Deckers Outdoor Corp: Form 10-K for the period ended Dec 31, 2012

Unless otherwise specifically indicated, all amounts in Item 1. and Item 1A. herein are expressed in thousands, except for employees, share quantity, per share data, and selling prices.

General

Deckers Outdoor Corporation was incorporated in 1975 under the laws of the State of California and, in 1993, reincorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. We strive to be a premier lifestyle marketer that builds niche brands into global market leaders by designing and marketing innovative, functional and fashion-oriented footwear developed for both high performance outdoor activities and everyday casual lifestyle use. We believe that our footwear is distinctive and appeals broadly to men, women and children. We sell our products, including accessories such as handbags and outerwear, through quality domestic and international retailers, international distributors, and directly to end-user consumers both domestically and internationally, through our websites, call centers, retail concept stores and retail outlet stores. Our primary objective is to build our footwear lines into global lifestyle brands with market leadership positions. We seek to differentiate our brands and products by offering diverse lines that emphasize authenticity, functionality, quality, and comfort and products tailored to a variety of activities, seasons, and demographic groups. Virtually all of our products are currently manufactured by independent contractors outside of the United States (US). Our continued growth will depend upon the broadening of our products offered under each brand, the appeal of our products to our consumers, expanding domestic and international distribution, successfully opening new retail stores, increasing sales to consumers, and developing or acquiring new brands.

In July 2008, we entered into a joint venture agreement with an affiliate of Stella International Holdings Limited ("Stella International") for the opening of retail stores and wholesale distribution for the UGG brand in China. The joint venture was owned 51% by Deckers and 49% by Stella International. Stella International is also one of our major manufacturers in China. In April 2012, we acquired the 49% noncontrolling interest owned by Stella International. In September 2009, we began to reacquire our international distribution rights, beginning in Japan. In January 2010, we acquired certain assets and liabilities, including reacquisition of our distribution rights, from our Teva distributor that sold to retailers in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg (Benelux) as well as France. In September 2010, we purchased a portion of a privately held footwear company as an equity method investment. In January 2011, we acquired certain assets from our UGG, Teva, and Simple brands distributor that sold to retailers in the United Kingdom (UK) and from our UGG and Simple brands distributor that sold to retailers in Benelux and France. The distribution rights in these regions reverted back to us on December 31, 2010 upon the expiration of the distribution agreements. In May 2011, we entered into an asset purchase agreement with Sanuk USA LLC, C&C Partners, Ltd., and the equity holders of both entities (collectively referred to as "Sanuk" or the "Sanuk brand"). In July 2011, we completed the acquisition of the purchased assets and the assumption of the assumed liabilities of the Sanuk brand. Our consolidated financial statements include the operations of Sanuk beginning July 1, 2011. In May 2012, the Company purchased a noncontrolling interest in the Hoka brand, a privately held footwear company, which was accounted for as an equity method investment. In September 2012, the Company acquired the remaining ownership interest in Hoka.

Products

We market our products primarily under three proprietary brands:

UGG®. UGG Australia is our luxurious comfort brand and the category creator for luxury sheepskin footwear. The UGG brand has enjoyed several years of positive consumer reception, driven by consistent introductions of new styles in the fall and spring seasons, as well as year-round styles. We have also strategically expanded our geographic distribution as well as our consumer base with more men's products. Additionally, we have broadened the brand into additional product categories beyond footwear, such as handbags, apparel, and cold weather accessories. We carefully manage the distribution of our UGG products within higher-end specialty and department store retailers in order to best reach our target consumers, preserve the UGG brand's retail channel positioning and maintain the UGG brand's position as a mid- to upper-price high-end brand.

In recent years, sales of UGG products have benefited from significant national media attention and celebrity endorsement through our marketing programs and product placement activities, raising the profile of our UGG brand as a luxurious comfort brand. We have further supported the UGG brand's market positioning by expanding the selection of styles available in order to build consumer interest in our UGG brand collection.

Teva®. Teva is our outdoor performance and lifestyle brand and pioneer of the sport sandal market. We have expanded the Teva product line over time to include open and closed-toe outdoor lifestyle footwear, as well as additional outdoor performance footwear, including light hiking shoes, freeride mountain bike shoes, amphibious footwear, and rugged outdoor cross training shoes.

