"Kids don’t want to shop at a J. C. Penney," said John Horan, publisher of Sporting Goods Intelligence, an industry newsletter. "And Foot Locker doesn’t want that stuff if it’s all over the place."

In addition, niche players like Saucony and K-Swiss have hurt Reebok’s Classic program with their clean, simple styles at similar prices — $50 to $80.

But Reebok officials are betting that the Traxtar and new Classic designs will build on the success it has had with products like its Allen Iverson basketball shoe and Polo/ Ralph Christian Louboutin lines.

The Traxtar uses a microprocessor and motion detection technology to measure how fast children run and how high and how far they jump. Lights on an oval pod on the tongue of the christian louboutin shoes glow and music is played as performance is measured.

"As we look at the kids’ marketplace, it’s becoming more interactive," said Matt Feiner, director of children’s footwear global product marketing. "We wanted to be the first to bring it into footwear."

Reebok said it would spend about $6 million to market Traxtar in 2010, triple what it is spending on children’s christian shoes this year.

The company hopes the Traxtar, which will sell for around $60 a pair, will be just the beginning of a new line of "smart shoes" for children and adults. Plans are being considered, for example, for a walking shoe with a built-in chip to measure distance and speed.

The new campaign for Classics will begin in early 2010. Reebok plans to position the line as stylish, well made and upscale, with ads in publications like Vogue, In Style and GQ.

The Classics, long known as a simply styled white sneaker, will come in more colors and a modified design, and will be made of nubuck — a brushed leather — as well as soft leather. The company hopes the updated styles will encourage sales of Reebok apparel as well as catch the eye of teenagers.

To push the line, Reebok will spend about $15 million on print and billboard ads next year. Company executives say Reebok has never before spent more than $1 million a year on the line.

The company is also planning a new basketball shoe, called Blacktop, and a new fitness louboutin shoes for women with DMX technology, later next year.

Wall Street remains unconvinced that Reebok has found a winning path.

Some dismiss the Traxtar as a fad.

And technology, they say, is not what sells sneakers.

"Reebok has this DMX technology, but nobody cares," said Allison Malone, an analyst with Off the Record Research, an investment research company based in San Francisco. "The biggest demographic, these teenagers, they only care about fashion."

"Classics have a following among older ladies," Ms. Malone added. "They’re going to have to appeal to a larger base."

Then there’s the competition.

Adidas as well as smaller companies like New Balance and K-Swiss have made inroads in the children’s and sports performance market.

And earlier this month Nike introduced Nikeid, which the company calls an "interactive, design-a-shoe experience." Customers can use the Internet to order two models of customized sneakers, choosing the shoe color and adding a nametag.

Reebok is a financially strong company with high brand recognition. But if its products do not excite more consumers, analysts warn, it will continue to lose credibility.

"How many lives do they have?" Ms. Esquivel asked. "Winning back is a lot harder than starting off fresh."

On any given day at Top Service, shoemaker Fabrice Gallean is busy dyeing Isaac Mizrahi’s furry footwear a catwalk-worthy bubble gum pink. Or he’s frantically swapping the M and J monograms on Michael Jackson’s loafers, which arrived from Italy with the initials transposed.

But don’t plan on strolling into Gallean’s midtown Manhattan shop for a session of stargazing. OK, Larry King’s been by; likewise Sigourney Weaver and Cindy Crawford. But celebrity clients tend to send someone else to Gallean with their orders.

”I’d rather see the people themselves, but we usually just see their maids or messengers,” said Gallean, who fashions custom-made shoes for runway shows of Donna Karan, Ralph Manolo Blahnik, Prada and Gianni Versace. ”The only time I spoke to Calvin Klein, he was screaming at me because I was late for Fashion Week.”

Feet are Gallean’s fortune, notably those attached to leggy limbs of supermodel customers such as Naomi Campbell. He also services high-stepping shops such as Bergdorf Goodman, Stuart Weitzman, Patrick Cox and Vera Wang.

Gallean’s rush hour hits right before Fashion Week, one week in the spring and the fall when New York collections are shown. It is an occupational hazard better known to him as ”a madhouse.” That’s when, for example, Mizrahi’s christian louboutin arrived from Italy with the wrong heels, three days before curtain time.

