Skechers USA Inc (SKX) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Skechers First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions).

您好，歡迎參加 Skechers 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）。

As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn this conference over to Skechers. Thank you. You may begin.

提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。我現在想把這次會議交給 Skechers。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Karen Lozano. I'm the General Manager of store (inaudible) in Gardena, California, and I've been on the Skechers team for an exciting 11 years. Thank you for joining our Skechers conference call today. I will now read the safe harbor statement.

大家下午好。我的名字是凱倫·洛薩諾。我是加州加迪納商店（聽不清楚）的總經理，我在 Skechers 團隊度過了令人興奮的 11 年。感謝您今天參加我們的斯凱奇電話會議。我現在將閱讀安全港聲明。

Certain statements contained herein, including, without limitation, statements addressing the beliefs, plans, objectives, estimates or expectations of the company or future results or events may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, including, but not limited to, global, national and local, economic business and market conditions, including the impact of inflation, foreign currency fluctuations, challenging consumer retail markets in the United States awards, as award and other conferences around the world and supply chain delays and disruptions in general and specifically as you apply to the retail industry and the company.

本文所包含的某些陳述，包括但不限於涉及公司的信念、計劃、目標、估計或期望或未來結果或事件的陳述，可能構成涉及風險和不確定性的前瞻性陳述。此類前瞻性陳述涉及已知和未知的風險，包括但不限於全球、國家和地方的經濟業務和市場狀況，包括通貨膨脹、外匯波動、美國消費者零售市場挑戰的影響、世界各地的頒獎和其他會議以及供應鏈的延誤和中斷，特別是當您應用於零售業和公司時。

There can be no assurance that the actual future results performance or achievements expressed or implied by any of our forward-looking statements will occur. Users of forward-looking statements are encouraged to review the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all other reports filed with the SEC as required by federal securities laws for a description of all other significant risk factors that may affect the company's business, financial conditions, cash flows and results of operations.

無法保證我們任何前瞻性陳述所表達或暗示的實際未來表現或成就將會發生。我們鼓勵前瞻性陳述的使用者查看該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括 10-K 表中的最新年度報告、10-Q 表中的季度報告、8-K 表中的當前報告以及所有根據聯邦證券法的要求向SEC 提交的其他報告，描述可能影響公司業務、財務狀況、現金流量和經營業績的所有其他重大風險因素。

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Skechers' Chief Operating Officer, David Weinberg; and Chief Financial Officer, John Vandemore. David?

說到這裡，我想將電話轉給 Skechers 的營運長 David Weinberg；和財務長約翰·范德莫爾。大衛？

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today for our first quarter 2024 conference call, which marks our 100 as a public company. We started the year with a new quarterly sales record of $2.25 billion, an increase of 12.5% or $250 million compared to last year and adjusted diluted earnings per share record of $1.33.

下午好，感謝您今天參加我們的 2024 年第一季電話會議，這標誌著我們成為上市公司 100 週年。今年伊始，我們的季度銷售額達到 22.5 億美元，比去年增長 12.5%，即 2.5 億美元，調整後的稀釋後每股收益創紀錄的 1.33 美元。

Additionally, we achieved gross margins of 52.5% and an operating margin of 13.3%. These impressive results were driven by growth in both our reportable segments, direct-to-consumer and wholesale as well as across all regions of the world. The strong global demand for our brand was due to fresh innovations in our proven styles, a more robust offering of our many comfort technologies and the expansion of our performance and Lifestyle divisions into new categories and collections. The newer offerings include our partnership with Snoop Dog and the Skechers' football and basketball lines. As the comfort technology company, we focus first on delivering the ultimate and innovative comfort and style across our product lines. So that every payer looks and feels exceptional. This includes our machine washable footwear for kids, durable outdoor styles and sports styles and our street and court fashion collections. For our Performance division, great attention and detail is paid to elevating the fit and comfort while meeting the needs of elite athletes and enthusiasts of football, basketball, golf and pickleball as well as running and walking. Brooke Henderson, Matt Fitzpatrick, Catherine Parenteau and many others around the world are competing in Skechers and embracing our comfort that performs.

此外，我們的毛利率為 52.5%，營業利益率為 13.3%。這些令人印象深刻的業績是由我們的可報告部門、直接面向消費者和批發部門以及世界所有地區的成長所推動的。全球對我們品牌的強勁需求歸因於我們經過驗證的款式的全新創新、我們提供的眾多舒適技術的更強大以及我們的性能和生活方式部門擴展到新的類別和系列。較新的產品包括我們與 Snoop Dog 的合作以及 Skechers 的足球和籃球系列。作為舒適科技公司，我們首先專注於在我們的產品線中提供終極和創新的舒適性和風格。讓每個付款人看起來和感覺都很出色。這包括我們的可機洗兒童鞋、耐用的戶外鞋和運動鞋以及我們的街頭和宮廷時尚系列。我們的表演部門非常注重細節，注重提升合身性和舒適度，同時滿足精英運動員和足球、籃球、高爾夫、泡菜球以及跑步和步行愛好者的需求。布魯克·亨德森 (Brooke Henderson)、馬特·菲茨帕特里克 (Matt Fitzpatrick)、凱瑟琳·帕倫托 (Catherine Parenteau) 和世界各地的許多其他人都穿著 Skechers 參加比賽，並享受我們的舒適表現。

This enthusiasm from those at the top of their game is also resonating with consumers and the media, including Shape Magazine, which just named Skechers Viper Court, the best Pickleball shoe in their 2024 report and Sports Illustrated, Germany, which featured Harry Kane on the cover, wearing our SKX-01 football boots and Skechers performance apparel. The brand at each of these product initiatives are supported by impactful marketing initiatives, be it this year's commercial for the Super Bowl with Mr. T. and Tony Romo to our first basketball campaigns with Julius and Terance. In the quarter, we launched new spots for kids, BOBS, Max Cushioning and work, all with Skechers hands-free slippers. And just last week, we added a new lineup of commercials that includes Skechers UNO with actress Ashley Park and go walk Slip-ins and apparel with TV host Amanda Kloots.

頂尖人士的這種熱情也引起了消費者和媒體的共鳴，其中包括《Shape》雜誌，該雜誌剛剛在其2024 年報告中將Skechers Viper Court 評為最佳匹克球鞋，以及德國《體育畫報》( Sports Illustrate)，雜誌以哈利凱恩(Harry Kane) 為主角封面人物穿著我們的 SKX-01 足球鞋和 Skechers 功能服裝。每項產品計劃的品牌都得到了有影響力的營銷計劃的支持，無論是今年與T. 先生和托尼·羅莫(Tony Romo) 合作的超級碗廣告，還是與朱利葉斯(Julius) 和特倫斯(Terance) 合作的首次籃球廣告。本季度，我們推出了兒童、BOBS、Max Cushioning 和工作的新景點，全部都配備 Skechers 免持拖鞋。就在上週，我們增加了一系列新的廣告，其中包括與女演員 Ashley Park 合作的 Skechers UNO 廣告以及與電視主持人 Amanda Kloots 合作的 go walk Slip-ins 和服裝。

Along with these on-air campaigns, we employ a 360-degree marketing approach, reaching consumers at multiple touch points. To achieve the notable growth that we have this quarter and to continue to meet the needs of consumers around the world, it takes the effort and dedication of the entire global Skechers team, our designers and supply chain partners who ensure our product is at the highest quality and our third-party retailers whom we have valuable relationships with. We thank each associate, employee and colleague for working together for our continued success.

除了這些直播活動外，我們還採用 360 度行銷方法，在多個接觸點接觸消費者。為了實現本季度的顯著增長並繼續滿足世界各地消費者的需求，需要整個斯凱奇全球團隊、我們的設計師和供應鏈合作夥伴的努力和奉獻，他們確保我們的產品處於最高水平質量以及與我們有著寶貴關係的第三方零售商。我們感謝每一位員工、員工和同事為我們的持續成功而共同努力。

Looking at our first quarter results. Sales increased 12.5% to $2.25 billion. International sales increased 15%, representing approximately 65% of our total sales in the first quarter, and domestic sales increased 7.8%. By region, EMEA increased 17%, APAC by 16% and the Americas by 7.8%. Additionally, both wholesale and direct-to-consumer grew nicely in the quarter. Our wholesale sales increased 9.8%, reflecting a return to growth in both international at 11% and domestic at 7.7%. Internationally, the increase was due in part to improved inventory position at certain partners, the growth of our distributors across geographies and particularly strong sales in China, Germany and the U.K. For domestic, the return to growth was a result of significant improvement in the flow of orders with both improved ASPs and volume. SKECHERS is in demand by many of our customers around the world as is evidenced by our strong sales.

看看我們第一季的業績。銷售額成長 12.5%，達到 22.5 億美元。國際銷售額成長 15%，約佔第一季總銷售額的 65%，國內銷售額成長 7.8%。按地區劃分，歐洲、中東和非洲地區成長了 17%，亞太地區成長了 16%，美洲成長了 7.8%。此外，本季批發和直接面向消費者的業務均成長良好。我們的批發銷售額成長了 9.8%，反映出國際成長 11% 和國內成長 7.7%。在國際上，成長的部分原因是某些合作夥伴的庫存狀況改善、我們跨地區經銷商的成長，以及中國、德國和英國的銷售尤其強勁。價和銷售量均有所提高的訂單數量。斯凱奇受到世界各地許多客戶的需求，我們強勁的銷售證明了這一點。

Direct-to-consumer, which increased 17%, continues to be an important segment of our business and an indicator of positive consumer appetite for our brand. With growth in nearly every market for both our brick-and-mortar and e-commerce stores, we saw a 24% increase internationally and an 8% increase domestically. We ended the quarter with 5,203 Skechers branded stores worldwide, of which 1,671 are company-owned locations, including 565 in the United States. We opened 52 company-owned stores in the quarter, including 22 in China, 10 in the United States, 5 in Colombia and 2 in both India and Korea. We closed 29 stores in the quarter. Also in the period, 95 third-party stores opened, including 54 in China, 9 in Indonesia and 3 each in Australia, the Philippines and Turkey. This brings our third-party store count at quarter end to 3,532.

直接面向消費者成長了 17%，仍然是我們業務的重要組成部分，也是消費者對我們品牌積極興趣的指標。隨著我們的實體店和電子商務商店在幾乎每個市場的成長，我們看到國際成長了 24%，國內成長了 8%。截至本季末，我們在全球擁有 5,203 家 Skechers 品牌商店，其中 1,671 家為公司自營店，其中 565 家位於美國。本季我們開設了 52 家公司自營店，其中 22 家在中國，10 家在美國，5 家在哥倫比亞，2 家在印度和韓國。本季我們關閉了 29 家商店。同期，新開第三方店95家，其中中國54家，印尼9家，澳洲、菲律賓及土耳其各3家。這使得我們季度末的第三方商店數量達到 3,532 家。

In the second quarter to date, we've opened 15 stores, including 3 company-owned stores in both China and the United States. We expect to open 155 to 170 company-owned stores worldwide over the remainder of 2024. Our record sales in the quarter, along with our efforts to manage inventory levels, resulted in a 9.4% reduction year-over-year and an 11% reduction from December 31, 2023. We believe our inventory levels are healthy and comprised largely of proven sellers fresh innovations and new product categories. To efficiently manage our inventory flow, we continue to invest in our logistic capabilities, including our new distribution center in Panama, which is expected to be operational in the second quarter as well as a new company-operated DC in Colombia, which we plan to move into later this year to efficiently grow our business worldwide and meet the needs of consumers seeking the ultimate and comfort technology. We continue to invest in our operations, product and marketing.

