Collective Brands Inc. : SIMS® Celebrates 35th Anniversary With “Firsts”

"SIMS® Did It First" Campaign Highlights 20 SIMS® Product Innovations that Changed the Snowboard Industry

(DENVER, CO) January 11, 2012 - SIMS®, the iconic global snow brand, is celebrating its 35th anniversary during the 2011-2012 snow season. To commemorate this landmark event, the brand has launched a campaign, called "SIMS Did It First," which highlights 20 SIMS product innovations that changed the sport of snowboarding forever. SIMS "Firsts" include the world's first snowboard, first metal edge snowboard, first pro-model snowboard, first women's snowboard and the first folding highback bindings.

"This year marks an important milestone for the SIMS brand. Few brands in existence today are as tied to the birth of snowboarding as SIMS," said Bruce Pettet, president and CEO of Collective Licensing International (CLI), the company that manages the SIMS® brand. "When you look back on all the product innovations that SIMS brought to snowboarding, it is clear that the brand had a significant role in the evolution of the sport and the industry."

Created in 1976 by Tom Sims, SIMS is the first established snowboard brand. Thirty-five years later, as snowboarding has grown into a much bigger sport and business, SIMS has grown and evolved as well. Now distributed in more than 15 countries, SIMS has continued to focus on product innovation, which has allowed it to build upon its base of passionate brand loyalists. To help tell the story of SIMS "Firsts," the brand, with the help and guidance of Tom Sims, dug through archives and conducted hours of research to pull together the impressive list of SIMS "Firsts."

"When I look at the product innovation list, I'm very proud of what the brand has accomplished and what it continues to do today," Tom Sims said. "I look forward to the next 35 years."

CLI has recently partnered with the Canadian company COMP-X, led by legendary snowboard innovator Louis Fournier, to design and distribute a new board technology for the SIMS brand that will be produced in Quebec and that will, yet again, change the industry and experience of snowboarding. The patented technology will be launched later this season and will add to the already notable list of SIMS "Firsts".

To check out a video and slideshow and the entire list of innovative SIMS milestones, visit

About Collective Licensing International, LLC
Collective Licensing International, LLC, a subsidiary of Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE:PSS), was formed in January 2004 and is the owner and/or license operator of Airwalk®, Above The Rim®, Vision Street Wear®, Clinch Gear™, STRIKEFORCE™, SIMS®, Lamar® and LTD®, World Snowboarding Championships™ and Hind®.Collective Licensing International is based in Englewood, Colorado.