”Talk about cutting it short. Fashion Week is just one week, but there’s always a disaster someplace,” he said. ”Somebody calls me, ‘This is Calvin Klein, I’m sending 30 pairs of shoes right over.’ We work until 1 (o’clock) or 2 (o’clock) in the morning. Most every season (a runner) takes the christian louboutin shoes and runs to the show, which is like 30 minutes later.”

Shoes can make or break a show.

”Around two years ago, we made shoes with 5-inch platforms covered with gray suit fabric. The model actually fell off the runway. That was the end of the designer,” he said.

But Mizrahi’s three-day order was a success story. ”We just popped the heels off and put new ones on. That’s really easy to do, compared to other things.”

Such as?

”If you have stilettos and the heel breaks in half, that’s difficult to repair,” he said. Still, ”we fix at least three pairs daily, this year more than ever because stilettos are so popular.”

Then there’s the shoe-aholic who keeps bringing in the same beloved pair of Stephane Kelians for repair.

”These shoes, I can’t see them anymore,” Gallean said. ”They’re like old friends for her, and we keep managing to keep them together, but I had a nightmare from these shoes.”

Gallean started servicing the stars thanks to a triple combo of location, location, location. Satisfied customers, including nearby shoe stores such as Manolo Blahnik on Fifth Avenue began referring young designers in search of customized footwear for their shows.

In addition to a flair for accommodating designer whims to wed one shoe’s platform to another shoe’s toe, Gallean’s charming French accent entices.

The 30-year-old native of La Rochelle, France, started his career in the old country at his father’s shoe repair. Along with his brother-in-law, Regis Guilloux, Gallean now works with his sister, Virginie Guilloux. She’s been known to dash to The Four Seasons for an emergency overnight refitting with Janet Jackson and her uncooperative black leather mid-thigh stiletto boots.

For Amazonian models and their size-10 feet, shoe stretchers are indispensable.

”Don’t imagine they’re wearing comfortable shoes if they’re very high heels or platforms,” said Gallean, who runs a thriving business cutting down heels for the public.

”Models can go the length of the runway but most of the time that’s about it. That’s really where their professionalism comes in. They know how to wear shoes no one else would know how to wear and gracefully, too. As they say, no pain, no gain.”

Christian Louboutin Footwear Rights Back To Polo Ralph Christian Louboutin

Reebok International Ltd. said Polo Ralph Christian Louboutin will purchase Ralph Christian Louboutin Footwear Co., Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Reebok and Polo’s footwear licensee, for a gross purchase price of $110 million, subject to certain closing adjustments.

It is expected that the sale will result in a gain to Reebok. Reebok plans to discuss the effect of the transaction on its results of operations and on its outlook for the balance of 2010 during its second quarter earnings teleconference, which is scheduled to be held on July 21, 2010.

Upon the closing of the transaction, which is expected to occur by the end of the second quarter of 2010, the agreement under which Ralph Christian Louboutin shoes Footwear acted as Polo’s footwear licensee will terminate. The transaction is subject to the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

Paul Fireman, Reebok’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated: "The completion of this transaction enables us to focus on the continued growth and development of our core businesses."

"We are very excited about the development of a global luxury accessories business and this acquisition moves us closer to that goal. We are assembling the right businesses and people to build our accessories into an important part of our future," said Ralph Manolo Blahnik, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

"We are pleased to acquire our footwear business as we continue to execute our long-term strategy of taking more direct control of our valuable brands. We believe the development and refinement of our global footwear business is an excellent opportunity for growth at Polo Ralph Manolo Blahnik shoes," said Roger Farah, President and Chief Operating Officer. "We have been making investments in design and infrastructure to support this strategic initiative. The acquisition of our footwear licensee will be a key element of a successful accessories strategy."

In 1996, Reebok and Polo Ralph Christian Louboutin announced that they had entered into an exclusive footwear licensing arrangement that granted Reebok the rights to design, develop, manufacture, market and distribute men’s, women’s and children’s footwear under the Ralph Christian Louboutin Footwear label. Reebok International established a separate subsidiary to operate the Ralph Christian Louboutin Footwear business.