到目前為止，第二季我們已經開設了 15 家門市，其中包括 3 家在中國和美國的公司自營店。我們預計在2024 年剩餘時間內將在全球開設155 至170 家公司自營商店。下降11%從 2023 年 12 月 31 日起。為了有效管理我們的庫存流，我們繼續投資於我們的物流能力，包括我們在巴拿馬的新配送中心，預計將於第二季度投入運營，以及在哥倫比亞的一個由公司運營的新配送中心，我們計劃在該中心營運今年晚些時候，我們將在全球範圍內高效發展業務，並滿足消費者尋求終極舒適技術的需求。我們繼續投資我們的營運、產品和行銷。

With our numerous accomplishments over the past quarter, we look forward to strategically growing our business in the coming year as well as in the years ahead. And now I'd like to turn the call over to John for more details on our financial results.

憑藉著上一季取得的眾多成就，我們期待在未來一年和未來幾年策略性地發展我們的業務。現在我想將電話轉給約翰，以了解有關我們財務業績的更多詳細資訊。

Thank you, David, and good afternoon, everyone. Skechers delivered another strong quarter of record financial performance, exceeding both our top and bottom line expectations. Our diverse portfolio of high-quality products, combined with our commitment to delivering these products at a reasonable price clearly resonates with today's consumer. We achieved record sales of $2.25 billion, growing 12.5% and earnings per share of $1.33, growing 30% year-over-year.

謝謝大衛，大家下午好。斯凱奇 (Skechers) 再次創下了強勁的季度財務業績記錄，超出了我們的收入和利潤預期。我們多樣化的高品質產品組合，加上我們以合理的價格提供這些產品的承諾，顯然引起了當今消費者的共鳴。我們的銷售額達到創紀錄的 22.5 億美元，年增 12.5%，每股收益達到 1.33 美元，年增 30%。

On a constant currency basis, sales were $2.27 billion, and earnings per share were $1.37. These results were driven by a healthy recovery in our wholesale segment, particularly in the United States and Europe and continued momentum in our direct-to-consumer segment. Despite persistent economic headwinds, our performance this quarter underscores the strength of the Skechers brand worldwide and the consumer demand for our innovative products, together, driving us towards our goal of achieving $10 billion in sales by 2026.

以固定匯率計算，銷售額為 22.7 億美元，每股收益為 1.37 美元。這些業績是由我們的批發部門（特別是在美國和歐洲）的健康復甦以及我們的直接面向消費者部門的持續成長勢頭所推動的。儘管經濟逆風持續存在，我們本季的業績凸顯了 Skechers 品牌在全球的實力以及消費者對我們創新產品的需求，共同推動我們實現到 2026 年實現 100 億美元銷售額的目標。

Consumers understand that comfort is no longer a luxury, but a requirement that shouldn't come at a cost. Skechers [Excels] were comfort and value intersect as evidenced by the strength of our global direct-to-consumer business, which grew 17% year-over-year to $829.9 million. These results were driven by double-digit growth in our e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores and increases of 24% internationally and 8% domestically. Our commitment to prioritizing innovation and supporting this with effective marketing powered these results. We remain excited about our omnichannel growth opportunities. and we'll continue to deliver on our strategy to expand our direct-to-consumer presence worldwide.

消費者明白，舒適不再是奢侈品，而是不應以成本為代價的要求。 Skechers [Excels] 是舒適與價值的結合，我們全球直接面向消費者業務的實力證明了這一點，該業務同比增長 17% 至 8.299 億美元。這些業績的推動因素包括我們的電子商務和實體店的兩位數成長以及國際成長 24% 和國內成長 8%。我們致力於優先考慮創新並透過有效的行銷來支持創新，這推動了這些成果。我們對全通路成長機會仍然感到興奮。我們將繼續實施我們的策略，擴大我們在全球範圍內直接面向消費者的業務。

In wholesale, sales increased 9.8% year-over-year to $1.42 billion, with growth across all regions. As expected, we are seeing a recovery in domestic wholesale with sales increasing 7.7% versus the prior year. Notably, we experienced a significant improvement in the flow of orders including customers taking goods earlier within their shipping windows. International wholesale sales also returned to growth, increasing 11% and as the inventory congestion impacting certain partners, particularly in Europe, evaded. We were encouraged by our wholesale segment, both domestically and internationally, and continue to expect year-over-year growth as we move through the balance of the year.

在批發方面，銷售額年增 9.8%，達到 14.2 億美元，所有地區均成長。正如預期的那樣，我們看到國內批發業出現復甦，銷售額比上年增長 7.7%。值得注意的是，我們的訂單流程有了顯著改善，包括客戶在出貨窗口內提早提貨。國際批發銷售也恢復成長，成長了 11%，庫存擁塞對某些合作夥伴（尤其是歐洲合作夥伴）的影響得到了緩解。我們對國內和國際批發業務感到鼓舞，並繼續預計在今年餘下的時間裡將實現同比增長。

Now turning to our regional sales. In the Americas, sales for the first quarter increased 7.8% year-over-year to $1.02 billion, reflective of the improvements in our domestic wholesale business, which accounted for nearly half of the growth and the continued strength of our direct-to-consumer segment. In particular, our domestic direct-to-consumer business grew at 8%. Although this represents a step down from the robust growth of the prior year, on a 2-year basis, this reflects a remarkable 35% increase in sales.

現在轉向我們的區域銷售。在美洲，第一季銷售額年增 7.8%，達到 10.2 億美元，這反映出我們國內批發業務的改善（佔成長的近一半）以及我們直接面向消費者的持續強勁勢頭部分。特別是，我們的國內直接面向消費者業務成長了8%。雖然這比前一年的強勁成長有所下降，但以兩年為基礎，這反映出銷售額顯著成長了 35%。

In EMEA, sales increased 17% year-over-year to $627.7 million driven by double-digit growth in both segments with broad strength in nearly every country. Our investments to enhance our distribution infrastructure and direct-to-consumer experience, coupled with our strong wholesale partnerships are producing outstanding results for our EMEA business. We also saw notable performance in our direct-to-consumer channels with impressive growth across genders and categories, ranging from athletic to lifestyle and seasonal products. In Asia Pacific, sales increased 16% year-over-year to $604.5 million, led by double-digit growth in most markets.

在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，銷售額年增 17%，達到 6.277 億美元，這兩個細分市場均達到兩位數成長，幾乎在每個國家/地區均擁有廣泛實力。我們為增強分銷基礎設施和直接面向消費者的體驗而進行的投資，加上我們強大的批發合作夥伴關係，為我們的歐洲、中東和非洲業務帶來了出色的業績。我們的直接面向消費者的管道也取得了顯著的業績，從運動產品到生活方式產品和季節性產品，跨性別和類別的成長令人印象深刻。在亞太地區，銷售額年增 16% 至 6.045 億美元，大部分市場均達到兩位數成長。

In China, sales grew 13% and driven by double-digit growth in both our direct-to-consumer and wholesale segments. In India, sales were up slightly as we resolved logistical challenges with our new distribution center. While the regulatory environment in the market is uncertain in the near term, we continue to be confident in the growth opportunities for our brand long term. Gross margin was 52.5%, up 360 basis points compared to the prior year. The improvement was driven by lower freight costs and a favorable product mix as consumers sought out our higher-margin technology-infused products. Operating expenses increased 150 basis points as a percentage of sales year-over-year to 39.2%. Selling expenses increased 50 basis points as a percentage of sales versus last year to 7% primarily due to increased marketing globally, including investments focused on brand building and driving consumer awareness for our Comfort technology products and newly launched categories.

在中國，銷售額成長了 13%，這得益於我們的直接面向消費者和批發領域兩位數的成長。在印度，由於我們透過新的配送中心解決了物流挑戰，銷售額略有成長。儘管短期內市場監管環境存在不確定性，但我們仍然對我們品牌的長期成長機會充滿信心。毛利率為52.5%，較上年增加360個基點。這項改善是由較低的貨運成本和有利的產品組合所推動的，因為消費者尋求我們利潤率較高的技術產品。營運費用佔銷售額的比例年增 150 個基點，達到 39.2%。銷售費用佔銷售額的百分比較去年增加了50 個基點，達到7%，這主要是由於全球行銷的增加，包括專注於品牌建設和提高消費者對我們的舒適技術產品和新推出類別的認識的投資。

General and administrative expenses increased 100 basis points as a percentage of sales to 32.3%, primarily due to higher labor and distribution costs to support growth in our direct-to-consumer segment and compensation-related costs, partially offset by cost efficiencies realized in our U.S. and Europe distribution centers. Earnings from operations were $298.8 million, a 34% increase compared to the prior year, and our operating margin for the quarter was 13.3% compared to 11.2% last year. Our effective tax rate for the first quarter was 19%, compared to 18.5% in the prior year. Earnings per share were $1.33 per diluted share, a 30% increase on 155.1 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding.

一般和管理費用佔銷售額的百分比增加了100 個基點，達到32.3%，這主要是由於支持我們直接面向消費者部門增長的勞動力和分銷成本以及與薪酬相關的成本增加，部分被我們實現的成本效率所抵銷。營運利潤為 2.988 億美元，比上年增長 34%，本季營運利潤率為 13.3%，而去年為 11.2%。我們第一季的有效稅率為 19%，而去年同期為 18.5%。稀釋後每股收益為 1.33 美元，較 1.551 億股加權平均稀釋後流通股成長 30%。

And now turning to our balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $1.25 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments an increase of $322.2 million versus the prior year, primarily from improved working capital management and operating efficiency. Inventory was $1.36 billion, a decrease of 9.4% or $141.6 million compared to the prior year. Notably, we lowered inventory levels in the Americas by 18% and EMEA by 6.9% compared to the prior year. We believe our current inventory levels are healthy and well positioned to support demand in 2024. And Accounts receivable at quarter end were $1.16 billion, an increase of $105.7 million compared to the prior year, reflecting higher wholesale sales. Capital expenditures for the quarter were $57.1 million, of which $24.3 million related to investments in new store openings and direct-to-consumer technologies, $15.6 million related to the expansion of our distribution infrastructure, and $7.4 million related to the construction of our new corporate offices.