In recent years, we have focused on regaining our leadership position in the performance sandal market, while broadening our performance platform to include other outdoor activities such as light hiking, and freestyle mountain bike riding to lessen our overall reliance on sandal sales, while bringing youthfulness back to the brand through contemporary designs, colors, and materials. Throughout 2011 and 2012, we have continued to expand our closed-toe offering in both performance and lifestyle outdoor footwear. This includes the award winning outdoor light hiking platform, Riva, and Teva's entry into insulated winter boots with the Lifty Collection.

Sanuk®. Sanuk is our fun lifestyle footwear brand rooted in surf culture but embraced by an eclectic mix of style-savvy optimists. The Sanuk brand is probably best known for the patented SIDEWALK SURFERS® shoe which effectively introduced the hanging deconstructed footwear movement. Other primary offerings include the Beer Cozy and Yoga Mat sandal collections made from real yoga mat material. The brand has a history of innovation, product invention, foot-friendly comfort, unexpected materials and clever branding.

In recent years, Sanuk products have been recognized by the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) for being both the 2007 and 2010 Footwear Product of the Year. The brand's SIDEWALK SURFERS are marketed with the hand-crafted, humor driven "Cut&Paste" ad campaign and the slogan "THESE ARE NOT SHOES, THEY'RE SANDALS®" which references the patented sandal construction. We plan to build on the Sanuk brand's authentic position in the surf and outdoor markets through its relationships with prominent professional athletes and ambassadors, including surfers, rock climbers, photographers, artists, and musicians known as much for their unique personal styles and charisma as for their specialized talents.

In addition to our primary brands, our other brands include TSUBO, a line of mid and high-end casual footwear that incorporates style, function, and maximum comfort; Ahnu, a line of outdoor performance and lifestyle footwear; MOZO, a line of footwear that combines running shoe technology with work shoe toughness for individuals that spend long hours working on their feet; Hoka, a line of footwear for all capacities of runner designed to alleviate fatigue, impact and muscle strain; and Simple, a line for which we ceased distribution effective December 31, 2011.

Sales and Distribution

At the wholesale level, we distribute our products in the US through a dedicated network of independent sales representatives, as well as through employee sales representatives who serve as territory representatives or key account executives for several of our largest customers. Our sales representatives are organized geographically and by brand and visit retail stores to communicate the features, styling, and technology of our products. In addition to our wholesale business, we also sell products directly to consumers through our websites and retail stores. Our brands are generally advertised and promoted through a variety of consumer media campaigns. We benefit from editorial coverage in both consumer and trade publications. Each brand's dedicated marketing team works closely with targeted accounts to maximize advertising and promotional effectiveness. We also manage brand marketing on a global basis to ensure consistent consumer communications in all regions and channels. We determine our global communication plans based on brand strategies, consumer insights, and return on investment measures.

Our sales force is generally separated by brand, as each brand generally has certain specialty consumers; however, there is overlap between the sales teams and customers. We have aligned our brands' sales forces to position them for the future of the brands. Each brand's respective sales manager recruits and manages their network of sales representatives and coordinates sales to national accounts. We believe this approach for the US market maximizes the selling efforts to our national retail accounts on a cost-effective basis.

We distribute products sold in the US through our distribution centers in Camarillo and Ventura, California. Our distribution centers feature a warehouse management system that enables us to efficiently pick and pack products for direct shipment to customers. For certain customers requiring special handling, each shipment is pre-labeled and packed to the retailer's specifications, enabling the retailer to easily unpack our product and immediately display it on the sales floor. All incoming and outgoing shipments must meet our quality inspection process.

Internationally, we distribute our products through independent distributors and retailers in many countries, including throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, Canada, and Latin America, among others. In addition, as we do in the US, in certain countries, we sell products directly to international consumers through our websites and our retail stores. For our wholesale and direct to consumer businesses, we operate distribution centers in certain international locations and utilize third-party distribution companies in other countries. We may also work with trading companies for importation, as needed. Our principal wholesale customers include specialty retailers, selected department stores, outdoor retailers, sporting goods retailers, shoe stores, and online retailers.

Our five largest customers accounted for approximately 22.8% of worldwide net sales for 2012, compared to 24.0% for 2011. No single customer accounted for greater than 10% of our consolidated net sales in 2012.

UGG. We sell our UGG footwear and accessories primarily through higher-end department stores such as Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's, as well as independent specialty retailers such as Journey's and David Z., and internet retailers such as Zappos.com. We believe these retailers support the luxury positioning of our brand and are the destination shopping choice for the consumer who seeks out the fashion and functional elements of our UGG products.

