Profile: Cherokee, Inc. (CHKE.O)

Cherokee Inc., incorporated in 1988, is a licensor of brand names and trademarks for apparel, footwear, and accessories. Cherokee owns several trademarks, including Cherokee, Sideout, Sideout Sport, Carole Little, CLII, Saint Tropez-West, Chorus Line, All That Jazz, Molly Malloy, and others. As of January 31, 2009, it had 18 continuing license agreements covering both domestic and international markets. In addition to licensing its own brands, Cherokee also assists other brand-owners, companies, wholesalers, and retailers in identifying licensees or licensors for their brands or stores. The Carole Little, Saint Tropez-West, All That Jazz and Chorus Line brands, and trademarks are recognized women's brands.

Owned Brands

At January 31, 2009, the Company had 11 ongoing licensing agreements for its Cherokee brand. These were all retail direct licensing agreements. Licensing revenues from its Cherokee brand represented 94.6% of the Company’s total royalty revenues. One of the Company’s significant retail direct licensing agreements is with Target Corporation (Target) for the Cherokee brand in the United States. As of January 31, 2009, it had 10 international license agreements for the Cherokee brand.

At January 31, 2009, the Company had two ongoing licensing agreements for its Sideout brand, which does not include the licensing agreement with Mervyn's, which is in the process of liquidating. One of these is a wholesale licensing agreement for footwear worldwide and the other is an international wholesale, and retail licensing agreement for the Sideout brand in China. At January 31, 2009, it had one ongoing retail direct licensing agreement with TJX Companies for its Carole Little brands (Carole Little, CLII, and Saint Tropez-West) for the United States and certain other countries.

Brand Representation Businesses

Cherokee assists other companies in identifying licensees for their brands. In representing brands, the Company performs a range of services, including marketing of brands, solicitation of licensees, contract negotiations, and administration and maintenance of license or distribution agreements. In return for its services, Cherokee normally receives a certain percentage of the net royalties generated by the brands the Company represents and signs to a license agreement. The Company works on several selected brand representation opportunities during each fiscal year.

The Company’s competes with Levi Strauss & Co., The Gap, Old Navy, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., Liz Claiborne, Iconix Brand Group Inc., VF Corp., Faded Glory, Arizona, Route 66, Quiksilver, and Nike.