現在轉向我們的資產負債表。本季結束時，我們的現金、現金等價物和投資為 12.5 億美元，比上年增加了 3.222 億美元，主要得益於營運資金管理和營運效率的改善。庫存為 13.6 億美元，比上年減少 9.4%，即 1.416 億美元。值得注意的是，與前一年相比，我們將美洲的庫存水準降低了 18%，歐洲、中東和非洲的庫存水準降低了 6.9%。我們相信，我們目前的庫存水準處於健康狀態，足以支持 2024 年的需求。本季的資本支出為 5,710 萬美元，其中 2,430 萬美元與新店開業和直接面向消費者技術的投資有關，1,560 萬美元與擴大分銷基礎設施有關，740 萬美元與建設新公司有關辦公室。

Our capital investments are focused on supporting our strategic priorities, which include growing our direct-to-consumer segment and expanding our brand presence globally. During the first quarter, we repurchased nearly 1 million shares of our Class A common stock at a cost of $60 million. We continue to deploy our capital consistent with our stated philosophy, while maintaining a durable balance sheet and ample liquidity. Now turning to guidance. For the full year 2024, we expect sales in the range of $8.725 billion to $8.875 billion, and net earnings per share in the range of $3.95 to $4.10, representing annual growth of 10% and 15%, respectively, at the midpoint.

我們的資本投資主要用於支持我們的策略重點，其中包括發展我們的直接面向消費者的細分市場以及擴大我們的全球品牌影響力。第一季度，我們以 6,000 萬美元的成本回購了近 100 萬股 A​​ 類普通股。我們繼續按照我們既定的理念部署資本，同時保持持久的資產負債表和充足的流動性。現在轉向指導。對於 2024 年全年，我們預計銷售額將在 87.25 億美元至 88.75 億美元之間，每股淨利潤將在 3.95 美元至 4.10 美元之間，年增長率中點分別為 10% 和 15%。

For the second quarter, we expect sales in the range of $2.175 billion to $2.225 billion and net earnings per share in the range of $0.85 to $0.90. Earnings per share will be down slightly in the quarter due primarily to the timing of demand creation spending, which is typically highest during the second quarter as we amplify consumer awareness for our product portfolio and position our brand for successful summer and back-to-school periods. We believe this investment is critical to driving growth on a full year basis and one of the reasons why we are fully incorporating this quarter's outperformance into our full year guidance. Our effective tax rate for the year is expected to be between 19% and 20%, and minority interest is expected to grow in line with total sales.

我們預計第二季銷售額將在 21.75 億美元至 22.25 億美元之間，每股淨利潤將在 0.85 美元至 0.90 美元之間。本季每股收益將略有下降，主要是由於需求創造支出的時機，需求創造支出通常在第二季度最高，因為我們增強了消費者對我們產品組合的認識，並將我們的品牌定位為成功的夏季和返校季期間。我們相信這項投資對於推動全年成長至關重要，也是我們將本季的優異表現完全納入我們全年指引的原因之一。我們今年的有效稅率預計在 19% 至 20% 之間，少數股東權益預計將隨著總銷售額的成長而成長。

Capital expenditures are anticipated to be between $325 million and $375 million as we continue to invest in our strategic priorities, including opening additional stores expanding our omnichannel capabilities and adding incremental distribution capacity in key markets, including constructing our second distribution center in China, a 2 million square foot facility which will likely elevate our capital expenditures this year and next. We remain confident in our objective of achieving $10 billion in sales by 2026 and are well positioned to drive long-term earnings growth. We thank you all for your time today and look forward to updating you on our second quarter financial results, which we expect to release on Thursday, July 25.

隨著我們繼續投資於我們的戰略重點，包括開設更多商店，擴大我們的全通路能力，並增加主要市場的增量分銷能力，包括在中國建立我們的第二個分銷中心，預計資本支出將在3.25 億美元至3.75 億美元之間。我們對 2026 年實現 100 億美元銷售額的目標仍然充滿信心，並有能力推動長期獲利成長。感謝大家今天抽出時間，並期待向您通報我們第二季財務業績的最新情況，我們預計將於 7​​ 月 25 日星期四發布該業績。

With that, I will now turn the call over to David for closing remarks.

現在，我將把電話轉交給大衛，讓其致閉幕詞。

Thank you, John. We started the year on a high note by setting new quarterly sales and adjusted diluted earnings per share records with strong growth and operating margins. We delivered results above expectations and further expanded globally with a growing presence in the technical performance space and our innovative comfort footwear continuing to be a must-have for shoppers around the world. Skechers is delivering on its fundamental design tenants of style, comfort, innovation and quality at a reasonable price, which is resonating with shoppers from all walks of life. We believe comfort is a top priority and that casual and athletic are in high demand. While e-commerce continues to exhibit strength. People are also looking to engage and shop in our physical stores. We are committed to delivering high-performance comfort technical footwear while broadening our offering of Skechers hands-free Slip-ins developing new looks in our sport, street and casual divisions, enhancing the Skechers shopping experience at all touch points and operating in an increasingly efficient manner.

謝謝你，約翰。我們以強勁的成長和營業利潤率創下了新的季度銷售額和調整後的稀釋每股盈餘記錄，以高調開啟了這一年。我們取得了超越預期的成果，並在全球進一步擴張，在技術性能領域的影響力不斷擴大，我們創新的舒適鞋類仍然是世界各地購物者的必備品。 Skechers 以合理的價格提供其風格、舒適、創新和品質的基本設計理念，引起了各行各業購物者的共鳴。我們相信舒適是重中之重，休閒和運動的需求很大。而電子商務持續展現實力。人們也希望在我們的實體店參與和購物。我們致力於提供高性能、舒適的技術鞋類，同時擴大Skechers 免持Slip-ins 的產品範圍，在我們的運動、街頭和休閒部門開發新的外觀，增強Skechers 在所有接觸點的購物體驗，並以越來越有效率的方式運作。

Our extensive product offering best-in-class partnerships with our distribution network and strong global demand give us confidence that we will have another record-breaking year as we continue to evolve and innovate and move toward our goal of $10 billion in annual sales by 2026. We again want to thank our entire supply chain and the Skechers team for delivering another successful quarter. I'd like to take a moment to thank all involved for their continued efforts assisting in delivering these results as we mark our 100th call.

我們廣泛的產品供應、與分銷網絡的一流合作夥伴關係以及強勁的全球需求使我們相信，隨著我們不斷發展和創新，並朝著2026 年年銷售額100 億美元的目標邁進，我們將再創紀錄的一年我們再次感謝我們的整個供應鏈和 Skechers 團隊帶來了另一個成功的季度。在我們召開第 100 次電話會議之際，我想花點時間感謝所有相關人員為實現這些成果所做的持續努力。

Now I would like to turn the call over to the operator for questions.

現在我想將電話轉給接線員詢問問題。

Actually, before turning to the operator, I want to take a moment to commemorate this our 100th earnings call as a public company. Skechers began trading on June 9, 1999. Many of the employees present that day continue to be deeply involved in the company, including our management team. However, only one person has been on each and every one of our earnings calls since going public. As we celebrate today's milestone of our 100th earnings call, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and honor the remarkable commitment of David Weinberg, our Chief Operating Officer. For over 30 years, he has been integral to Skechers success and his dedication has been unwavering. So on behalf of Skechers' Board of Directors, senior management team, and employees worldwide, I would like to sincerely thank Mr. David Weinberg.

事實上，在向營運商求助之前，我想花點時間來紀念我們作為上市公司召開的第 100 次財報電話會議。 Skechers 於 1999 年 6 月 9 日開始交易。然而，自上市以來，只有一個人出席了我們的每一場財報電話會議。在我們慶祝今天第 100 次財報電話會議的里程碑之際，我們想花一點時間來認可和兌現我們首席營運長 David Weinberg 的卓越承諾。 30 多年來，他一直是 Skechers 成功不可或缺的一部分，他的奉獻精神始終堅定不移。因此，我謹代表斯凱奇董事會、高階管理團隊以及全球員工，衷心感謝大衛‧溫伯格先生。

I also want to extend heartfelt gratitude to the many other key contributors to the earnings process, including Jennifer Clay, our Vice President of Corporate Communications; as well as our dedicated finance, accounting, Investor Relations and legal departments, all of whom have contributed to our journey of growth and success as a public company. With that said, I will now turn the call over to the operator.

我還要向獲利過程中的許多其他關鍵貢獻者表示衷心的感謝，包括我們的企業傳播副總裁 Jennifer Clay；以及我們專門的財務、會計、投資者關係和法律部門，所有這些部門都為我們作為上市公司的成長和成功做出了貢獻。話雖如此，我現在將把電話轉給接線員。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Jay Sole with UBS.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 UBS 的 Jay Sole 線路。

My question is just there's so many positives in Q1, really strong guidance raise for the full year. If you get boiled down, really what was above your expectations, and what really drove the strong results in Q1 to 1 or 2 things. What would you say? .

我的問題是，第一季有很多積極因素，全年指導確實非常強勁。如果你歸結起來，到底是什麼超出了你的預期，以及真正推動第一季強勁業績的原因有 1 或 2 件事。你打算說什麼？ 。

Product. Don't we always.

產品。我們不總是這樣嗎？

Yes, I think it's the success of the product. It's manifest in a stronger domestic wholesale rebound than we had originally anticipated for the quarter. continued strength on the domestic and international direct-to-consumer front. In a lot of ways, the quarter came out how we hoped it would when we started the year. We just didn't have all the data yet that would suggest we get fully there. And I think what you're seeing in the results, which are, we would argue some of the broadest, strongest results we've seen in a while. It's a reflection of the success of the product across the board.

是的，我認為這是產品的成功。這體現在國內批發反彈比我們最初預期的季度更為強勁。在國內和國際直接面向消費者方面持續保持強勢。在很多方面，本季的表現都符合我們年初時的預期。我們只是還沒有獲得所有表明我們已經完全實現這一目標的數據。我認為你在結果中看到的是，我們認為這是我們一段時間以來看到的一些最廣泛、最強有力的結果。這反映了該產品的全面成功。

Okay. And maybe, John, if I can follow up on that. Just there's a lot of talk in the industry about a lot of brands getting more focused on the wholesale channel. And potentially what the impact of that is on Skechers. Can you just give us a sense of what you see in your order book as you look out through Q2 and to the extent you have visibility through the rest of the year and how you see the wholesale business developing, obviously, after a very strong quarter.

好的。也許，約翰，如果我能跟進的話。業界有很多關於許多品牌越來越關注批發管道的討論。這對 Skechers 可能會產生什麼影響。您能否讓我們了解一下您在第二季度的訂單簿中看到的情況以及今年剩餘時間的可見性，以及在經歷了非常強勁的季度之後您如何看待批發業務的發展。

Well, if you remember, as we began the year, we expressed optimism in what we were seeing in our early bookings. You see in the domestic wholesale rebound in particular and the returns in Europe that came through. I think it's only gotten stronger since then. So I would say, again, kind of echoing David's original comment on the back of the product that we're delivering innovation that we're bringing to the market as well as entry into some newer categories for us, we continue to see really healthy signs on the wholesale front. We expect that to then carry throughout the year. And so that, I think, again, speaks to the broad strength in the brand right now.