Teva. We sell our Teva footwear primarily through specialty outdoor and sporting goods retailers such as REI, L.L. Bean, Dick's Sporting Goods, and The Sports Authority as well as on-line retailers such as Zappos.com. We believe these retail channels are the first choice for athletes, outdoor enthusiasts, and adventurers seeking technical and performance-oriented outdoor footwear. Furthermore, we believe that retailers who appreciate and can fully market the technical attributes of our performance products to the consumer are best equipped to sell our Teva footwear.

Sanuk. We sell our Sanuk footwear primarily through independent action sports retailers including specialty surf and skate shops, outdoor retailers such as REI, Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS), and Bass Pro Shops, specialty footwear retailers and larger national retail chains including Nordstrom, Journeys, Dillards, and The Buckle. We believe these retailers showcase the brand's creativity, fun, and comfort and allow us to effectively reach our target consumers for the brand.

Other brands. Our other brands are sold throughout the world primarily at better department stores, outdoor specialty accounts, independent specialty retailers, and with online retailers that support our brand ideals of comfort, style, and quality. Key accounts of our other brands include Nordstrom, Dillard's, Hanigs, REI, and Zappos.com.

eCommerce. Our eCommerce business enables us to market, communicate and build our relationships with the consumer. eCommerce enables us to meet the growing demand for our products, sell the products at retail prices, and provide significant incremental operating income. The eCommerce business provides us an opportunity to communicate to the consumer with a consistent brand message that is in line with our brands' promises, drives awareness of key brand initiatives, and offers targeted information to specific consumer segments. We operate our eCommerce business through the Uggaustralia.com, Teva.com, Sanuk.com, Tsubo.com, Ahnu.com, and Mozoshoes.com websites. Our websites also drive wholesale and distributor sales through brand awareness and by directing consumers to retailers that carry our brands, including our own retail stores. In recent years, our eCommerce business has had significant revenue growth, much of which occurred as the UGG brand gained popularity and as consumers continued to increase internet usage for footwear and other purchases.

We have expanded our international capabilities by developing sites to service certain international markets. These sites are translated into the local language, provide product through local distribution centers and price the products in the consumers' local currency. In 2012, we launched additional sites in the US for our Sanuk brand and launched mobile sites for several of our brands in the US, Europe and Japan. Our eCommerce business has offices in Flagstaff, Arizona; Richmond, England; and Tokyo, Japan. In order to reduce the cost of order fulfillment, minimize out of stock positions, and further leverage our distribution centers' operations, order fulfillment is performed by our distribution centers in California, the UK, Canada, and Japan. Products sold through our eCommerce business are sold at prices which approximate retail prices, enabling us to capture the full retail margin on each direct to consumer transaction.

Retail Stores. Our retail stores are predominantly UGG Australia concept stores and UGG Australia outlet stores. Our retail stores enable us to directly impact our customers' experience, meet the growing demand for these products, sell the products at retail prices and generate strong annual operating income. In addition, our UGG Australia concept stores allow us to showcase our entire product line including footwear, accessories, handbags, and outerwear; whereas, a wholesale account may not represent all of these categories. Through our outlet stores, we sell some of our discontinued styles from prior seasons, plus products made specifically for the outlet stores. We sell Teva products as well as some of our other brands through a few limited outlet locations.

In 2012, we opened seven stores in the US and twenty-three internationally. As of December 31, 2012, we had a total of 56 UGG Australia concept stores and 21 UGG outlet stores worldwide. During 2013, we plan to open additional retail stores in the US and internationally.

Product Design and Development

The design and product development staff for each of our brands creates new innovative footwear products that combine our standards of high quality, comfort, and functionality. The design function for all of our brands is performed by a combination of our internal design and development staff plus outside freelance designers. By utilizing outside designers, we believe we are able to review a variety of different design perspectives on a cost-efficient basis and anticipate color and style trends more quickly. Refer to Note 1 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements for a discussion of our research and development costs for the last three years.

In order to ensure quality, consistency, and efficiency in our design and product development process, we continually evaluate the availability and cost of raw materials, the capabilities and capacity of our independent contract manufacturers, and the target retail price of new models and lines. The design and development staff works closely with brand management to develop new styles of footwear and accessories for our various product lines. We develop detailed drawings and prototypes of our new products to aid in conceptualization and to ensure our contemplated new products meet the standards for innovation and performance that our consumers demand. Throughout the development process, we have multiple design and development reviews, which we then coordinate with our independent manufacturers. This ensures that we are addressing the needs of our consumers and are working toward a common goal of developing and producing a high quality product to be delivered on a timely basis.

