I'm not really too surprised by this. Didn't it come out a while back that Ches won't become a US citizen for several years, at least? Huge blow there. He can't compete in any US champs, which is the biggest meet of the year for most domestic pro runners (and sponsors). That effectively makes him a young "Kenyan" guy who has good name recognition in the US but has really never had much charisma or marketability beyond the fact that he dominated in college. Well, college is done now. He's not going to dominate in the pro ranks. He might even get routinely beaten by other Kenyans his age or younger. It's pretty easy for me to believe that Skechers came along with a decent offer and Nike et al. were unwilling to beat it.
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NIKE passed because Cheserek is countryless.
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inthepdx wrote:
I am guessing he is going the roads route because it would be extremely difficult to make the Kenyan team in Track.
What are you talking about? The Kenyan 5000 team is easier to make than the US.
Kenya only had 1 in the 5k final in London this year. US had 2.
Kenya's third fastest guy this year has run 13:11.58. -
Dude, our 5000m team is made up of Kenyans.
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Industry watcher wrote:
That is likely due to Skechers own marketing strategy. They have their own retail stores so they don't deal with running specialty shops or other sporting good retail stores. At least in Southern California, their home market. Online, it used to be very difficult if not impossible to find their running shoes anywhere but on the Skechers website, but that is slowly opening up. Running Warehouse carries some of the models as well as some other websites. You can usually get them cheaper via these sites then viathe Skechers website. I have used three models, GoRun, GoRun Ride, and the GoRun Forza and I like them. I trained in Asics for years, switched to Brooks 5 years ago and added Skechers in the last 4 years. Tried the Hoka One One Constant and Gaviota models as well and I think the Skechers shoes are very good. Skechers is a billion dollar company, they can afford Ches.
Skechers begged to get into run specialty stores. When they provided seed shoes, my staff tested them and rejected them due to poor quality and performance. It is an inferior product. -
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That's a fair point and it is obviously very different, but to be fair he is the Kenyan record holder indoors in the mile. His 3:52 converts to a 3:35 INDOORS, plus hes run 7:40 for 3k. Maybe if he has some solid training and isn't racing all of the time like he was at Oregon, he'll have some better success being fresh. Hopefully he's not burned out from college though.
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I have noticed that each year the product has changed radically and now are absolutely up to par. A few years back I got my hands on shoes and thought they were solid but not great. I was fortunate to do a few test runs in a couple pairs of shoes (Ultra road? and the razor) loved them both. I think people throw too much shade simply over a name without educating themselves with what is out there in the industry besides Brooks. Ed likely saw a big opportunity with Skechers, what are the odds Nike puts him as their main guy or even create him his own shoe. Just some thoughts, I imagine since they won runners world shoe of the year last year it had to at least be decent.
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For what its worth, I saw him on Pre's Trail this past Sunday (9-3). So he is still training in Eugene.
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rojo wrote:
inthepdx wrote:
I am guessing he is going the roads route because it would be extremely difficult to make the Kenyan team in Track.
What are you talking about? The Kenyan 5000 team is easier to make than the US.
Kenya only had 1 in the 5k final in London this year. US had 2.
Kenya's third fastest guy this year has run 13:11.58.
- ROJO ... do you really believe that AK fields the fastest team? It's to the highest bidder! Now Chez has the chance because he'll definitely never be the fastest in Kenya ... Skechers can now pay the AK bill.
- We need more Skechers to keep guys like Chez off WCAP! -
That'll be fun for Cheserek roaming around the SW USA, training at Flagstaff, Mammoth, WLACC, Big Bear, ABQ, SBA, OTC, Carlsbad, you name it. What a dream life!
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GuysThis wrote:
$500,000 for 8 years is the word going around. Nike couldn't match that.
Fixed that for you:
Nike WOULDN'T match that. -
findmetheshoes wrote:
What I find interesting is that given how long they have sponsored Meb and Kara, I have not seen a single specialty running store stock Skechers. I have run in several models and like them a lot, but I sourced them online and have been to several factory stores to demo the shoes. I'm not sure if they are trying, but no one that I have ever talked to in a speciality running store even cares to try and bring them in. If they did, it would set them apart for sure, but as most of you already know, Skechers doesn't make the bulk of their money on running shoes, it's their casual, affordable wear that brings the profit. If they can make inroads into actual running stores, my bet is that more runners would give them a try. Once you experience them in on your feet, you realize they are comfortable, well made, and perform well. The Razor is a top notch shoe.
The run speciality store I work at carries Skechers, we've got the Goforza, the Gomeb, and the Razor(which is an amazing shoe) -
Why doesn't he become a fake US soldier, like the other Kenyans? He would get citizenship in a couple of months!
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*stipe wrote:
Industry watcher wrote:
That is likely due to Skechers own marketing strategy. They have their own retail stores so they don't deal with running specialty shops or other sporting good retail stores. At least in Southern California, their home market. Online, it used to be very difficult if not impossible to find their running shoes anywhere but on the Skechers website, but that is slowly opening up. Running Warehouse carries some of the models as well as some other websites. You can usually get them cheaper via these sites then viathe Skechers website. I have used three models, GoRun, GoRun Ride, and the GoRun Forza and I like them. I trained in Asics for years, switched to Brooks 5 years ago and added Skechers in the last 4 years. Tried the Hoka One One Constant and Gaviota models as well and I think the Skechers shoes are very good. Skechers is a billion dollar company, they can afford Ches.