好吧，如果您還記得的話，在今年年初，我們對早期預訂中所看到的情況表示樂觀。尤其是國內批發的反彈以及歐洲的回報。我認為從那時起它只會變得更強。所以我想說，再次呼應大衛對產品背面的最初評論，我們正在向市場提供創新，並為我們進入一些新的類別，我們繼續看到真正的健康批發前面的標誌。我們預計這一情況將貫穿全年。因此，我認為，這再次說明了該品牌目前的廣泛實力。

Our next question comes from the line of Laurent Vasilescu with BNP Paribas.

我們的下一個問題來自法國巴黎銀行的 Laurent Vasilescu。

Congrats on the beat, the Rays and David, for your tenth call into many more calls together. John, I wanted to ask last quarter, I think you kind of -- you called out that wholesale should grow high single digits for the year. Should we assume that grows low double digits now if that's the case, can you maybe parse out how do we think about domestic versus international wholesale for the year?

恭喜 The Beat、The Rays 和 David，你們第十次一起接到更多電話。約翰，我想問上個季度，我想你有點 - 你呼籲今年批發應該增長高個位數。如果是這樣的話，我們是否應該假設現在增長兩位數，您能否分析一下我們如何看待今年的國內批發和國際批發？

Right now, we're anticipating that the wholesale segment will grow kind of mid- to high single digits. Again, we're seeing really encouraging signs in our wholesale activity, our order book as well as just the sell-through that we're seeing. We're seeing also some really good success with partners who have come to fully embrace our Comfort Technology product suite. And so I would suggest you that we're likely to see something between mid- to high single digits. I do think the power for that is going to come from the international side of the business. But we're incredibly pleased with what we saw in domestic coal, but wholesale, you said at the beginning of the year, we are confident we would see some rebound in the first half of the year. We've seen it in the first quarter at about 8%. I expect that we'll see some in the second quarter as well. And then beyond the current booking window, we're starting to receive orders and they all continue to suggest that things will continue to grow, which is a great position for the brand to be in.

目前，我們預期批發市場將實現中高個位數成長。再次，我們在批發活動、訂單簿以及我們所看到的銷售中看到了令人鼓舞的跡象。我們也看到與完全接受我們的舒適技術產品套件的合作夥伴取得了一些非常好的成功。因此，我建議您，我們可能會看到中高個位數之間的數字。我確實認為實現這一目標的力量將來自於國際業務。但我們對國內煤炭的情況感到非常滿意，但從批發角度來看，您在今年年初表示，我們有信心在今年上半年看到一些反彈。我們在第一季看到這一比例約為 8%。我預計我們在第二季也會看到一些。然後在當前的預訂窗口之後，我們開始收到訂單，他們都繼續表明事情將繼續增長，這對該品牌來說是一個很好的位置。

Fantastic. Good to hear. John, your 10-K calls out that you're going to embark on a multiyear ERP implementation for the audience. Can you maybe talk about the OpEx and CapEx investments embedded in your guide? For this year's ERP. I know it's the first year. And then longer term, once you complete this ERP, where do you think the opportunity is for the operating margin for the company?

極好的。很高興聽到。 John，您的 10-K 指出您將開始為受眾實施多年的 ERP 實施。您能否談談指南中包含的營運支出和資本支出投資？對於今年的ERP。我知道這是第一年。從長遠來看，一旦您完成了這個 ERP，您認為公司的營運利潤機會在哪裡？

Well, taking your last bit of the question first. I mean, nothing has diminished our enthusiasm for opportunity to get first into the double digits to low double digits that we've spoken about. Obviously, a 13% operating margin. Operating margin this quarter was exceptional. We're incredibly pleased with that. still working for this year to get into the double digits.

好吧，先回答你最後一個問題。我的意思是，沒有什麼能減弱我們對機會的熱情，我們已經談到了首先進入兩位數到低兩位數的機會。顯然，營業利益率為 13%。本季的營業利潤率非常出色。我們對此感到非常滿意。今年仍在努力爭取達到兩位數。

I would say the implementation for the ERP as well as a lot of other things we're doing in the company speak to our intent to continue to grow this brand. to that $10 billion and beyond. It's one of many investments we are making regularly to improve the opportunity that extends from everything in the system, stores, the distribution functionality. So I would consider it all part of a suite of investments we're making across the globe to continue to drive this business because we believe, again, as we've said before, $10 billion is a way point not the ending point. We will continue to grow this brand beyond that. I would say, from a capital, from an OpEx perspective, it's all embedded in what we've given you and what we will give you going forward so that we don't have to talk about the regular items as adjustments. We'd rather just embed them into the guidance and they're fully encapsulated in what we've given you.

我想說，ERP 的實施以及我們在公司所做的許多其他事情都表明了我們繼續發展這個品牌的意圖。 100 億美元甚至更多。這是我們定期進行的眾多投資之一，旨在改善系統、商店、分銷功能等各個方面的機會。因此，我認為這都是我們在全球範圍內進行的一系列投資的一部分，以繼續推動這項業務，因為我們再次相信，正如我們之前所說，100 億美元只是一個終點，而不是終點。我們將繼續發展這個品牌。我想說，從資本、從營運支出的角度來看，這一切都包含在我們已經為您提供的以及我們未來將為您提供的內容中，這樣我們就不必將常規項目視為調整。我們寧願將它們嵌入到指南中，並將它們完全封裝在我們為您提供的內容中。

That's great. And then just as a final question. You talked about it's about product. In today's press release, you talked about signing up 3 MLB players. You've entered basketball, you entered Global Football, should we assume that you're going to enter the baseball category. And I don't know if you can comment on anything about [MLB] wearing Skechers shoes as of late. That would be great.

那太棒了。然後作為最後一個問題。你談到這是關於產品的。在今天的新聞稿中，您談到了簽約 3 名 MLB 球員。你已經進入了籃球，你進入了全球足球，我們是否應該假設你將進入棒球類別。我不知道你是否可以對 [MLB] 最近穿著 Skechers 鞋發表評論。那太好了。

Yes. We're going to continue. Obviously, it's a great starting point for us, and it's part of what we believe will take us out further in the next couple of years for both the brand and the traditional category. We think it's great that Joel is wearing the shoes. He's trying out. He's testing them out. We've had a great relationship with him. We have nothing to announce today, but we will, I believe, shortly as you work through this. But that's coming. He is obviously more involved right now in the playoffs. And I'm sure he's worrying about tonight's game more than he's worried about any announcements or anything like that. But right now, he seems very comfortable in the shoes. It's great that he's wearing them.

是的。我們要繼續。顯然，這對我們來說是一個很好的起點，我們相信這將在未來幾年內帶領我們在品牌和傳統類別上取得進一步的進步。我們認為喬爾穿上這雙鞋真是太棒了。他正在嘗試。他正在測試它們。我們和他的關係很好。今天我們沒有什麼要宣布的，但我相信，當您解決這個問題時，我們很快就會宣布。但那即將到來。他現在顯然更多地參與了季後賽。我確信他更擔心今晚的比賽，而不是任何公告或類似的事情。但現在，他看起來很舒服。他穿著它們真是太好了。

But we've got great results from Julius Crandall, who we're sorry, is missing because it would have been great in the playoffs he was playing great. Terance is playing greatness. There's other people we're talking to, our football business continues to grow. We have actually signed a cricket player as we move forward and sponsoring the Mumbai Indians as we go forward as a team. So -- we're moving into a modest course, a lot of categories, baseball, as you mentioned, we think it's all positive for the brand for people's understanding of the quality and intensity we develop shoes with and how comfort comfortable they are, even though they're made very, very well and compete at the highest level.

但我們從朱利葉斯·克蘭德爾那裡得到了很好的成績，我們很遺憾他缺席了，因為如果他在季後賽中打得很好，那就太好了。特倫斯正在發揮出色。我們正在與其他人交談，我們的足球業務持續成長。實際上，我們在前進的過程中簽下了一名板球運動員，並在我們作為一個團隊前進的過程中贊助了孟買印第安人隊。所以——我們正在進入一個適度的課程，很多類別，棒球，正如你提到的，我們認為這對品牌來說都是積極的，因為人們了解我們開發鞋子的質量和強度以及它們的舒適度，儘管它們製作得非常非常好並且在最高水平上競爭。

So we think that's all positive for the brand. But right now, that's just building for the future. The success today comes from what exists today, what we continue to bring forward. our styling. We continue to invest in the product more so than I believe anybody else in our industry, it shows it's part of the answers you'll get about wholesale and direct-to-consumer. It's all about product, brand identity and all those things are hitting together and feel very, very good right now.

所以我們認為這對品牌來說都是正面的。但現在，這只是為未來而建設。今天的成功來自於今天的存在，來自於我們繼續前進的東西。我們的造型。我們繼續對該產品的投資超過了我相信的行業中的任何其他人，這表明這是您將獲得的有關批發和直接面向消費者的答案的一部分。這一切都與產品、品牌形像有關，所有這些東西都在一起，現在感覺非常非常好。

Our next question comes from the line of Jim Duffy with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自吉姆·達菲和史蒂菲爾的對話。

Great job to the Skechers team, very clear evidence of share gain in the otherwise difficult market. And David, that's a phenomenal run 100 earnings calls, that's a lot of time dealing with the sell side. My sympathies are with you for that.

Skechers 團隊做得很好，非常清楚地證明了在原本困難的市場中份額的成長。 David，這是驚人的 100 場財報電話會議，需要花很多時間與賣方打交道。我對此表示同情。

Let me just start on China. I wanted to ask a question about distribution center capacity there, really began to ramp the prior China DC in 2021. And I'm guessing growth in China since and it has been below what you might have forecast. I'm curious where this additional China DC takes your capacity and how you thought about that?

讓我先從中國開始。我想問一個關於那裡的配送中心容量的問題，實際上在 2021 年開始增加之前的中國配送中心。我很好奇這個額外的中國 DC 會佔用你們的產能，你們對此有何看法？

Well, originally, the first distribution center was not to take care of all the volumes. So we knew we were underutilized when it was finished. We used a lot of third parties logistics people in China because it's spread out and done. We are now taking a bigger piece of that distribution facility, using our work for our own use. So we think when this new facility is done, we will have some excess capacity, but we'll use it throughout the big holidays because it was never meant to do a complete job on Singles' Day, which is an outsize. So we'll do bigger percentages and gain more efficiencies as we move through and grow into the second building. And I think it should set us up very, very well to be significantly more efficient with our online and direct-to-consumer businesses in China.

嗯，最初，第一個配送中心並不是負責處理所有的捲。所以我們知道當它完成時我們沒有得到充分利用。我們在中國使用了很多第三方物流人員，因為它是分散和完成的。我們現在正在佔用該分發設施的更大一部分，將我們的工作用於我們自己的用途。因此，我們認為，當這個新設施建成後，我們將有一些過剩的產能，但我們將在整個重大假期中使用它，因為它從來沒有打算在雙十一期間完成完整的工作，這是一個特大的。因此，當我們進入並發展到第二棟大樓時，我們將採取更大的百分比並獲得更高的效率。我認為這應該使我們能夠非常非常好地提高我們在中國的線上和直接面向消費者業務的效率。

Great. And John, can you speak to the P&L impact from that investment? Should we expect a delevering contribution as you begin investments there ahead of scaling into the capacity.