Manufacturing and Supply Chain

We do not manufacture our products; we outsource the production of our brand footwear to independent manufacturers primarily in China. During 2009, we began to diversify our manufacturing locations by outsourcing a limited amount of production to manufacturers in Vietnam, and in 2010 and 2011 increased this production volume while also opening manufacturing locations in 2011 in the US and Latin America. We require our independent contract manufacturers and designated suppliers to adopt our Supplier Code of Conduct, which specifies that they comply with all local laws and regulations governing human rights, working conditions, and environmental compliance before we are willing to conduct business with them. Our Supplier Code of Conduct applies to all of our manufacturers, distributors, vendors, and other independent contractors. We also require our manufacturing partners to comply with our Ethical Supply Chain guidelines and Restricted Substances policy as a condition of doing business with our company. We require our licensees to demand the same from their contract factories and suppliers. We have no long-term contracts with our manufacturers. As we grow, we expect to continue to rely exclusively on independent manufacturers for our sourcing needs.

The production of footwear by our independent manufacturers is performed in accordance with our detailed specifications and is subject to our quality control standards. We maintain an on-site supervisory office in Pan Yu City, China that serves as a local link to our independent manufacturers, enabling us to carefully monitor the production process from receipt of the design brief to production of interim and final samples and shipment of finished product. We believe this local presence provides greater predictability of material availability, product flow and adherence to final design specifications than we could otherwise achieve through an agency arrangement. To ensure the production of high quality products, the majority of the materials and components used in production of our products by these independent manufacturers are purchased from independent suppliers designated by us. Excluding sheepskin, we believe that substantially all the various raw materials and components used in the manufacture of our footwear, including rubber, leather, and nylon webbing are generally available from multiple sources at competitive prices. We generally outsource our manufacturing requirements on the basis of individual purchase orders or short-term purchase commitments rather than maintaining long-term purchase commitments with our independent manufacturers.

At our direction, our manufacturers currently purchase the majority of the sheepskin used in our products from two tanneries in China, which source their skins for our products primarily from Australia, Europe, and the US. We maintain constant communication with the tanneries to monitor the supply of sufficient high quality sheepskin available for our projected UGG brand production. To ensure adequate supplies for our manufacturers, we forecast our usage of sheepskin in advance at a forward price. We have also entered into minimum purchase commitments with certain sheepskin suppliers (see Note 7 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements.) We believe current supplies are sufficient to meet our needs in the near future, but we continue to investigate our options to accommodate any unexpected future growth.

We have instituted pre-production, in-line, and post-production inspections to meet or exceed the high quality demanded by us and consumers of our products. Our quality assurance program includes our own employee on-site inspectors at our independent manufacturers who oversee the production process and perform quality assurance inspections. We also inspect our products upon arrival at our distribution centers.

Patents and Trademarks

We utilize trademarks on virtually all of our products and believe that having distinctive marks that are readily identifiable is an important factor in creating a market for our goods, toward identifying the Company, and in distinguishing our goods from the goods of others. We currently hold trademark registrations for UGG, Teva, Sanuk, Simple, TSUBO, Ahnu, MOZO, Hoka One One, and other marks in the US and in many other countries, including the countries of the European Union, Canada, China, Japan and Korea. We now hold more than 160 utility and design patent registrations in the US and abroad and have filed more than 10 new patent applications which are currently pending. These patents expire at various times; US design patents that are registered this year will remain valid to 2027. Utility patents filed this year will remain in effect until 2033. We regard our proprietary rights as valuable assets and vigorously protect such rights against infringement by third parties. No single patent is critical to our business, and no group of patents expiring in the same year is critical to our business.

Seasonality

Our business is seasonal, with the highest percentage of UGG brand net sales occurring in the third and fourth calendar quarters and the highest percentage of Teva and Sanuk brand net sales occurring in the first and second calendar quarters of each year. Our financial results include the Sanuk brand beginning July 1, 2011. Historically, our total net sales in the last half of the year have exceeded total net sales for the first half of the year, and we expect this trend to continue. Our other brands do not have a significant seasonal impact on our business. Nonetheless, actual results could differ materially depending upon consumer preferences, availability of product, competition, and our wholesale and distributor customers continuing to carry and promote our various product lines, among other risks and uncertainties. See Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors." For further discussion on our working capital and inventory management, see Item 7 of Part II, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources."

