Stride Rite Corporation Announces Grant of Footwear License for PRO-Keds(R) to Hip-Hop Clothing and Music Mogul Damon Dash

Stride Rite Corporation Announces Grant of Footwear License for
PRO-Keds(R) to Hip-Hop Clothing and Music Mogul Damon Dash 


LEXINGTON, Mass., July 19  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Stride Rite
Corporation (NYSE:SRR) announced today that it has entered into an exclusive
licensing agreement with Hip-Hop Mogul Damon Dash, CEO of Rocawear clothing and
Roc-A-Fella records, for the distribution of men's, women's and children's
footwear under the PRO-Keds brand.  The line will be introduced at the MAGIC
trade show in Las Vegas in August 2004, and will be available at retail in
January 2005.

"PRO-Keds is a classic American brand I grew up with as a kid," said Damon
Dash.  "It's a sneaker that's been around for years and stands the test of time
and trends.  I am a sneaker fanatic myself, so the possibility of combining a
sneaker brand with what I'm already doing with Rocawear, Team Roc, State
Property, and C. Ronson got me truly excited.  I am looking forward to building
PRO-Keds as we continually invent creative ways to extend our brands across all
ages and ethnicities."

"Damon Dash and his team at Roc-A-Fella and Rocawear have accomplished a great
deal and are clearly a leader in hip-hop.  PRO-Keds has historical roots in the
Urban Market.  Connecting the PRO-Keds brand with the marketing capabilities
Damon brings will uniquely position PRO-Keds for future growth," said Richie
Woodworth, President of PRO-Keds for Stride Rite.

Woodworth continued, "Rocawear has solidified its position as one of the rising
stars of the apparel business.  Roc-A-Fella records, with its stable of artists
including Jay-Z and Kanye West, are at the top of the music business.
Integrating a brand like PRO-Keds, with its deep athletic and urban heritage,
into this organization at a time when music is challenging sports as the key
promotional vehicle in the sneaker market is a terrific opportunity."

PRO-Keds was established in 1949 by Keds as an athletic footwear line primarily
aimed at basketball.  The first PRO-Keds product was the classic Royal, a
canvas basketball shoe in high and low tops featuring a distinctive red and
blue power stripe adjacent to the toe.  Over time, new styles were added across
the categories of basketball, baseball, football, tennis, and track and field. 
Items utilizing exclusive shock-absorbent support and cushioning techniques
were also developed to keep pace with the rapid advancements in footwear
technology.

By late 1970, PRO-Keds had become synonymous with some of the biggest names in
basketball history and professional sports, and attained cult status as the
first real sneaker with style among New York City's early hip hop community.

In 2002 PRO-Keds re-issued the classic Royal, the historic Royal Master, and
the iconic Court King styles.

About Stride Rite

The Stride Rite Corporation markets the leading brand of children's shoes in
the United States.  Other footwear products for children and adults are
marketed by the Company under well-known brand names, including Keds, Sperry
Top-Sider, Tommy Hilfiger, Grasshoppers and Munchkin.  Information about the
Company is available on their website -- http://www.strideritecorp.com/. 
Information about the company's brands and product lines is available at
http://www.striderite.com/, http://www.keds.com/, http://www.grasshoppers.com/,
http://www.prokeds.com/ and http://www.sperrytopsider.com/.

About Damon Dash

At 33 years old, Damon Dash has constructed an empire, a highly revered hip-hop
kingdom that began with music powerhouse Roc-A-Fella Records and now
incorporates the #1 urban fashion company Rocawear, including State Property,
Team Roc and C. Ronson under the Roc Apparel umbrella.  Dash also owns two film
companies Dash Films and Roc-A-Fella Films, a sports management company, and a
non-profit community outreach program called Team Roc via the NYC Mission
Society.  In addition, Dash recently launched a luxury watch company Tiret,
America Magazine, Armadale Vodka and will soon launch a line of consumer
electronics.  As part of his community efforts Dash co-chairs the Hip Hop
Summit Action Network, which is the largest non-profit, non-partisan national
coalition of hip-hop artists and recording industry executives, founded in 2001
by Russell Simmons and Dr. Benjamin Chavis.  For more information about The Roc
go to http://www.rocafella.com/ and http://www.rocawear.com/.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: This announcement includes forward-looking statements which reflect our
current views with respect to the future events or financial performance
discussed in the release based on management's beliefs and assumptions and
information currently available.  When used, the words "believe", "anticipate",
"estimate", "project", "should", "expect", "appear" and similar expressions,
which do not relate solely to historical matters identify forward-looking
statements.  Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and
assumptions and are not guarantees of future events or performance, which may
be affected by known and unknown risks, trends and uncertainties.  Should one
or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should our assumptions
prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated,
projected or implied.  Factors that may cause such a variance include, among
others: the volume of anticipated sales may decline; revenues from new product
lines may fall below expectations; the launch of new product lines may be
delayed; general retail sales trends may be below expectations; current license
agreements may be terminated; consumer fashion trends may shift to footwear
styling not currently included in our product lines; our retail customers,
including large department stores, may consolidate or restructure operations
resulting in unexpected store closings; and additional factors discussed from
time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  We
expressly disclaim any responsibility to update forward-looking statements. 

DATASOURCE: Stride Rite



CONTACT:  Bridget Russo of Rocawear, [phone],

; or Richie Woodworth of Stride Rite, [phone],





Web site:  http://www.rocawear.com/ 

Web site:  http://www.strideritecorp.com/ 

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