偉大的。約翰，您能談談該投資對損益的影響嗎？當您在擴大產能之前開始投資時，我們是否應該期望去槓桿化的貢獻？

Well, that won't really hit until at the earliest 2025, potentially 2026, we're just starting, so the current spend is largely capital in nature. I would echo David's comment, though, what we've seen in China from the first distribution center is pretty similar to what we see across the globe in that once the capacity is installed we get more and more efficient as we utilize the capacity as we learned to utilize it better as we adapt to the market.

嗯，這最早要到 2025 年（可能是 2026 年）才會真正發生，我們才剛開始，所以目前的支出主要是資本性質的。不過，我同意大衛的評論，我們在中國從第一個配送中心看到的情況與我們在全球看到的情況非常相似，因為一旦安裝了容量，我們就會變得越來越高效，因為我們在利用容量時會變得越來越有效率。

One of the benefits of a little bit of the slowdown post COVID in China was actually allowed us to absorb more of that third-party service demand into our own DC. So we actually saw a little bit of an acceleration in the efficiency gain in China than would otherwise have been the case because we had the ability to absorb more of that capacity internally. But I would say it's largely going to be a '25, '26 event before we see any of those start-up costs come into play. But even when we had that with the existing distribution center, it wasn't really extraordinary [due to COVID], we didn't talk about it a lot because it didn't really factor sizably into our results. And that's our current expectation, although as we get closer, we'll refine that and provide perspective as needed.

新冠疫情後中國經濟放緩的好處之一實際上是讓我們能夠將更多的第三方服務需求吸收到我們自己的資料中心。因此，我們實際上看到中國的效率增益比其他情況加速，因為我們有能力在內部吸收更多的產能。但我想說，在我們看到任何啟動​​成本發揮作用之前，這很大程度上將是 25 年、26 年的事件。但即使我們在現有的配送中心做到了這一點，[由於新冠疫情]，這並不是什麼特別的事情，我們也沒有過多談論它，因為它並沒有真正影響到我們的結果。這就是我們目前的期望，儘管隨著時間的推移，我們將對其進行改進並根據需要提供觀點。

Very good. Then just a quick modeling detail question. You spoke to elevated demand creation in the second quarter, should that be a give back in this back half of the year. Is that simply timing of demand creation relative to the prior year?

非常好。然後是一個快速建模細節問題。您談到第二季需求創造增加，這應該是今年下半年的回饋。這僅僅是相對於上一年度的需求創造時間嗎？

It's a little bit of both, to be honest. As we mentioned, I think, about the midpoint of last year, we feel it's incredibly important for our message of innovation, particularly around our comfort technologies to be out in the marketplace. And one of those we're leading with -- and as a result, supporting with a lot of marketing is the Skechers hands-free slip-in technology, of which we're seeing a lot of copycat work today. So we want to make sure we get out ahead of that and firmly brand that technology as Skechers. So I would argue, a little bit of it is timing as Q2 is always our most intense period a little bit, it is incremental investment to make sure within the consumers' perception of that technology, it's solidly understood that it's a Skechers comfort technology and not one that can be easily replicated elsewhere.

老實說，兩者都有一點。正如我們所提到的，我認為，大約在去年中期，我們認為這對我們的創新訊息非常重要，特別是圍繞我們的舒適技術進入市場。我們所領先的技術之一是 Skechers 免持滑入式技術，因此，我們進行了大量的營銷支持，今天我們看到了很多模仿的作品。因此，我們希望確保我們能夠走在前面，並堅定地將這項技術打造成 Skechers 的品牌。因此，我認為，其中一點是時機，因為第二季度始終是我們最緊張的時期，這是增量投資，以確保消費者對該技術的看法，人們充分理解這是 Skechers 的舒適技術，並且無法在其他地方輕易複製。

Our next question comes from the line of John Kernan with TD Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 John Kernan 和 TD Cowen 的對話。

This is Krista Zuber on for John. And congrats, David. Just 2 questions for us. First on really just ASPs and kind of the expectation for the balance of this year, you're lapping some easier wholesale ASPs in Q2 and Q3, but a little bit more challenging on the DTC side of things. So just kind of how you're expecting that to play out for the balance of the year? And then I just have one follow-up on the slip-ins.

我是約翰的克里斯塔祖伯。恭喜你，大衛。只需要問我們 2 個問題。首先，就真正的 ASP 和今年剩餘時間的預期而言，您將在第二季和第三季獲得一些更容易的批發 ASP，但在 DTC 方面更具挑戰性。那麼，您預計今年餘下時間的情況會如何？然後我就對滑入事件進行了一項後續行動。

Yes. I would say this year is going to be more about volume than price. We will see and expect some elevation in ASPs, although not nearly what we've seen over the last couple of years. That's largely going to stem from product mix. We continue to see consumers choosing within our portfolio the higher-value Comfort technology-laden products, and that's actually driving ASPs apart from anything we're doing from a pricing perspective. So I would expect that much more of this year's drive in sales is going to come from units. We will -- again, we'll see a little bit of ASP in there, but not a ton.

是的。我想說，今年將更多地關注數量而不是價格。我們將看到並預期平均售價會有所上升，儘管與過去幾年的情況有所不同。這很大程度源自於產品組合。我們繼續看到消費者在我們的產品組合中選擇更高價值的 Comfort 技術產品，這實際上推動了 ASP 與我們從定價角度所做的任何事情不同。因此，我預計今年的銷售成長動力將更多來自銷量。我們會——再次，我們會在那裡看到一點 ASP，但不是很多。

Okay. Great. And then just on the Slip-in technology. You've mentioned in the past that there's an opportunity here to think about category expansion with this technology. Just kind of any sort of framing that you can give around the sort of the margin profile from this innovation that kind of affords you from the comfort technology, be it Slip-ins Arch Fit, et cetera, and how that's kind of playing out within the total product line at this point?

好的。偉大的。然後就是滑入技術。您過去曾提到，這裡有機會考慮利用這項技術來擴展品類。您可以圍繞這項創新提供的任何類型的框架，為您提供舒適技術，無論是 Slip-ins Arch Fit 等，以及它是如何在內部發揮作用的目前的總產品線是多少？

Yes. I think you're largely seeing that now. I mean it's been coincident with some reductions in landed costs stemming from freight rates coming back to normal, but also evidenced in the gross margin performance we've delivered over the last couple of years is that higher value, again, technology-laden product. I expect you'll continue to see a little bit of gravitation up on the gross margin coming from product and business mix as DTC grows faster than wholesale, you see some benefit from that. So I think that's largely kind of in both what you've seen recently and what you'll continue to see. We will begin to lap that. So there won't be as pronounced a lift coming just from product.

是的。我想你現在基本上已經看到了這一點。我的意思是，這與運費恢復正常導致到岸成本下降是一致的，但在過去幾年我們交付的毛利率表現中也證明了更高價值的技術含量高的產品。我預計，由於 DTC 的成長速度快於批發業務，您將繼續看到產品和業務組合對毛利率的略微上升，您將從中看到一些好處。所以我認為這很大程度上體現在你最近所看到的以及你將繼續看到的情況。我們將開始記錄它。因此，僅僅來自產品的提升不會那麼明顯。

I would also say, I think the design team continues to certainly exceed everybody's expectations with how widely and deeply they've been able to install that technology and products, you would never even dream of benefiting from some of that technology. It's becoming quite prevalent. And then kind of the second iteration design manifestation of the technology is it just keeps getting better. And so I think it's one of the reasons why we believe this is a technology, really a feature that can be employed broadly across the spectrum of our product portfolio that will endure for a very long time.

我還想說，我認為設計團隊肯定會繼續超越每個人的期望，他們能夠廣泛且深入地安裝該技術和產品，你甚至不會夢想從其中的一些技術中受益。它變得相當普遍。然後，該技術的第二次迭代設計表現就是它不斷變得更好。因此，我認為這就是為什麼我們相信這是一項技術，實際上是一項可以在我們的產品組合範圍內廣泛使用的功能，並且將持續很長時間。

Our next question comes from the line of Rick Patel with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自里克·帕特爾和雷蒙·詹姆斯的對話。

0 Congrats on the strong performance and the super impressive milestone, David. Can you unpack the performance of domestic wholesale being up 7.7% a little bit further, what do you see as being the primary driver of that rebound? Is it higher volume within the same accounts? Are you broadening accounts as you launch new products? And secondly, you alluded to orders coming in a little bit earlier than you expected. Does that mean that we should be modeling a slower growth rate in the second quarter? Just some color on the shape of growth for this year would be great as we think about wholesale growing mid- to high single digits for the year.

0 恭喜大衛的出色表現和令人印象深刻的里程碑。能否進一步分析國內批發市場上漲 7.7% 的表現，您認為反彈的主要動力是什麼？相同帳戶內的交易量是否較高？當您推出新產品時，您是否正在擴大客戶範圍？其次，您提到訂單比您預期的要早一些。這是否意味著我們應該模擬第二季成長率放緩的情況？由於我們認為今年的批發增長將達到中高個位數，因此只要對今年的增長形狀進行一些描述就很好了。

I think the biggest factor, most immediately was we've seen more wholesale customers embrace the technology. It was this time last year as we really started to proliferate some of our comfort technologies in our own stores. Not everybody in the wholesale world was equipped or poised to be able to take advantage of that. And I think what you're really seeing is post a pretty decent holiday, they were open to buying in and then also supporting with marketing and price those technologies, and they've sold through really well.

我認為最直接的最大因素是我們看到更多的批發客戶接受了這項技術。去年的這個時候，我們真正開始在自己的商店中推廣一些舒適技術。並不是批發界的每個人都有能力或準備好利用這一點。我認為你真正看到的是在一個相當不錯的假期後，他們願意購買，然後也支持行銷和定價這些技術，而且他們的銷售情況非常好。

So really, what I think we saw more than anything else was not new orders as much as an acceleration of existing orders, customers wanting product sooner to fulfill what is sold out. As we said all of last year, we always saw a really good price sustainability. We saw good margins. Inventories were lean. I think we're starting to finally see the benefit of that as some of the partners out there cleanse themselves of some of the inventory issues they were suffering from last year. And so I think that will continue. As we said at the beginning of the year, we knew the first half of the year would grow. I think you can probably expect at this point a similar level of growth in the second quarter in domestic wholesale.

所以說真的，我認為我們看到的最重要的不是新訂單，而是現有訂單的加速，客戶希望產品更快完成售罄的訂單。正如我們去年全年所說，我們總是看到非常好的價格永續性。我們看到了良好的利潤率。庫存很少。我認為我們終於開始看到這樣做的好處，因為一些合作夥伴已經解決了去年遇到的一些庫存問題。所以我認為這種情況將會持續下去。正如我們在年初所說，我們知道今年上半年將會成長。我認為此時您可能可以預期第二季度國內批發將出現類似的增長水平。

We'll, we see it always boils down in the second quarter, in particular to the timing of shipments toward the end as accounts start to stock up for back-to-school. But right now, I'd say, again, we continue to see optimistic signals, and that would lead us to expect in the second quarter a pretty similar level of growth.