Backlog

Historically, we have encouraged our wholesale and distributor customers to place, and we have received, a significant portion of orders as preseason orders, generally four to eight months prior to the anticipated shipment date. We provide customers with price incentives, and in certain cases extended payment terms, to participate in such preseason programs to enable us to better plan our production schedule, inventory and shipping needs. Unfilled customer orders as of any date, which we refer to as backlog, represent orders scheduled to be shipped at a future date, which can be cancelled prior to shipment. The backlog as of a particular date is affected by a number of factors, including seasonality, manufacturing schedule, and the timing of product shipments as well as variations in the quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year preseason incentive programs. The mix of future and immediate delivery orders can vary significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year. As a result, comparisons of the backlog from period-to-period may be misleading.

At December 31, 2012, our backlog of orders from our wholesale customers and distributors was approximately $323,000 compared to approximately $387,000 at December 31, 2011. While all orders in the backlog are subject to cancellation by customers, we expect that the majority of such orders will be filled in 2013. We believe that backlog at year-end is an imprecise indicator of total revenue that may be achieved for the full year for several reasons. Backlog only relates to wholesale and distributor orders for the next season and current season fill-in orders and excludes potential sales in our eCommerce business and retail stores during the year. Backlog also is affected by the timing of customers' orders and product availability. As compared to the prior year end, at December 31, 2012 fewer customers had completed previewing and writing their Fall 2013 pre-book orders.

Competition

The casual, outdoor, athletic, fashion, and formal footwear markets are highly competitive. Our competitors include athletic and footwear companies, branded apparel companies, and retailers with their own private labels. Although the footwear industry is fragmented to a certain degree, many of our competitors are larger and have substantially greater resources than us, including athletic shoe companies, several of which compete directly with some of our products. In addition, access to offshore manufacturing has made it easier for new companies to enter the markets in which we compete, further increasing competition in the footwear and accessory industries. In particular, in part due to the popularity of our UGG products, we face increasing competition from a significant number of competitors selling products designed to compete directly or indirectly with our UGG products.

We believe that our footwear lines and other product lines compete primarily on the basis of brand recognition and authenticity, product quality and design, functionality, performance, comfort, fashion appeal, and price. Our ability to successfully compete depends on our ability to:

shape and stimulate consumer tastes and preferences by offering innovative, attractive, and exciting products;

anticipate and respond to changing consumer demands in a timely manner;

maintain brand authenticity;

develop high quality products that appeal to consumers;

price our products suitably;

provide strong and effective marketing support; and

ensure product availability.

We believe we are well positioned to compete in the footwear industry. We continually look to acquire or develop more footwear brands to complement our existing portfolio and grow our existing consumer base.

Employees

At December 31, 2012, we employed approximately 2,300 employees in the US, Europe, and Asia, none of whom were represented by a union. This figure includes approximately 1,300 employees in our retail stores worldwide, which includes part-time and seasonal employees. The increase in employees during the year was primarily related to increased expansion efforts. We intend to increase our employee count further in 2013 primarily related to the opening of new retail stores and our other expansion initiatives. We believe our relationships with our employees are good.

Financial Information about Segments and Geographic Areas

Our six reportable business segments include the strategic business units responsible for the worldwide operations of our brands' (UGG, Teva, Sanuk and other brands) wholesale divisions, as well as our eCommerce and retail store businesses. The majority of our sales and long-lived assets are in the US. Refer to Note 8 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements for further discussion of our business segment data. Refer to Item 1A of this Part I for a discussion of the risks related to our foreign operations.

Compliance with federal, state, and local environmental regulations has not had, nor is it expected to have, any material effect on our capital expenditures, earnings, or competitive position based on information and circumstances known to us at this time.

Available Information

Our internet address is www.deckers.com (http://www.deckers.com). We post links to our website to the following filings as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC: annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, Proxy Statements, and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All such filings are available through our website free of charge. Our filings may also be read and copied at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains an internet site at www.sec.gov (http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