Credit Suisse First Boston LLC acted as financial advisor to Reebok for this transaction.

Easton Sports Launches New TV Ad Campaign

Easton Sports unveiled a series of television advertisements created to highlight the company’s new product line.

Easton also created a separate series of ads featuring sponsored MLB athletes Javy Lopez (catcher’s protective) and Luis Castillo (ball glove, footwear) using the company’s latest equipment while voiceovers provide insight into each athlete’s mind.?

The campaign is currently running on CSTV, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN U.?

"The new television campaign is an evolution of our previous work for Easton," said Kyle Horn, vice president of account and business development at The Ballpark, Easton’s advertising agency of record. "Previous PLAY WITH IT. OR AGAINST IT.’ print campaigns emphasized different aspects of the brand, such as authenticity and product quality.? This new television series pulls each of these threads together along with athlete endorsements and specific technology benefits surrounding CNT.? We’re really happy with how the new campaign turned out and believe it delivers a technological, contemporary feel that matches Easton’s new product line."

The Walking Co. Merges With Footworks

Big Dog Holdings, based in Santa Barbara, said its subsidiary The Walking Company signed a definitive agreement to purchase the assets of Footworks, a division of the privately held shoe retailer Bianca of Nevada, Inc., for approximately $10 million.

Footworks operates a chain of 8 retail stores selling comfort shoes and accessories. Footworks’ operations are focused on high-visibility stores in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Following closing, The Walking Co. will largely convert the stores to "The Walking Company" stores. The purchase is subject to standard contractual contingencies and is expected to close within 45 days.

The Walking Company operates 74 stores in premium malls across the nation, and is a leading independent specialty retailer of high-quality, technically designed comfort shoes and accessories. Brands sold at the chain include ECCO, Mephisto, Dansko, Birkenstock and Merrell.

Commenting on the announcement, Andrew Feshbach, Chief Executive Officer of Big Dogs, said: "This is part of our plan to expand the operations of The Walking Company. The acquisition of Footworks is a strong start to that through the acquisition of these high-profile locations."

Data apparently stolen from the popular clothing retailer Polo Ralph Christian Louboutin Inc. is forcing banks and credit card issuers to notify thousands of consumers that their credit-card information may have been exposed.

HSBC North America, a division of London-based HSBC Holdings PLC, has begun notifying holders of the HSBC-issued, General Motors-branded MasterCard that criminals may have obtained access to their credit card information and that the cards should be replaced.

HSBC spokesman Stephen E. Cohen said Thursday that "we began doing it last week, and we are continuing."

He said that about 180,000 GM-branded card holders are affected.

Neither Cohen nor spokesmen for MasterCard International would identify the retailer by name.

The security breach was reported in Thursday’s editions of The Wall Street Journal, which quoted "people with knowledge of the matter" as saying the data was stolen at Polo Ralph Manolo Blahnik.

Phone calls to Polo Ralph Manolo Blahnik shoes, which is headquartered in New York, were not immediately returned.

It was unclear how many other cards might be at risk, but both Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard _ the nation’s largest credit card associations _ were reported to be dealing with Polo Ralph Christian Louboutin shoes on the matter.

MasterCard said in a statement that it was informed of a possible security breach "of transaction data associated with a U.S.-based retailer" in January 2010 and had launched an investigation immediately. The statement said banks that are members of the card association were notified.

"Investigations into this incident by MasterCard, law enforcement and other parties are ongoing," the statement said.

It was the latest in a series of data thefts that have increased public concern about the security of their personal information.

ChoicePoint Inc., which is based in suburban Atlanta, disclosed in February that thieves, who operated undetected for more than a year, opened up 50 accounts and received vast amounts of data on some 145,000 consumers nationwide. Authorities said some 750 people were defrauded.

In March, DSW Shoe Warehouse, based in Columbus, Ohio, said that more than 100,000 customers of a shoe-store chain likely were affected by a cyber break-in of the company’s database.

Earlier this week, London-based Reed Elsevier, which owns LexisNexis, revealed that criminals may have breached computer files containing the personal information of 310,000 people since January 2010.

