Skechers: Why a sneaker brand without cult status is worth 9.4 billion dollars

If the announced sale of the US sneaker brand Skechers does indeed go through in the third quarter of this year, this deal will go down in history as the largest transaction to date in the sneaker market. Why is Skechers so interesting?

Not 'cool', but the third largest sneaker brand in the world

First things first: with global annual revenue of 8.9 billion dollars in 2024 and an increase of 12 percent compared to 2023, Skechers is the third largest sneaker brand in the world after Nike (51 billion dollars) and Adidas (24 billion dollars). However, Skechers has never been the coolest sneaker brand. Founded in California in 1992, Skechers has always been one of those brands that people might wear because they are comfortable and affordable, but they do not really talk about. This only changed briefly when Britney Spears became the face of Skechers' campaigns around the year 2000, and the sneaker brand was able to benefit from the singer's meteoric rise. If one wants to attribute any cult status to Skechers today, it is probably most likely thanks to the models from that era.

3G Capital wants to pay 9.4 billion dollars for Skechers

The fact that the Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital submitted a takeover bid of 9.4 billion dollars for Skechers in May 2025 is therefore less likely to be due to the brand's special appeal.

Skechers' success story is actually based on having consistently pursued a coherent concept of a comfortable, affordable product with an ambitious growth and distribution strategy. 3G Capital does not doubt the success of this strategy. Despite the change from a publicly listed company to private hands, the chosen path is to be maintained. Robert Greenberg, 85, founder and CEO of Skechers to this day, is to remain on board with his team, and the headquarters will also remain in California. Likewise, the strategy – style, comfort and innovation at an affordable price – is to be continued unchanged, according to company statements. "Without the team that Skechers has, the company would be worth significantly less," WWD quoted one banker as saying.

Strong wholesale business and expansion of the store network

Skechers has apparently done a lot of things right. With an estimated market share of 52 percent in 2024 in America and a global retail network of over 5,300 stores, including 592 in the US, Skechers has enormous market power. The company is represented in over 170 countries and has continuously gained market share both domestically and internationally in recent years. This is not only in the competitive domestic market and in Europe, but also in markets that receive less attention yet are huge, such as Latin America. International sales (outside the US) accounted for 62 percent of total revenue last year.

The focus on the wholesale business in recent years was also economically clever. After market leaders such as Nike and Adidas announced in the past that they wanted to prioritise direct sales and reduce wholesale, gaps arose in the ranges of many shops that had to be closed. Skechers was able to adapt quickly to changing conditions and take over a large part of Nike's business, writes the trade magazine Modern Retail. In the first quarter of the pandemic year 2022, for example, wholesale grew by 33 percent worldwide, and even by 40 percent in the US and EMEA, while direct sales only increased by 16 percent. At the same time, Skechers has massively expanded its retail network in recent years: from 2,570 stores at the end of 2018 to 4,170 stores in 2021, to 5,300 in 2025. The long-term goals are correspondingly ambitious: The company is "on the way to 10,000 Skechers stores," announced Greenberg.

Skechers is therefore not being sold from a position of weakness, but is rather cashing in on its strong position. This is probably also the reason why the takeover was described as "surprising" by many market observers.

US customs policy affects 2025 forecast

However, the trade war between the US and China may have had a favourable effect on a takeover by 3G Capital. According to press reports, Skechers manufactures 40 percent of its shoes in China, where US import duties were supposed to have been 145 percent at times this spring. As a result, Skechers withdrew its forecast for the year at the end of April, despite a new sales record in the first quarter, citing "macroeconomic uncertainties due to global trade policy". After all, not only could duties have a negative impact on the calculation, but higher prices overall could lead to a deterioration in US consumer sentiment, as well as anti-American sentiment abroad, so the thinking goes. After the withdrawal of the forecast, the share price fell by more than 20 percent, but climbed again by almost 25 percent after the takeover announcement a few weeks later.

New growth area: Performance

The fact that Skechers has been working intensively on its entry into the performance market in recent years should speak for the further positive development of the company. For those who have stood for comfortable everyday sneakers with innovations for decades, the performance market is a logical further development – even if Skechers is entering into direct competition with Nike and Adidas here. In 2023, the company entered the high-turnover football market with the launch of football boots and secured a strong brand ambassador through the cooperation with Harry Kane, captain of the England national team and star of FC Bayern Munich. Kane wore Skechers football boots on the pitch at UEFA Euro 2024. Further debuts followed in the sports of luge and basketball, as well as collaborations with running events, for example by sponsoring ATW running events in the UK.

With the opening of the first pure performance stores, Skechers entered a next phase. In January 2025, Skechers opened its first "Skechers Performance" flagship store worldwide in the Canadian city of Edmonton, followed in May by the first European performance store in Ghent, Belgium. There, the brand offers shoes, clothing and accessories for sports such as basketball, golf, football and pickleball on over 700 square metres.

Apart from the macroeconomic distortions of current global trade policy, which are affecting all market participants, Skechers' prospects remain good. In view of the sharp price increases in the sports market in recent years, Skechers' price-conscious positioning could prove to be an even stronger argument for future growth.

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