Keds and Zazzle® Team up to Launch Keds Studio, an On-Line Custom Shoe Program

LEXINGTON, Mass. & REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Keds and keds.com, a division of The Stride Rite Corporation, in partnership with Zazzle (zazzle.com) today announced the launch of Keds Studio™, an online customization program that offers consumers the ability to design the graphics for their own original Keds® Champions, the classic lace-up and slip-on canvas styles.

“We are incredibly excited to launch our footwear platform with Keds, a great iconic brand that actually invented the term ‘sneaker,’”

The Keds Studio program, built and powered by Zazzle, offers consumers the unique ability to create original Keds designs by uploading their own artwork, graphics and text, onto the shoes instantly -- a first for the footwear industry. In addition consumers are able to choose from a wide selection of colors and even unique, pre-made designs, many of which are designed by such artists as Sarah Singh and Gen Art artists, among others. The customized shoes are produced within 24 to 48 hours, and will be received by consumers within one to two weeks, depending upon the shipping method selected.

“Since the launch of the Champion in 1916, consumers have been enhancing their Keds with their own personal style using markers, paints, pens and other creative tools,” said Gregg Ribatt, president and chief executive officer of The Stride Rite Corporation. “This growing form of expression was the inspiration for Keds Studio. Through our relationship with Zazzle, we can now offer Keds customers the opportunity to bring an uninhibited range of design options and a more professional design aesthetic to this classic shoe. This initiative positions Keds at the forefront of the footwear industry with great innovation and leading-edge technology aimed at unleashing the individuality of the end consumer.”

Through Zazzle’s innovative, patent-pending technology platform, the launch of Keds Studio marks the first time a fully customizable shoe featuring user-generated graphics has come to market. The company’s technological competency is unique, having developed intuitive new tools that enable consumers to instantly experience the construction of the entire shoe, and allowing full design and color selection for almost every part of the shoe. This offering is the first-ever content application enabling consumers to upload their own designs, patterns, illustrations, images or full text onto the footwear they choose. The custom shoe offering is available at www.keds.com and www.zazzle.com/custom/shoes.

“We are incredibly excited to launch our footwear platform with Keds, a great iconic brand that actually invented the term ‘sneaker,’” said Jeff Beaver, co-founder and chief product officer, Zazzle. “Zazzle’s proprietary technologies, combined with the proliferation of user-generated content, is incredibly powerful. This event marks the beginning of a new era in customization, where products are built from scratch – literally – and embellished to the user’s exact specification.”

At launch, Keds Studio will offer five styles of Keds’ Champions for women and kids that are fully customizable. Styles include lace-ups, slip-ons and mini slip-ons ranging from $50 to $60.

Keds Studio will also offer limited-edition designs developed to provide consumers with creative inspiration, which will be featured and available for sale on the www.Keds.com and www.zazzle.com/custom/shoes sites. Artists and designers providing their own unique designs include: Lucky Magazine’s Rebecca Babcock and artist Sarah Singh in conjunction with a promotion in the September issue of Lucky Magazine, as well as a number of emerging Gen Art artists, and Zazzle’s community of designers. Each month a new designer or artist will be featured and consumers will have the opportunity to purchase these limited-edition designs, as well as create their own works of art, for shoe application.

In addition, Zazzle‘s platform will enable Keds Studio consumers now “turned designers,” as well as professional and amateur designers to sell their unique designs in the Zazzle “marketplace.” Zazzle’s “Name Your Royalty” system enables these consumers to set the price of their shoe designs above the original price and earn the entire mark-up in profit.

About Keds

Since 1916 Keds has represented authenticity, quality and style. Keds offers a myriad of styles from the classic champion sneaker to vintage-inspired, distressed slip-ons, ballet flats, pointy toe skimmers, mules and lace-up active mary-janes, sneakers, wedges. Keds is a subsidiary of The Stride Rite Corporation, which focuses on lifestyle and athletic branded footwear for men and women, and high-quality children’s footwear. Stride Rite is a unit of Collective Brands, Inc.

Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE: PSS), headquartered in Topeka, Kan., is a leader in bringing compelling lifestyle, fashion and performance brands for footwear and related accessories to consumers worldwide. The company operates three strategic units covering a powerful brand portfolio, as well as multiple price points and selling channels including retail, wholesale, ecommerce and licensing. Collective Brands, Inc. includes Payless ShoeSource, also headquartered in Topeka, focused on democratizing fashion and design in footwear and accessories through its more than 4,500-store retail chain, with its brands American Eagle™, Airwalk®, Dexter®, Champion® and designer collections Abaeté for Payless™, Lela Rose for Payless™ and alice + olivia for Payless™, Patricia Field for Payless™, among others; Stride Rite, based in Lexington, Mass., focused on lifestyle and athletic branded footwear and high-quality children’s footwear sold primarily through wholesaling, with its brands including Stride Rite®, Keds®, Sperry Top-Sider®, Robeez®, and Saucony®, among others; and Collective Licensing International, Denver, Colo., the brand development, management and global licensing unit, with such youth lifestyle brands as Airwalk®, Vision Street Wear®, Lamar®, Sims®, LTD®, genetic®, Dukes™, Rage®, Ultra-Wheels®, and Skate Attack®. Information about, and links for shopping on, each of the Collective Brand’s units can be found at http://www.collectivebrands.com.

About Zazzle

Infinite and Instant, Zazzle is the only on-demand retail platform for consumers and major brands, offering billions of retail quality, one-of-a-kind products shipped most of which are produced and shipped within 24 hours. With the largest library of customizable digital images from world-class brands, Zazzle enables content owners to unlock their entire libraries of content, making it available for purchase and customization by consumers. Through Zazzle's innovative on-demand retail and technology platform, users can instantly create, customize to fit their personal style, purchase and sell a near infinite array of products online. The company launched in 2005 and is based in Redwood City, California.

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