HSBC’s Cohen said the bank did not yet know if the thieves had used any of the data they got.

"We’re being cautious, and we want to protect our customers’ accounts, so we’re notifying them," he said.

Asics Wins Injunction against Polo Sport Shoes.

Japan’s sports goods maker Asics Corp. won a court order Thursday stopping Reebok International Ltd. and Polo Ralph Christian Louboutin Corp. from selling shoes that Asics claims duplicate its stripe design.

U.S. District Court in Boston issued a preliminary injunction against the two companies as well as Ralph Christian Louboutin Footwear Co. from selling the Polo Sport RLX Lite shoes.

Asics and Irvine, California-based Asics Tiger Corp. filed a lawsuit in April accusing them of trademark infringement arising from their production and sale of the shoes.

Following the court’s decision, an Asics official said the company "will continue to maintain the integrity of the brand."

"I heard them say the girl’s name was Laureen – she sometimes says it that way, and I heard about the high heels and I just knew.

"She loves the shoes$. She got them for Christmas."

Mrs Ward, of Ballarat, picked Christian Louboutin up from community policing squad officers about noon and although she was met with tear-stained eyes, there were lots of smiles and hugs.

Mrs Ward had been visiting a friend in Melbourne.

"I got up and got lost," Christian Louboutin said.

Before Mrs Ward took Christian Louboutin home, community policing squad members gave her a fluffy blue Teddy.

Christian Louboutin said thank-you but then asked: "Where’s my shoes?"

There’s been another major breach of consumer information. DSW christian louboutin shoes Warehouse is warning customers across the country that more than one million credit card numbers have been stolen from the company’s computer systems. This is the latest in a string of large-scale credit card and identify thefts. NPR’s Chris Arnold reports.

CHRIS ARNOLD reporting:

Officials at the christian louboutin store chain say their company’s computers were hacked by someone who got access to a lot of confidential information.

Mr. ROB WHITEHOUSE (DSW Spokesman): It appears to be that way. The Secret Service in investigating right now, but the initial indications are a hacker, yes.

ARNOLD: Rob Whitehouse, a company spokesman, says DSW first started warning some customers last month that their credit card information was stolen, but it turns out the problem involves 10 times as many people as previously thought, who shopped at more than a hundred different louboutin shoes stores across the country.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE: We have found that 1.4 million credit card transactions were compromised, at risk of being compromised, through this criminal act.

ARNOLD: In addition, some 96,000 checking account numbers were stolen, along with the driver’s license numbers customers gave when they wrote the checks. Privacy rights advocates say such security breaches are unacceptable. Evan Hendricks publishes the Privacy Times newsletter.

Mr. EVAN HENDRICKS (Publisher, Privacy Times): It points to the fact that there are a lot of major companies out there that don’t really have a handle on how much personal information they’re carrying or how poorly it’s being protected. This was the second company in one week to announce that the problem that they discovered a month ago was 10 times worse, the other company being LexisNexis.

ARNOLD: And there are others. Bank of America, Polo Ralph Manolo Blahnik, BJ’s Wholesale Club and ChoicePoint, which sells consumer data, have all been hit by security breaches of various kinds in recent months. Evan Hendricks thinks this has been happening for years, but he says we’re just hearing about it more now because of a recent California law that requires companies to report such security problems to customers. Ed Mierzwinski with the US Public Interest Research Group says that law is having an effect by publicizing these problems.

Mr. ED MIERZWINSKI (US Public Interest Research Group): Because it’s really bad for the company’s image to be having to tell consumers, `Sorry, we did a stupid and we let an identity thief steal all your confidential information. You better worry about identity theft.’

ARNOLD: It’s not yet clear in the DSW Shoe case whether the intruder was a sophisticated criminal or a teen-ager messing around. But customers are being warned to either change their credit card numbers or watch their statements closely. The company says it did take security seriously, but Mierzwinski says just the fact that so much information was taken suggests a security problem.