我們會看到它總是在第二季度歸結起來，特別是隨著帳戶開始為返校備貨而接近年底的發貨時間。但現在，我想說，我們繼續看到樂觀的訊號，這將使我們預計第二季將出現非常相似的成長水平。

I think it's important to remember that all of this happens primarily based on sell-through performance of the product that they're seeing now. So if you go back to the original piece is all the good things happen when the consumer likes the product that comes in and shops and move through it. So it starts from sell-throughs, sell-throughs against available inventory, sell-throughs against what you have purchased already where you're open to buy sits and a manipulation of and we're seeing all positive pieces of that around.

我認為重要的是要記住，所有這一切的發生主要基於他們現在看到的產品的銷售表現。因此，如果你回到原來的產品，當消費者喜歡進來、購物和使用的產品時，所有美好的事情都會發生。因此，它從銷售開始，針對可用庫存的銷售，針對您已經購買的已購買商品的銷售，以及對您的操縱，我們看到了所有積極的方面。

Can you also help us with the puts and takes of gross margins going forward. Aside from the DTC outperformance, what's the right way to think about freight? Does that remain a benefit in the second quarter? And how do you expect to exit the year on freight just given the volatility we've seen in the freight rates?

您能否幫助我們了解未來毛利率的賣權和賣出選擇權？除了 DTC 的優異表現外，思考貨運的正確方法是什麼？這在第二季度仍然是一個好處嗎？考慮到我們所看到的運費波動，您預計今年的貨運狀況如何？

Yes. We don't expect a lot further from this. I think we'd always said that Q1 was the last quarter where you'd see a significant contribution from freight. If anything, right now, as you look forward, although freight rates are stable, generally. Certainly, there's some impact observed in kind of European routes because of the Red Sea situation. We don't think that will be a big impact. But I think it speaks to the fact that rates have kind of returned to normal now. We don't expect that to be a significant driver, either a positive or a negative influence on gross margin. I think what you're going to continue to see us benefit from is that channel mix as well as product mix.

是的。我們對此的期望不會太高。我想我們總是說第一季是貨運做出重大貢獻的最後一個季度。如果有什麼不同的話，那就是現在，正如你所期望的那樣，儘管運費總體上是穩定的。當然，由於紅海局勢，歐洲航線也受到了一些影響。我們認為這不會產生很大的影響。但我認為這說明了利率現在已經恢復正常的事實。我們預計這不會成為毛利率的重要驅動因素，無論是正面還是負面影響。我認為我們將繼續從通路組合和產品組合中受益。

Our next question comes from the line of Adrienne Yih with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Adrienne Yih。

Great. And let me add my congratulations. Fabulous start to the year. My first question is similar on the input cost. So freight sort of starts to expire, but I'm wondering if you have visibility on your non-freight input costs and through the year-end? And then my second question is on the demand creation spend, how should we think about dollar growth in 2Q relative to 3Q and 4Q. But more importantly, it sounds like it's a brand awareness in owning the technology. Have you baked in -- within that midpoint of 10% sales growth, have you baked in more sales growth from the incremental ad spend? Or is this more sort of owning that technology, brand awareness? And if there is any upside, it's on top of that?

偉大的。讓我表達我的祝賀。今年的開局非常好。我的第一個問題與投入成本類似。因此，貨運開始到期，但我想知道您是否了解年底前的非貨運投入成本？然後我的第二個問題是關於需求創造支出，我們應該如何看待第二季相對於第三季和第四季的美元成長。但更重要的是，這聽起來像是擁有該技術的品牌意識。您是否已經在 10% 的銷售成長中點內實現了增量廣告支出帶來的更多銷售成長？還是這更像是擁有技術、品牌知名度？如果還有什麼好處的話，那就是除此之外的嗎？

In terms of input costs, we don't see anything that's, quite frankly, worth commenting on with regards to our projections. So the honest answer is nothing really worth discussing. There's always movement here and there with input costs, FX, et cetera. But at this juncture, we don't see any of that having a material impact on our product level margins or overall gross margins. I would say on the marketing, it is the quarter in which we lean in. It typically is a couple of hundred basis points higher than average. I think that's kind of the quantum you can expect. In terms of sales, I would say it certainly factors into our projection, but it really is spend that benefits the entirety of the year. So it's not really just about aligning Q2 sales with the marketing. As we said on the call, one of the reasons we flow through the upside that we did to the full year guide is, the marketing is out there, it's working.

就投入成本而言，坦白說，我們沒有看到任何值得對我們的預測進行評論的內容。所以誠實的答案沒什麼好討論的。投入成本、外匯等總是會改變。但目前，我們認為這不會對我們的產品水準利潤率或整體毛利率產生重大影響。我想說的是，在行銷方面，這是我們傾斜的季度。我認為這就是你可以期待的量子。就銷售而言，我想說這肯定會影響我們的預測，但實際上是支出使全年受益。因此，這不僅僅是使第二季的銷售與行銷保持一致。正如我們在電話會議上所說，我們在全年指南中看到上行趨勢的原因之一是，行銷就在那裡，它正在發揮作用。

We continue to excel in this category of comfort technology in general and our hands pure slip-ins in particular. And so the spend in the quarter will benefit the entirety of the balance of the year. So there's not really a one-to-one correlation. That being said, we've always tried to construct our guidance such that there's a more likely than not chance we can meet or exceed that. Q2 does depend highly on the timing of shipments out of the back end as accounts take stock of where they need to be for back-to-school. So I would say, if anything, I'm probably slightly more optimistic about what we can do in the quarter, but we want to see a little bit more of the quarter materialize before we make any decided calls on that.

總體而言，我們在此類舒適技術方面繼續表現出色，尤其是我們的純手滑鞋。因此，本季的支出將使全年剩餘時間受益。因此，並不存在真正的一對一相關性。話雖這麼說，我們一直在努力建立我們的指導方針，以便我們更有可能達到或超越這一目標。第二季確實在很大程度上取決於後端的發貨時間，因為帳戶會盤點返校所需的地點。所以我想說，如果有的話，我可能對我們在本季能做的事情稍微樂觀一些，但我們希望在我們做出任何決定之前看到本季的更多成果實現。

Yes. I should point out from my perspective, it's -- the advertising spend is definitely anticipatory. We try to anticipate where we have potential significant growth in those territories that are growing to try to fuel them. We usually try to take it from those places that are flattening out or showing some deterioration for whatever reason. But we have no deteriorating marketplaces now that we need to go into. So when we anticipate around the world for our growth, and we have a lot of white space, we are investing upfront, and we do anticipate that it comes back at a later time. It may be third quarter, fourth quarter and beyond, but that's what drives our international business. So it is a reflection of what we see out there, the demand, the white space and what space we think we can continue to absorb. So it does reflect our thought process on going forward on what it will do for sales.

是的。我應該從我的角度指出，廣告支出絕對是可預期的。我們試圖預測在那些正在成長的領域中我們有哪些潛在的顯著成長，以試圖為其提供動力。我們通常會嘗試從那些因某種原因而趨於平緩或出現惡化的地方獲取它。但我們現在沒有需要進入的日益惡化的市場。因此，當我們預計世界各地的成長，並且我們有很多空白空間時，我們正在預先投資，並且我們確實預計它會在稍後的時間回來。可能是第三季、第四季甚至更長，但這就是推動我們國際業務的動力。因此，它反映了我們所看到的情況、需求、空白空間以及我們認為可以繼續吸收的空間。因此，它確實反映了我們對未來銷售的思考過程。

It's great to see a company playing offense these days. So congrats.

很高興看到這些天有一家公司主動進攻。所以恭喜你。

Our next question comes from the line of Tom Nikic Wedbush Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Tom Nikic Wedbush 證券公司。

And David, congratulations on hitting earnings call. Hopefully, we hear you on 100 more.

大衛，恭喜您參加財報電話會議。希望我們能在 100 多個節目中聽到您的聲音。

I'll let my doctor (inaudible) said that.

我會讓我的醫生（聽不清楚）這麼說。

I wanted to ask about China. So obviously, China has been pretty solid in the last of the quarter, and I think you had 4 straight quarters of double-digit growth. the compares get more difficult in China and some of the macro headlines coming out of China seem a bit mixed. How should we think about the growth opportunities in China for the rest of the year?

我想問一下中國的情況。顯然，中國在本季最後一個季度的表現相當穩健，我認為中國已經連續四個季度實現兩位數成長。在中國進行比較變得更加困難，來自中國的一些宏觀新聞似乎有點複雜。我們該如何看待今年剩餘時間中國的成長機會？

Well, first, I'd start off by reiterating what you implied, which is the China story for us continues to be one of a pretty strong recovery, all things considered. We're incredibly pleased with what we saw in China this quarter. And it reflects a lot of work by our team there to succeed despite some of the challenges that persist. As we look at the balance of the year, we remain cautiously optimistic that we'll continue to see more of that recovery. Keep in mind, China is a growth market. We think it has a lot of opportunity long term for the brand. And so when you look at compares, it's not as much of the story as it would be in a more mature market because the brand has a lot of runway. Some of the product that's just getting introduced into China has a long runway.

好吧，首先，我首先要重申你所暗示的，即考慮到所有因素，中國的故事對我們來說仍然是一個相當強勁的復甦。我們對本季在中國看到的情況感到非常滿意。它反映了我們團隊為取得成功所做的大量工作，儘管仍然存在一些挑戰。當我們審視今年的剩餘時間時，我們仍然謹慎樂觀地認為我們將繼續看到更多的復甦。請記住，中國是一個成長市場。我們認為從長遠來看，該品牌有很多機會。因此，當你進行比較時，你會發現，這並不像在更成熟的市場中那樣重要，因為該品牌有很多跑道。一些剛引進中國的產品還有很長的路要走。

So we remain cautiously optimistic. We do acknowledge the fact that it's a market in recovery and still has some work to do to kind of fully flush out some of the issues, but I would also remark that despite that, over the last year, 1.5 years, we've continued to see really good growth. And so we remain optimistic, albeit cautiously about the future.

所以我們保持謹慎樂觀。我們確實承認這是一個正在復甦的市場，並且仍然需要做一些工作來完全解決一些問題，但我還要指出的是，儘管如此，在過去的 1.5 年裡，我們仍然繼續看到真正良好的成長。因此，儘管對未來持謹慎態度，但我們仍然保持樂觀。

Understood. If I can just ask a little bit of modeling minutia. John, I think you gave the store opening plans earlier. Can you give us how many stores you plan to close this year so we can get to sort of a net store openings for the year.

明白了。我可以問一些建模細節嗎？約翰，我想你早些時候已經給了開店計劃。您能否告訴我們您今年計劃關閉多少家商店，以便我們對今年的淨開店情況進行排序。

We don't give that out specifically. I mean, my objective would be to not close any stores because we'd like them all to be continuing to contribute. I would say, when we put together that guidance, we do incorporate some expectations. So the number we give is attempting to get to a net number. Again, keep in mind, when we're talking about stores, it's much more important for us to open the right store and not just a store. So we'll always want to continue to exercise the discipline about making sure we're opening the right store for us, and that's something we'll continue to do.