Skechers begged to get into run specialty stores. When they provided seed shoes, my staff tested them and rejected them due to poor quality and performance. It is an inferior product.
I looked at Skechers and all I have seen is how they "mimic" other brands out there. I see nothing that is original. But then, this is on par with how they make their shoes. I do not know any one there, but I have doubt there are serious runners or former runners working at Skechers who know anything about running shoes. At least the MAJOR running shoe brands have former runners working for them (as I have chatted with them at various race shows). -
VDB wrote:
Why doesn't he become a fake US soldier, like the other Kenyans? He would get citizenship in a couple of months!
Chelimo is a hell of a lot more fun to watch and has a better personality than every other vanilla white distance runner. -
scorpion_runner wrote:
storagewars wrote:
This is a common tactic that Nike has used to torpedo competitors - bid up the value on an athlete or concept they don't really want, force competitors to tie up limited resources in dead-end athletes or concepts (see Nike's brief venture in trail running, which tricked Hoka into tying up huge chunk of their budge there, then Nike bails). This deal would be chump change for Nike, but now Skechers is tied up with a minimally marketable athlete for years.
What? So 3mil is going to tie up Skechers? Plus they already have the running technology and running resources, which was established with their partnership with Meb.
Please. The Meb line will continue and evolve, and now Ed will come in to establish a track/road running shoe line for Skechers. They will put every last one of their resources into him just like they did Meb, and, to me, that is better than wasting money on several different athletes who don't pan out. .
Yes, $3million to Skechers is a lot more than $3million to Nike. Nike's Net Income is FOURTEEN times that of Skechers and they have a much deeper well of historical money to draw from.
Please don't believe that Skechers is killing it because their partnership with Meb is "successful." They seem to have a solid business underway (now), but they're still a small fry. -
Tom Leykis Radio Prow-gram wrote:
scorpion_runner wrote:
storagewars wrote:
This is a common tactic that Nike has used to torpedo competitors - bid up the value on an athlete or concept they don't really want, force competitors to tie up limited resources in dead-end athletes or concepts (see Nike's brief venture in trail running, which tricked Hoka into tying up huge chunk of their budge there, then Nike bails). This deal would be chump change for Nike, but now Skechers is tied up with a minimally marketable athlete for years.
What? So 3mil is going to tie up Skechers? Plus they already have the running technology and running resources, which was established with their partnership with Meb.
Please. The Meb line will continue and evolve, and now Ed will come in to establish a track/road running shoe line for Skechers. They will put every last one of their resources into him just like they did Meb, and, to me, that is better than wasting money on several different athletes who don't pan out. .
Yes, $3million to Skechers is a lot more than $3million to Nike. Nike's Net Income is FOURTEEN times that of Skechers and they have a much deeper well of historical money to draw from.
Please don't believe that Skechers is killing it because their partnership with Meb is "successful." They seem to have a solid business underway (now), but they're still a small fry.
Small fry? In relative terms they are number # 5 in global sales behind Nike, Adidas, Puma and UA. If we broke out footwear sales only they would be # 3 .
Do they have technical credibility as a performance running product, no. Technical credibility to other product ranges within their footwear groups yes.
Meb is great ambassador and has proved his value in giving awareness to the brand, not in product sales. Ches will carry the banner over the next decade.
What Ches will miss that he has had at the U of O is the support element of their facilities. Nike continues this support for its teams on the Nike campus for its post collegiate athletes.
Agents only think about the money and not the bigger picture. Ches may regret his choice down the road. Note that Meb has always had a good infrastructure of support all along even prior to his Sketchers deal. Maybe Ches ties into this... -
Not sure what to take from this, but Chelimo posted this on Instagram- is it a welcome to the pro game or a welcome to ADP/WCAP??
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtQxy6DzQ0/?hl=en -
Tom Leykis Radio Prow-gram wrote:
scorpion_runner wrote:
storagewars wrote:
This is a common tactic that Nike has used to torpedo competitors - bid up the value on an athlete or concept they don't really want, force competitors to tie up limited resources in dead-end athletes or concepts (see Nike's brief venture in trail running, which tricked Hoka into tying up huge chunk of their budge there, then Nike bails). This deal would be chump change for Nike, but now Skechers is tied up with a minimally marketable athlete for years.
What? So 3mil is going to tie up Skechers? Plus they already have the running technology and running resources, which was established with their partnership with Meb.
Please. The Meb line will continue and evolve, and now Ed will come in to establish a track/road running shoe line for Skechers. They will put every last one of their resources into him just like they did Meb, and, to me, that is better than wasting money on several different athletes who don't pan out. .
Yes, $3million to Skechers is a lot more than $3million to Nike. Nike's Net Income is FOURTEEN times that of Skechers and they have a much deeper well of historical money to draw from.
Please don't believe that Skechers is killing it because their partnership with Meb is "successful." They seem to have a solid business underway (now), but they're still a small fry.
You have no idea what the fock you are talking about if you think 3 million dollars is going to break a shoe company that had close to 4 billion dollars in net sales last year. Now, if you we were talking about 300million dollars, than maybe, but that wouldn't beak them either. Their CEO has stock in the company that is worth 350 million.
In 2013, their net sales were 1.5 billion dollars, and those sales have grown to 4 billion in less than 5 years.
Again, sorry, but you know what the fock you are talking about. It's okay, though, most people in the world don't.