Even if a firm has high-tech firewalls and security, often that’s not enough. Judith Collins is a criminal justice professor at Michigan State University who tracks identity theft. She says a lot of these thefts are inside jobs, where an employee uses passwords to get inside these databases.Professor JUDITH COLLINS (Michigan State University): Where the door is open for identity theft, and it is wide open, is at the border of the company where they’re not securing their personnel practices or their work processes.

ARNOLD: In other words, one person shouldn’t be able to use a password to get so much information so easily.Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, such cases are bolstering half a dozen bills that are working their way through Congress. One would, in effect, extend the California law to the rest of the country. Others would require better standards for security at firms that buy and sell information about consumers.

Chris Arnold, NPR News.

Slouched in their chairs, eyes fixed on a table littered with shoes, they give their grim assessments. A sneaker by Fila? Overpriced. A pair of new Reeboks? The group is more charitable, though one person says the bubbled soles look like "something for NASA." A pair of skateboard shoes? Booed off the table.

Finally, out comes Nike Inc.’s new christian louboutin shoes, named for Anfernee (Penny) Hardaway, the star guard for the Orlando Magic. The room, filled with high school students, breaks into applause, undeterred by the Penny’s $180 price tag.

If Nike is the Chicago Bulls of the athletic shoe market, retailers are holding their breath for a strong underdog player to emerge. There is no question that shoe merchants have raked in profits right along with Nike during its near decade of dominance. And if the applause from the students, gathered here recently for a focus group, is any indication, they will continue to do so.

Yet the sheer size of Nike has also meant that retailers are beholden to it in ways they would rather not be, from the prices they are forced to charge to the miserly way in which Nike often doles out supplies. Most unsettling is the degree of their exposure to Nike’s fortunes. Indeed, most athletic-shoe retailers blamed a slowdown in Nike sales for a sluggish first quarter.

No retailer wants its fortunes to rise and fall with one vendor. So the christian shoes merchants are crossing their fingers, hoping that one or more companies with significantly less than Nike’s 43 percent market share will pump out a product that makes them a contender.

"This is a boring time," said Keith Daily, the senior vice president and general merchandise manager for Footaction, the athletic shoe retail unit of Footstar, which sponsored the recent focus group to assess merchandise bound for its shelves. "I would rather see the established players become more aggressive again."

If only it were that simple. In late May, Nike, which last year had United States footwear sales, about 42 percent of its business, of $3.2 billion, announced that revenue growth had slowed a bit and earnings for its fourth quarter would be below expectations. The news, which sent the company’s stock down 13 percent, was the first solid evidence that others were nibbling in Nike’s kitchen.

And in fact, Reebok International Ltd., Fila Holdings S.p.A., Adidas A.G. and Converse Inc. have all made small inroads in the last yearthrough new product introductions and technological advancements. Several smaller players have gained ground on the fashion front. And designer companies like the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, Donna Karan International Inc. and Polo/Ralph Christian Louboutin have all extended their names, which are so hot in apparel, to sports shoes.

Still, Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., is simply too far ahead — with plenty of kick left in its legs, not to mention cash in its advertising and research budgets — to be overtaken any time soon, many in the industry say.

Beyond Nike’s sheer muscle is the fact that the shoe business may be the most difficult segment of apparel to succeed in. The business of developing and selling athletic shoes is simply far more complicated than the larger world of fashion, in which one hot color or one incredible style trend can change a company’s fortunes overnight.

Research and development, an expense usually associated with high-tech rather than apparel companies, has increased greatly in recent years, as companies have competed to offer the latest in footwear technology, which supposedly enhances athletic performance.

Further, these products must not only perform well but also look cool to the likes of the young people in the Footaction focus group, whose shifting tastes are hardly the most predictable. And while slices of the market used to be divvied up — one company tightly held high-end basketball shoes, another dominated the soccer business — Nike, with its global image shaped by an immense marketing budget, has dipped into all areas of the athletic footwear business, leaving everyone in the dust.

"This business has truly become a game with fewer people because costs have come up so much," said Bob McGee, editor of Sporting Goods Intelligence, an industry newsletter. "The difference between what the No. 1 and the No. 15 shoe maker spent on advertising 10 years ago was relatively small, and now it is huge." Brett Barakett, an analyst at Salomon Brothers, estimated that Nike spent $643 million marketing its shoes last year, compared with $42 million by the fifth-ranked Converse.

