The sales increase, as disclosed by management ofparent Wolverine World Wide, pushed Merrell’s annual revenues close to $360million based on SGI’s FY05estimate of $307 million for the brand globally. Merrell’s growth has beenwidespread with the brand now available in over 100 countries. Still, WWWmanagement said Merrell remains “underrepresented” in European markets where itcurrently generates approximately 25% of annual sales. Growth on that continentis said to be growing at a faster rate than other markets. Meanwhile, threefactors—a “fanatical focus” on product design, expansion into new productfootwear categories and an apparel line launch that begins shipping in July—areexpected ... Log in to view full article.