我們不會具體透露這一點。我的意思是，我的目標是不關閉任何商店，因為我們希望他們都繼續做出貢獻。我想說，當我們整理這些指導方針時，我們確實包含了一些期望。所以我們給的數字是試著得到一個淨值。再次請記住，當我們談論商店時，對我們來說更重要的是開設正確的商店而不僅僅是一家商店。因此，我們始終希望繼續遵守紀律，確保我們開設適合我們的商店，這也是我們將繼續做的事情。

Our next question comes from the line of Jesalyn Wong with Evercore.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jesalyn Wong 和 Evercore 的對話。

David, John, congrats on a good set of quarters. Just wanting to dig a little bit more into Rick's question earlier. Domestic wholesale orders up 8% this quarter seems to be a positive surprise there. But yet, we're only guiding to mid-single digits to up high single digits. How conservative are there in terms of our estimates. And the other part is on the operating margins. Last quarter, you called out operating margin for this year to be -- course of 200 basis points away from long-term target. But given such a strong first quarter, how should we be thinking about operating margins for this year?

大衛、約翰，恭喜你們獲得了很好的住宿。只是想更深入地探討一下瑞克之前的問題。本季國內批發訂單成長 8% 似乎是個令人意外的驚喜。但是，我們只指導中個位數到高個位數。我們的估計有多保守？另一部分是營業利潤率。上個季度，您表示今年的營業利潤率與長期目標相差 200 個基點。但鑑於第一季如此強勁，我們該如何考慮今年的營業利潤率？

Yes. On the wholesale front, again, the timing comes into play pretty significantly in the second quarter. So I think that's part of why you'll see that range in our incorporated guidance. Again, I would also acknowledge the first quarter came in stronger than we originally thought. So that was a good surprise. If that trend continues, we'll definitely be towards the higher end of that range. But again, we got to be cognizant of the fact that when you get into kind of the end of June, it could be just a timing difference between Q2 and Q3. So we like to put a range on it to keep things realistic given what we've seen. But we are seeing really good trends.

是的。在批發方面，第二季的時機再次發揮了重要作用。所以我認為這就是為什麼您會在我們的合併指南中看到該範圍的部分原因。再次，我也承認第一季的表現比我們原先想像的還要強。所以這是一個很好的驚喜。如果這種趨勢持續下去，我們肯定會接近該範圍的高端。但同樣，我們必須認識到這樣一個事實：當你進入 6 月底時，這可能只是第二季和第三季之間的時間差異。因此，考慮到我們所看到的情況，我們希望設定一個範圍，以保持事情現實。但我們看到了非常好的趨勢。

And again, beyond Q2, we're seeing good trends for the balance of the year as well. In terms of the operating margin, again, look, our goal has been to get back into the double digits. We've said that's our goal. I would say certainly this quarter gives us more optimism about our ability to achieve that for the year. It's still our objective. We still have a lot of levers to pull and actions to take to help drive that. And there really isn't anything out there that gives us pause for concern, but I don't want to declare victory until we're closer to the year, but we're certainly optimistic about that progression.

同樣，在第二季之後，我們也看到了今年剩餘時間的良好趨勢。就營業利潤率而言，我們的目標是回到兩位數。我們說過這是我們的目標。我想說的是，這個季度讓我們對今年實現這一目標的能力更加樂觀。這仍然是我們的目標。我們仍然有很多槓桿可以拉動，需要採取很多行動來幫助推動這一目標。確實沒有任何事情讓我們停下來擔心，但我不想在接近這一年之前宣布勝利，但我們當然對這一進展感到樂觀。

All right. Maybe just a last question on e-mail. EMEA seems to be holding up very well. Any additional color on exit trends there with the that we have seen even throughout the quarter? And how should we think about second quarter and second half into the year?

好的。也許只是關於電子郵件的最後一個問題。歐洲、中東和非洲地區似乎表現良好。我們在整個季度都看到了退出趨勢，還有什麼其他的色彩嗎？我們該如何看待今年第二季和下半年？

Yes, I mean, it was great. Probably the most significant surprise for us was the continued strength on the direct-to-consumer side in Europe. So the side of our business that's closest to the consumer in that market which certainly has had its share of challenges over the course of the last 2 years, performed exceptionally well for us. Strong demand for the products, strong demand for our Comfort Technologies. We recognize it at the dynamic environment. We're watching the consumer just as carefully as everybody else.

是的，我的意思是，這太棒了。對我們來說最重要的驚喜可能是歐洲直接面向消費者的持續強勁。因此，我們業務中最接近該市場消費者的部分在過去兩年中確實遇到了一些挑戰，但對我們來說表現得非常好。對產品的強烈需求，對我們的舒適技術的強烈需求。我們在動態環境中認識到它。我們和其他人一樣仔細地觀察消費者。

But what we saw in the quarter was highly encouraging relative to our business in that market. And we're certainly expecting continued growth there. I think if we're going to see kind of an outsized growth element to the remainder of the year, it's probably going to come from the international DTC side of things, and we expect Europe to be a contributor to that.

但相對於我們在該市場的業務而言，我們在本季看到的情況非常令人鼓舞。我們當然期待那裡的持續成長。我認為，如果我們要在今年剩餘時間內看到某種巨大的成長因素，那麼它可能會來自國際 DTC 方面，我們預計歐洲將為此做出貢獻。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Nardone with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Chris Nardone。

I was wondering if you could provide an update on the trends you're seeing in your India business, given some of the recent regulation uncertainty in the market. you can comment maybe how large your business is today and what your manufacturing capacity looks like relative to the demand you're seeing?

鑑於最近市場監管的一些不確定性，我想知道您是否可以提供您在印度業務中看到的趨勢的最新資訊。您可以評論一下您現在的業務有多大，以及相對於您所看到的需求，您的製造能力如何？

Yes. We don't size markets, but I would say India is certainly one of our bigger international markets is kind of a stand-alone country, and more importantly, we think one of the bigger opportunities long term. The regulatory environment, it is what it is in the marketplace. We did see a short-term relaxation of some of the recently enacted regulatory limitations on importation. It's not long term, though. So it continues to be an issue we deal with.

是的。我們不衡量市場規模，但我想說，印度無疑是我們更大的國際市場之一，是一個獨立的國家，更重要的是，我們認為從長遠來看，這是更大的機會之一。監管環境就是市場環境。我們確實看到最近頒布的一些進口監管限制得到了短期放鬆。但這不是長期的。因此，這仍然是我們要處理的一個問題。

We have objectives to continue to manufacture more and more product in India. The issue in the short term is simply the capacity of that market to bear it. And that's not a Skechers issue at all, honestly. That's an industry-wide issue. And that's something we continue to work on with our manufacturing partners. So it's something we'll continue to watch. I was pleased that India came up a little bit in the quarter because it's also had some influences from macro concerns and now they're involved with the world's largest election, which takes an awful long time to get done. And so we're cautiously optimistic about what we'll see over the balance of the year, but the regulatory scheme is ultimately going to need to be resolved for the benefit of Skechers and the broader community of footwear and apparel providers before we have, I think, full clarity and kind of the near-term runway. But again, long term, a great market. We continue to be enthusiastic about and we'll be visiting in a month.

我們的目標是繼續在印度生產越來越多的產品。短期內的問題只是市場的承受能力。老實說，這根本不是斯凱奇的問題。這是一個全行業的問題。這就是我們繼續與製造合作夥伴合作的事情。所以我們將繼續關注這一點。我很高興印度在本季度有所上升，因為它也受到了宏觀擔憂的一些影響，現在他們參與了世界上最大規模的選舉，這需要很長時間才能完成。因此，我們對今年餘下的時間所看到的情況持謹慎樂觀態度，但為了 Skechers 以及更廣泛的鞋類和服裝供應商群體的利益，最終需要解決監管計劃，然後才能解決，我認為，近期的跑道已經完全清晰了。但從長遠來看，這是一個巨大的市場。我們繼續充滿熱情，一個月後我們將再次訪問。

That's very helpful. And then just a quick follow-up on your international business. More broadly, can you help frame what inning we're in, in terms of rolling out your Slip-in technology across markets?

這非常有幫助。然後快速跟進您的國際業務。更廣泛地說，在跨市場推廣您的 Slip-in 技術方面，您能否幫助我們確定我們所處的階段？

Are we talking Baseball or Cricket? Or -- I'm joking. Look, I think it's early, but I would argue it may even be early for the United States. We don't -- this is a fantastic technology that's resonating with consumers, has a lot of runway. We're incorporating it into more and more products, I think, in a unique way that will appeal to consumers. And so I would say, whichever measure you choose to use its early stages. I would also though mention, Chris, that it's not just about Skechers hands-free Slip-ins. This isn't in isolation. It's the portfolio of technologies we're bringing forward. It's our Max Cushioning, our Arch Fit, it's our concentration on wide widths for individuals who have that need our Hyper Burst technology.

我們在談棒球還是板球？或者——我在開玩笑。看，我認為現在還早，但我認為對美國來說甚至可能還早。我們不這麼認為——這是一項非常棒的技術，能夠引起消費者的共鳴，有很大的發展空間。我認為，我們正在將其融入越來越多的產品中，以一種獨特的方式吸引消費者。所以我想說，無論你選擇哪種衡量標準，都應使用其早期階段。克里斯，我還要提一下，這不僅僅是 Skechers 免提 Slip-ins 鞋的問題。這並不是孤立的。這是我們正在推出的技術組合。這是我們的 Max Cushioning，我們的 Arch Fit，這是我們對需要 Hyper Burst 技術的個人的寬幅關注。

I mean there's a lot to it. And I would say we're continuing to press those advantages and develop more for both the domestic as well as the international markets. Definitely more room to go on the international side just due to the timing of the rollouts. But it's hard to call a specific percentage complete at this juncture because we're continuing to surprise ourselves sometimes on how that technology can be deployed in different products and in different ways.

我的意思是這有很多內容。我想說，我們將繼續發揮這些優勢，並為國內和國際市場開發更多產品。由於推出的時間安排，在國際方面肯定有更多的空間。但目前很難說出具體的百分比，因為我們有時會繼續對如何將該技術以不同的方式部署到不同的產品中感到驚訝。

And it's important to remember that it's only a feature. And more -- as importantly or more importantly is the whole brand identity, all the categories we compete in and all the products we bring forward that we continue to showcase and move into new categories with it's -- we're going into technical athletics that may or may not have a piece that you'll use some of the features and not others. But all of our comfort features go into a myriad of product and it's important to keep expanding the brand, expanding the categories, expanding our design capacities to be available for everyone and use all not a specific, but all of this technology is available to us and all the technologies we continue to invent for lack of a better word or bring to the marketplace to enhance our comfort in something that's stylish and that everybody wants to wear.

