Designer Brands Adds Le TIGRE to Growing Portfolio

Takes Another Exciting Step Toward Goal of Doubling Owned Brand Sales

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Designer Brands Inc. DBI (the "Company" and "Designer Brands"), one of the world's largest designers, producers, and retailers of footwear and accessories, today announced an investment in and licensing agreement with Le TIGRE 360 Global ("Le TIGRE"). This is another exciting step forward in the Company's growth as a brand builder and its plans to double sales of Owned Brands by 2026.

Designer Brands adds Le TIGRE to the Company's portfolio of Owned Brands, which allows Designer Brands to develop and produce product and provides the Company a unique opportunity to share premium athletic product with its customers. The current portfolio of brands includes Vince Camuto, Reebok, Hush Puppies, Jessica Simpson, Crown Vintage, JLO Jennifer Lopez, Mix No. 6, Lucky Brand and Kelly & Katie. The look and feel of each of these Owned Brands come in many different forms, including ownership, licensing, partnerships, and customized agreements, all of which ensure access, enhanced margins, and collaborative working relationships. The addition of Le TIGRE, along with the recently announced partnership with Reebok, enables the Company to grow Owned Brand dominance in the increasingly important athletic category, further controlling its overall brand destiny while leveraging an industry leading direct-to-consumer infrastructure of coast-to-coast stores, a billion-dollar digital platform and a nearly 30 million member VIP loyalty program.

"Le TIGRE has been a loved American apparel brand since 1977," said Bill Jordan, Designer Brands president. "Its unique style is the perfect addition to our growing portfolio of Owned Brands that customers have come to expect. We are excited to have yet another way to inspire self-expression."

Since 2017, the Le TIGRE brand has been owned and managed by joint venture investment partners and brand licensing experts, Infinity Brands and Hilco Inc., which operates as Le TIGRE 360 Global, LLC. As stewards of the iconic brand for the past several years, the Le TIGRE 360 Global team expanded the business with a highly focused premium retail distribution strategy focused on millennial consumers seeking branded apparel reflecting a unique personal style and individualism.

"Le TIGRE 360 Global is thrilled about the strategic partnership with Designer Brands Inc.," said Ike S. Franco, Infinity Brands chief executive officer. "As a leader in footwear, they will undoubtedly bring inspiring and unique designs to the marketplace, producing and delivering the highest quality products and engaging a large multi-generational audience that will expand the brand's footprint significantly. This will truly disrupt the footwear marketplace." 

Designer Brands will exclusively design and produce Le TIGRE footwear to be sold primarily through DSW and The Shoe Company direct-to-consumer stores and .com channels, in addition to select wholesale accounts and through letigreglobal.com.

Designer Brands is one of the world's largest designers, producers and retailers of the most recognizable footwear brands and accessories, transforming and defining the footwear industry by inspiring self-expression across every facet of its enterprise. Through its portfolio of world-class owned brands, led by the industry-setting Vince Camuto brand, Designer Brands delivers on-trend footwear and accessories through its robust direct-to-consumer omni-channel infrastructure, featuring a billion-dollar digital commerce business and nearly 650 stores across the US and Canada. Its retailing operations under the DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse and The Shoe Company banners deliver current, in-line footwear and accessories from most of the largest national brands in the industry and hold leading market share positions in key product categories across Women's, Men's and Kid's in the US and Canada. Designer Brands also distributes its owned brands through select wholesale relationships while leveraging its design and sourcing expertise to build private label product for national retailers. Designer Brands Inc. is also committed to being a difference maker in the world, taking steps forward to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the footwear industry and supporting our global community and the health of our planet through donating more than six million pairs of shoes to the global non-profit Soles4Souls. More information can be found at www.designerbrands.com.

Le TIGRE originated in 1977 focused on the classic polo shirt, with a twist as its signature. The Le Tigre customer focus has been a young multi-cultural consumer with mass appeal. In 2017 Infinity Brands and Hilco Inc. partnered to acquire Le TIGRE from Kenneth Cole. Since then, the brand has been uniquely positioned to meet the needs of a mainstream consumer who celebrates heritage brands.

Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking words such as "outlook," "goals," "could," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "would," "seeks," "approximately," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates," or the negative version of those words or other comparable words. These statements are based on Designer Brands' current expectations and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Risks and other factors that could cause our performance and achievement to differ materially from our expectations are described in Designer Brands' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 30, 2021, and risk factors identified in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the time when made. Except as may be required by law, Designer Brands undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements included in this press release to reflect any future events or circumstances.

SOURCE Designer Brands Inc.