Our short and long-term success is subject to many factors beyond our control. Investing in our common stock involves substantial risk. Before investing in our stock, stockholders and potential stockholders should carefully consider the following risk factors related to our company as well as general investor risks, in addition to the other information contained in this report and the information incorporated by reference in this report. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected. In that case, the value of our common stock could decline and stockholders may lose all or part of their investment. Please also see the section entitled "Special Note on Forward-Looking Statements" on page 2 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Changes in economic conditions may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Volatile economic conditions and general changes in the market have affected, and will likely continue to affect consumer spending generally and the buying habits and preferences of our customers and end-user consumers in particular. A significant portion of the products we sell, especially those sold under the UGG Australia brand, are considered to be luxury retail products. The purchase of these products by consumers is largely discretionary, and is therefore highly dependent upon the level of consumer spending, particularly among affluent consumers. Sales of these products may be adversely affected by a continuation or worsening of recent economic conditions, increases in consumer debt levels, uncertainties regarding future economic prospects, or a decline in consumer confidence. During an actual or perceived economic downturn, fewer consumers may shop for our products and those who do shop may limit the amounts of their purchases. As a result, we could be required to reduce the price we can charge for our products or increase our marketing and promotional expenses in response to lower than anticipated levels of demand for our products. In either case, these changes, or other similar changes in our marketing strategy, would reduce our revenues and profit margins and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We sell the majority of our products through higher-end specialty and department store retailers. These retailer customers may be impacted by continuing economic uncertainty, reduced customer demand for luxury products, and a significant decrease in available credit. If reduced consumer spending, lower demand for luxury products, or credit pressures result in financial difficulties or insolvency for these customers, it would adversely impact our estimated allowances and reserves as well as our overall financial results. Also, economic factors such as increased transportation costs, inflation, higher costs of labor, and higher insurance and healthcare costs may increase our cost of sales and our operating expenses, and otherwise adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Our business, access to credit, and trading price of common stock could be materially and adversely affected if the current economic conditions do not improve or worsen.

Our financial success is influenced by the success of our customers.

Much of our financial success is directly related to the success of our retailers and distributor partners to market and sell our brands through to the consumer. If a retailer fails to meet annual sales goals, it may be difficult to locate an acceptable substitute retailer. If a distributor fails to meet annual sales goals, it may be difficult and costly to either locate an acceptable substitute distributor or convert to a wholesale direct model. If a change becomes necessary, we may experience increased costs, loss of customers, increased credit risk, and increased inventory risk, as well as substantial disruption to operations and a potential loss of sales.

We currently do not have long-term contracts with any of our retailers. We do have contracts with our distributors with terms ranging up to five-years, however, while these contracts may have annual purchase minimums which must be met in order to retain the distribution rights, the distributors are not otherwise obligated to purchase product. Sales to our retailers and distributors are generally on an order-by-order basis and are subject to rights of cancellation and rescheduling by our wholesale customers. We use the timing of delivery dates in our wholesale customer orders to forecast our sales and earnings for future periods. If any of our major customers, including independent distributors, experience a significant downturn in business or fail to remain committed to our products or brands, then these customers could postpone, reduce, or discontinue purchases from us. As a result, we could experience a decline in sales or gross margins, write downs of excess inventory, increased discounts or extended credit terms to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, and our common stock price.

Our five largest customers accounted for approximately 22.8% of worldwide net sales in 2012 and 24.0% of worldwide net sales in 2011. Any loss of a key customer, the financial collapse or bankruptcy of a key customer, or a significant reduction in purchases from a key customer could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Failure to adequately protect our trademarks, patents, and other intellectual property rights or deter counterfeiting could diminish the value of our brands and reduce sales.

We believe that our trademarks and other intellectual property rights are of value and are integral to our success and our competitive position. Some countries' laws do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as do US laws. Furthermore, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights are typically met with defenses and counterclaims attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property rights. Unplanned increases in legal fees and other costs associated with the defense of our intellectual property or rebranding could result in higher operating expenses and lower earnings.

Similarly, from time to time, we may need to defend against claims that the word "ugg" is a generic term and that "UGG Australia" should not be registered as a trademark. Such a claim was successful in Australia, but such claims have been rejected by courts in the United States and in the Netherlands. Any decision or settlement in any of these matters that prevents trademark protection of the "UGG Australia"

brand in our major markets, or that allows a third party to continue to use our brand trademarks in connection with the sale of products similar to our products, or to continue to manufacture or distribute counterfeit products could result in intensified commercial competition and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

From time to time, we discover counterfeit products in the marketplace that infringe upon our intellectual property rights. If we are unsuccessful in challenging a third party's products on the basis of patent, trademark and trade dress rights, particularly in some foreign countries, this could adversely affect our continued sales, financial condition, and results of operation. If our brands are associated with infringers' or competitors' inferior products, this could also adversely affect the integrity of our brands.

Many of our products are seasonal, and our sales are sensitive to weather conditions.