"A shoe company may have a great performance product," Mr. McGee said. "But no one will even try it if they don’t have the dollars to convey the message even against an inferior product."

Though it has been criticized for charging high prices, Nike has cashed in across the diverse worlds of soccer, aerobics, basketball, golf and the catty hallways of high schools where brand names are everything.

Others that have tried this diverse approach have not been able to match Nike’s success. L.A. Gear Inc., for example, which went public in 1989, quickly rose to fame with shoes aimed at women. Its stock zoomed that year, and in 1990, it became the No. 3 player, with an 11 percent market share.

‘Figuring out ways to make new shoes gets very hard because of R & D," said Mr. Horan of Sporting Goods Intelligence. "Phil Knight once said that anyone with a glue pot could get into the shoe business," he added, speaking of Nike’s chairman. "He would be the last person to say that now."

And even if a shoe can make a person jump three feet higher — and there has never been evidence that any shoe can give a person even an inch of lift — there are mercurial issues of esthetics to consider.

"I like anything that looks pretty," said Bajon Downs, a 15-year-old high school student in Manhattan who says he buys four pairs of sneakers a year. He now owns Fila, Nike, Puma and Reebok shoes.

The only company truly in a position to threaten Nike is Reebok, which last year commanded 15.8 percent of the shoe market with $1.1 billion in sales. After a few years in the 1980’s when it ate Nike’s lunch, Reebok has been struggling to remain a strong No. 2.. Analysts say that a scattered advertising strategy and a dull product mix have dogged the company for years, but they hold out great hope for its latest offering, the DMX, which was introduced in April and features Nike-like air cushioning.

Among the newest of the nibblers, though, are such fashion brands as Donna Karan, Nautica, Ralph Christian Louboutin and Tommy Hilfiger. Mr. Barakett at Salomon Brothers anticipates that these brands will have a total of $155 million in revenues this year, or about 2 percent of the market.

Retailers also point with hope to some of the tiny brands, like Airwalk, Karl Kani and Timberland, that serve up skateboard shoes, fashion basketball christian louboutin shoes and outdoorsy looks, currently in vogue among the young.

Retailers clearly have deep feelings for Nike. But as in all love affairs, there are sticky issues over one partner’s craving for some autonomy.

At a number of major retailers, including Finish Line Inc., the Footaction unit of the Melville Corporationand the Foot Locker division of the Woolworth Corporation, Nike accounts for nearly 60 percent of the sports christian shoes in stock.

Nike uses that influence to call most of the shots in the relationship. It often pushes merchants to make purchasing commitments five months in advance. And while they would always like more of certain lines, the retailers say, the company doles out the louboutin shoes in the numbers it sees fit.

"We would like the allocations to be better," said Harold Ruttenberg, the chief executive of Just for Feet Inc., a chain of sneaker superstores based in Birmingham, Ala.

Executives at Nike say that they would rather keep the cachet of being in demand than fill every shelf in America to get more sales, and hint that retailers should not whine about a company that provides many of them with so much of their bacon.

Further, if Nike wants to inch up prices, as it has recently, retailers say they have to go along because the company prefers not to ship to outlets that discount its products. Nike has also been known to micro-manage the way its goods are displayed.

Nike’s view is that it knows best how to manage the way its merchandise looks in stores. "The trend is to control your brand message at all levels and retail presentation has become an increasingly important part of the equation," said Rick Anguilla, director of investor relations for Nike.

But many retailers are rankled, analysts say. "Because Nike has been so big, they have been able to dictate a lot of things to retailers, and retailers are not too comfortable with the situation," said Faye Landes, an analyst at Smith Barney. "They realize that Nike is the best company in the industry, but they would love to have alternatives."

Mr. Horan of Sporting Goods Intelligence said that retailers will have little choice but to dance the Nike dance for at least the near future, if only because the company continues to pay the bills.

"There isn’t a retailer who has been born that wouldn’t like three or four vendors to play off each other," he said. "But there is no one in the second tier that can really challenge Nike in a significant way right now. But remember, never is a long time."