camp,(TM) located on Mt. Hood. The Company operates 140
retail stores in the U.S. and Europe, and designs, markets and distributes
active-casual footwear, clothing and accessories, performance footwear for Core
Sports, (TM) snowboard boots, step-in snowboard boot bindings, and outerwear
worldwide. Vans' Internet address is www.vans.com.
* This is a forward-looking statement about the Company's sales and earnings for
the second quarter of fiscal 2001. Actual sales and earnings results for the
Company may vary significantly and could be impacted by a number of important
factors, including but not limited to: (i) the ongoing consolidation of the
retail segment of the footwear industry; (ii) the occurrence of downward trends
in the U.S. economy, foreign economies and the footwear industry, or the
occurrence of events that adversely affect the world economy in general; (iii)
changes in the fashion preferences of the Company's target customers and the
Company's ability to anticipate and respond to such changes; (iv) increasing
competition in all lines of the Company's business from both large,
well-established companies with significant financial resources and brand
recognition, and smaller niche competitors who market exclusively to the
Company's target customers; (v) the cancellation of orders which could alter
bookings numbers; (vi) the fluctuation of foreign currencies in relation to the
U.S. dollar; and (vii) whether future skate parks opened by the Company will be
as successful as the Company's current parks. Many of these factors, and others,
are discussed more extensively in the Company's amended Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended May 31, 2000, which is filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