Sales of our products are highly seasonal and are sensitive to weather conditions, which are beyond our control. For example, extended periods of unseasonably warm weather during the fall and winter months may reduce demand for our UGG products. If management is not able to timely adjust expenses in reaction to adverse events such as unfavorable weather, weak consumer spending patterns or unanticipated levels of order cancellations because of seasonal circumstances, our profitability may be materially affected. Even though we are creating more year-round styles for our brands, the effect of favorable or unfavorable weather on sales can be significant enough to affect our quarterly results, with a resulting effect on our common stock price.

If raw materials do not meet our specifications, or experience price increases or shortages, we could realize interruptions in manufacturing, increased costs, higher product return rates, a loss of sales, or a reduction in our gross margins.

We depend on a limited number of key sources for certain raw materials. For sheepskin, the raw material used in a significant portion of our UGG products, we rely on two tanneries. Both the top grade twinface and other grades of sheepskin used in UGG products are in high demand and limited supply. Furthermore, our unique sheepskin needs require certain types of sheepskin that may only be found in certain geographic locations and tanneries with sufficient expertise and capacity to deliver sheepskin which meets our specifications. The supply of sheepskin can be adversely impacted by weather conditions, disease, and harvesting decisions that are completely outside our control. For example, if the price of wool increases, sheep herders may choose not to harvest their sheep and instead choose to shear their sheep for wool, thus decreasing the supply of sheepskin. Sheepskin is also a by-product of the food industry and is therefore dependent upon the demand by the food industry, which has generally been decreasing thus leading to an overall reduction in the number of sheep available. The potential inability to obtain sheepskin and other raw materials could impair our ability to meet our production requirements and could lead to inventory shortages, which can result in lost sales, delays in shipments to customers, strain on our relationships with customers, and diminished brand loyalty. There have also been significant increases in the prices of sheepskin as the demand from competitors for this material has increased and supply of sheep has decreased. We experienced an approximate 40% increase in sheepskin costs in 2012 and expect an overall decrease in 2013, with the majority of the decrease being realized in the fourth quarter of 2013. We attempt to cover the full amount of our sheepskin purchases under fixed price contracts. Any price increases in key raw materials will likely raise our costs and decrease our profitability unless we are able to commensurately increase our selling prices and implement other cost savings measures.

In addition, our sheepskin suppliers warehouse their inventory at a limited number of facilities in China, the loss of any of which due to natural disasters and other adverse events would likely result in shortages of sheepskin leading to delays in the production of our products and could result in a loss of sales and earnings.

Our independent manufacturers use various raw materials in the production of our footwear and accessories that must meet our design specifications and, in some cases, additional technical requirements for performance footwear. If these raw materials and the end product do not conform to our specifications, we could experience a higher rate of customer returns and deterioration in the image of our brands, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our new and existing retail stores may not realize returns on our investments.

Our retail segment has grown substantially in both net sales and total assets during the past year, and we intend to rapidly expand this segment in the future. We have entered into significant long-term leases for many of our retail locations. Global store openings involve substantial investments, including constructing leasehold improvements, furniture and fixtures, equipment, information systems, inventory, and personnel. In addition, since certain of our retail store costs are fixed, if we have insufficient sales, we may be unable to reduce expenses in order to avoid losses or negative cash flows. Due to the high fixed cost structure associated with the retail segment, negative cash flows or the closure of a store could result in significant write-downs of inventory, severance costs, lease termination costs, impairment losses on long-lived assets, or loss of our working capital, which could adversely impact our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

In addition, from time to time we license the right to operate retail stores for our brands to third parties, including our independent distributors. We provide training to support these stores, and set and monitor operational standards. However, the quality of these store operations may decline due to the failure of these third parties to operate the stores in a manner consistent with our standards, which could harm their sales and as a result harm our results of operations or cause our brand image to suffer.

If we do not accurately forecast consumer demand, we may have excess inventory to liquidate or have difficulty filling our customers' orders.

Because the footwear industry has relatively long lead times for design and production, we must plan our production tooling and projected volumes many months before consumer tastes become apparent. The footwear and fashion industry is subject to rapid changes in consumer preferences, making it difficult to accurately forecast demand for our products and our future results of operations. Many factors may significantly affect demand for our products, which include: consumer acceptance of our products, changes in consumer demand for products of our competitors, effects of weather conditions, our reliance on manual processes and judgment for certain supply and demand planning functions that are subject to human error, unanticipated changes in general market conditions, and weak economic conditions or consumer confidence that reduces demand for discretionary items, such as our products.

