Asics America Corp.’s Fashion Island retail store in Newport Beach is among 13 company stores that licensed operator Windsor Financial Group LLC closed this week following a contract dispute between the companies.
The Irvine footwear and apparel company, part of Japan-based Asics Corp., sells most of its merchandise through more than 1,000 wholesale customers, including Sports Authority and Nordstrom. Its outlet stores, including a location in Orange, are unaffected and remain open.
New York-based Windsor’s investors, Size It LLC in Los Angeles and member Mickey Segal, filed a lawsuit today in L.A. County Superior Court alleging Asics withheld inventory and marketing support for the stores.
“Asics reneged on each of its promises and instead … set out to financially destroy Windsor so Asics could swoop in and take over its network of retail stores for pennies on the dollar,” according to the filing. “In doing so, Asics rendered plaintiffs’ investment in Windsor worthless, causing them to lose millions of dollars.”
Asics said in an emailed statement it believes the legal action is “baseless and without merit. We will vigorously dispute this matter and we are confident the court will quickly agree with us.”
It surpassed $1 billion in net sales for the first time last year, a 14.9% year-over-year increase and has said it expects about 14% growth this year. It opened its first company-owned store in New York City in 2009, followed by a Fashion Island location in August 2013. Eleven more stores followed last year, including a flagship location in Times Square in Manhattan.