重要的是要記住這只是一個功能。更重要的是，更重要的是整個品牌形象，我們參與競爭的所有類別以及我們提出的所有產品，我們將繼續展示並進入新的類別，我們將進入技術運動領域，可能有也可能沒有您將使用某些功能而不使用其他功能的作品。但是我們所有的舒適功能都融入到無數的產品中，重要的是不斷擴大品牌，擴大類別，擴大我們的設計能力，以便每個人都可以使用，並且使用所有非特定的技術，但所有這些技術都可供我們使用以及我們繼續發明的所有技術，因為沒有更好的詞來形容或帶到市場上，以提高我們時尚且每個人都想穿的東西的舒適度。

Our next question comes from the line of Alex Straton with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自 Alex Straton 與摩根士丹利的對話。

Congrats again on a nice quarter. I wanted to zoom in on the first quarter gross margin. It looks like a lot of that expansion came from wholesale, up over 500 basis points. So can you just talk through why that part of the business is hitting highs and how to think about the right kind of gross margin level for it going forward?

再次恭喜您度過了一個美好的季度。我想放大第一季的毛利率。看起來大部分擴張來自批發，增幅超過 500 個基點。那麼，您能否談談為什麼這部分業務創下新高，以及如何考慮未來正確的毛利率水平？

Yes. I think, Alex, we talked about the disparity between kind of this year and last year relative to the impact of a lot of our Comfort Technologies. It was just earlier, and so there weren't as many and that's why we disproportionately benefited in the wholesale side of things on the domestic and international DTC side of things, we're able to put that product into play earlier. And obviously, it did quite well. On the -- and the other way to think about it is the DTC, because it's under our total control is almost always the leading edge for us. And so we're able to impact that business much more quickly than our wholesale side of things, be it pricing, be it any other aspect of the business, seating. And so we saw that benefit ETC in a more pronounced way last year. And we're seeing kind of wholesale catch up, particularly this quarter.

是的。我想，亞歷克斯，我們討論了今年和去年之間相對於我們許多舒適技術的影響的差異。時間比較早，所以沒有那麼多，這就是為什麼我們在國內和國際 DTC 方面的批發方面受益匪淺，我們能夠更早地將該產品投入使用。顯然，它做得很好。另一方面，另一種思考方式是 DTC，因為它在我們的完全控制之下，幾乎總是我們的領先優勢。因此，我們能夠比批發方面更快地影響該業務，無論是定價，還是業務的任何其他方面，座位。因此，我們去年看到 ETC 以更明顯的方式受益。我們看到批發市場正在迎頭趕上，特別是本季。

Great. And then maybe just bigger picture on gross margin since they've stepped up so much from pre-COVID levels. Maybe where you think that kind of settles over time? Is this the new kind of rate level? Or has it come down from here?

偉大的。然後也許只是毛利率的更大前景，因為它們已經比新冠疫情前的水平提高了很多。也許您認為隨著時間的推移，這種情況會穩定下來？這是新的費率等級嗎？還是從這裡下來的？

Well, we'll continue to look for opportunities to drive gross margin. I think on a year-over-year basis, clearly, there'll be some uplift because we had more of the freight in play in the first quarter last year. So that will just naturally accrete. But also as we grow our direct-to-consumer business at an outsized pace relative to our wholesale, that allows for continued accretion. And so I think over the near term, we would expect it to continue to go up, albeit not at the leaps and bounds we've seen over the last couple of years at a more modest pace that it's about the mix of business, mix of product rather than influences from freight or other major input costs, unless something changes.

好吧，我們將繼續尋找提高毛利率的機會。我認為，顯然，與去年同期相比，會有一些提升，因為去年第一季我們的貨運量增加了。所以它會自然累積。而且，隨著我們的直接面向消費者業務的成長速度相對於我們的批發業務而言超快，這使得我們的業務能夠持續成長。因此，我認為在短期內，我們預計它會繼續上升，儘管不會像過去幾年那樣以更溫和的速度實現跨越式增長，這與業務組合有關除非發生變化，否則產品的影響而不是運費或其他主要投入成本的影響。

And our next question comes from the line of Sam Poser with Williams Trading.

我們的下一個問題來自 Williams Trading 的 Sam Poser。

David was on each other a long time. The -- so just -- let me just follow up on the gross margin. I mean how should we think -- I mean, can you give us like a neighborhood of how you're thinking about gross margin for this year. I'm not going to be up 360 bps, but I mean what -- can you give us a range of what we're looking for, for the year?

大衛彼此相處了很久。讓我來跟進一下毛利率。我的意思是，我們應該如何思考——我的意思是，您能否向我們介紹您對今年毛利率的看法。我不會上漲 360 個基點，但我的意思是——你能為我們提供今年我們正在尋找的一系列內容嗎？

Again, I'd say we're going to continue to drive it north. This year -- this quarter was higher definitely than we expect over the balance of the year. I think we'd love to see it up 100, 150 basis points. But there's a lot of mix that can come into play there. So it's kind of the range of the neighborhood I'd start out with. But keep in mind, as we see the business unfold as we see the business balance out over the rest of the year, that may change. I mean one of the things I'm always cautious of, as you know, Sam, as we have tremendous success in our distributor business, which is a great operating margin business it could have an effect of dragging down gross margins a bit. But again, that's an incredibly lucrative operating margin business.

我再說一遍，我們將繼續向北行駛。今年——這個季度的成長絕對高於我們對今年剩餘時間的預期。我認為我們希望看到它上漲 100、150 個基點。但有很多混合因素可以在那裡發揮作用。這就是我開始時的社區範圍。但請記住，當我們看到業務展開以及今年剩餘時間的業務平衡時，這種情況可能會改變。我的意思是我一直保持謹慎的一件事，正如你所知，薩姆，因為我們在分銷商業務方面取得了巨大的成功，這是一項營業利潤率很高的業務，它可能會稍微降低毛利率。但同樣，這是一項利潤豐厚的業務。

So we're not really intent on playing the gross margin gain per se overall. We really focus on what kind of constructive margins are we getting out of the product and out of the accounts and then let the business kind of blend into the increased margin. But if I had to give a number, it would be that 100 to 150 basis point range at this point.

因此，我們並不真正打算整體上提高毛利率本身。我們真正關注的是我們從產品和帳戶中獲得什麼樣的建設性利潤，然後讓業務融入增加的利潤中。但如果我必須給出一個數字，那就是目前 100 到 150 個基點的範圍。

And then you talked about the timing of the year, and this is a peculiar year because many of your big wholesale accounts had their 53rd week last year. which means that one of the biggest weeks of back-to-school actually falls into their second quarter where it fell into the third quarter last year, which makes them a little more -- like we need goods earlier than later kind of situation to make sure that they get set up properly for back-to-school. Is that included in your number? I know June 30 versus July 1, switches everything. But I mean, as far as I'm concerned, it looks a little less likely this year that -- you see it's more likely the long goods earlier than later for back-to-school.

然後你談到了這一年的時間安排，今年是一個特別的一年，因為你的許多大批發客戶去年已經進入了第 53 週。這意味著返校期間最重要的幾週之一實際上是在去年第三季度的第二季度，這讓他們變得更加——就像我們需要更早的貨物而不是更晚的情況來製造確保他們為返校做好準備。這包括在你的號碼裡嗎？我知道 6 月 30 日和 7 月 1 日，一切都會改變。但我的意思是，就我而言，今年看起來不太可能——你會發現，提前返校的長貨比推遲返校的可能性更大。

Yes, that's just a really tough decision to call for someone. So what we've given is our current expectation based on the way the shipping windows are set up in the order flow. Again, I would comment we saw improvements this quarter from earlier deliveries, certainly feasible that we'd see that in the second quarter, but not certain. And until we start to see some action on actually adjusting shipping windows we're not going to incorporate that fully into the guidance. But Q2, Q3 is always a -- I know you all care about it a lot. We really don't care too much as long as the shipment goes out at one point or another, and we get it in the hands of our customers who can get it to our consumers and it can sell through because that's to David's point earlier, that's the ultimate arbiter of how much business we'll be able to do, and we continue to see really strong sell-throughs.

是的，打電話給某人確實是一個非常艱難的決定。因此，我們給出的是基於訂單流中發貨窗口設定方式的當前期望。再次，我想說的是，我們在本季度看到了較早交付的改進，這當然是可行的，我們會在第二季度看到這一點，但不確定。在我們開始看到一些實際調整運輸窗口的行動之前，我們不會將其完全納入指南中。但 Q2、Q3 始終是——我知道你們都非常關心它。我們真的不太關心，只要貨物在某個時間點發出，然後我們把它送到我們的客戶手中，他們就可以把它送到我們的消費者手中，並且它可以銷售出去，因為這就是大衛之前的觀點，這是我們能夠開展多少業務的最終決定者，而且我們繼續看到非常強勁的銷售量。

And then one last thing. The gross margin that you've been running, especially on the wholesale side, but in general, to me, it looks like -- can you talk a little bit about how, over the years, I think you've improved in sort of measuring demand, your inventory is in good shape. And I mean, how much of that has played a part outside of mix and currency and various other things. How much is sort of this internal processes, the evolution of the internal processes changed? And where is that going?

最後一件事。你們一直在運行的毛利率，特別是在批發方面，但總的來說，對我來說，它看起來像——你能談談多年來，我認為你在某種程度上是如何改進的嗎？我的意思是，其中有多少在混合、貨幣和其他各種事物之外發揮了作用。這個內部流程、內部流程的演變發生了多少變化？那要去哪裡呢？

Yes, I think you're seeing the results of a lot of work on margin, not just at the product level, although the product team has been integral to that as well. It's about making sure your promotional strategy is properly applied that your discount structures are properly arranged. And for us, because we're operating our direct-to-consumer business alongside with many of the similar styles and products that we're maintaining price integrity in that channel. So it's not just one thing. It's a lot of concerted effort to make sure that we're getting the right merchandise margin for our product.

是的，我認為您看到了在利潤方面所做的大量工作的結果，而不僅僅是在產品層面，儘管產品團隊也是其中不可或缺的一部分。這是為了確保正確應用您的促銷策略並正確安排您的折扣結構。對我們來說，因為我們正在經營直接面向消費者的業務以及許​​多類似的款式和產品，所以我們在該通路中保持價格完整性。所以這不僅僅是一件事。我們需要付出大量的共同努力才能確保我們的產品獲得適當的商品利潤。

But it's also the innovation. The innovation is certainly something we've seen pay off at the consumer level. I mean the consumer is willing to contribute more to get the value of that comfort technology. So it's a combination of a lot of factors, you're right to point out. It's not just one thing, but it's a lot of effort internally to align every aspect of our business around driving increasingly better profitability.

但這也是創新。我們已經看到這項創新在消費者層面得到了回報。我的意思是，消費者願意做出更多貢獻來獲得舒適科技的價值。因此，這是很多因素的結合，你指出得是對的。這不僅僅是一件事，而且需要我們內部付出大量努力來調整我們業務的各個方面，以推動不斷提高的盈利能力。

And we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. And therefore, this also does conclude today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time.

我們的問答環節已經結束了。因此，今天的會議也到此結束，此時大家可以掛斷電話了。

Thank you for your participation.

感謝您的參與。