A large number of models, colors, and sizes in our product lines can increase these risks. As a result, we may fail to accurately forecast styles, colors, and features that will be in demand. If we overestimate demand for any products or styles, we may be forced to incur higher markdowns or sell excess inventories at reduced prices resulting in lower, or negative, gross margins. On the other hand, if we underestimate demand for our products or if our independent factories are unable to supply products when we need them, we may experience inventory shortages that may prevent us from fulfilling customer orders or delaying shipments to customers. This could negatively affect our relationship with customers and diminish our brand loyalty, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our success depends on our ability to anticipate fashion trends.

Our success depends largely on the continued strength of our brands, on our ability to anticipate, understand, and react to the rapidly changing fashion tastes of footwear, apparel, and accessory consumers and to provide appealing merchandise in a timely and cost effective manner. Our products must appeal to a broad range of consumers whose preferences cannot be predicted with certainty and are subject to rapid change. We are also dependent on consumer receptivity to our products and marketing strategy. There can be no assurance that consumers will continue to prefer our brands or that we will (1) respond quickly enough to changes in consumer preferences, (2) market our products successfully, or (3) successfully introduce acceptable new models and styles of footwear or accessories to our target consumer. We believe that the ongoing economic uncertainty in many countries where we sell our products and the corresponding impact on consumer confidence and discretionary income may increase this uncertainty. Achieving market acceptance for new products also likely will require us to exert substantial product development and marketing efforts and expend significant funds to attract consumers. A failure to introduce new products that gain market acceptance or maintain market share with our current products would erode our competitive position, which would reduce our profits and could adversely affect the image of our brands, resulting in long-term harm to our business.

While our UGG brand has experienced strong sales levels over the past several years, UGG brand sales declined in fiscal year 2012 compared to fiscal year 2011. UGG products include fashion items that could go out of style at any time and competition for the sale of products by the UGG brand is intense and has increased over time. UGG products represent a majority of our business, and if UGG product sales were to decline further or fail to increase in the future, our overall financial performance and common stock price would be adversely affected.

We may not succeed in implementing our growth strategies.

As part of our growth strategy, we seek to enhance the positioning of our brands, extend our brands into complementary product categories and markets, partner with or acquire compatible companies or brands, expand geographically, increase our retail presence, and improve our operational performance. We continue to expand the nature and scope of our operations considerably, including significantly increasing the number of our employees worldwide. We anticipate that substantial further expansion will be required to realize our growth potential and new market opportunities.

We are growing globally through our retail, eCommerce, wholesale, and distributor channels. In addition, as part of our international growth strategy, we may continue to transition from third-party distribution to direct distribution through wholly-owned subsidiaries. Implementing our growth strategies, or failure to effectively execute them, could affect near term revenues from the postponement of sales recognition to future periods, our rate of growth or profitability, which in turn could have a negative effect on the value of our common stock. In addition, our growth initiatives could:

increase our working capital needs beyond our capacity;

increase costs if we fail to successfully integrate a newly acquired business or achieve expected cost savings;

result in impairment charges related to acquired businesses;

create remote-site management issues, which would adversely affect our internal control environment;

have significant domestic or international legal or compliance implications;

make it difficult to attract, retain, and manage adequate human resources in remote locations;

cause additional inventory manufacturing, distribution, and management costs;

cause us to experience difficulty in filling customer orders;

result in distribution termination transaction costs; or

create other production, distribution, and operating difficulties.

Our goodwill and other intangible assets may incur impairment losses.

We conducted our annual impairment tests of goodwill and other intangible assets for 2012, 2011, and 2010. In addition, we conducted interim impairment evaluations when impairment indicators arose. In 2012, 2011, and 2010, we did not recognize any material impairment charges on our goodwill and other intangible assets.

If any brand's product sales or operating margins decline to a point that the fair value falls below its carrying value, we may be required to write down the related intangible assets. These or other related declines could cause us to incur additional impairment losses, which could materially affect our consolidated financial statements and results of operations. The value of our trademarks is highly dependent on forecasted revenues and earnings before interest and taxes for our brands, as well as derived discount and royalty rates. In addition, the valuation of intangible assets is subject to a high degree of judgment and complexity. We may also decide to discontinue a brand which would result in the write down of all related intangible assets. The balances of goodwill and nonamortizable intangibles by brand are as follows:

Because we depend on independent manufacturers, we face challenges in maintaining a continuous supply of finished goods that meet our quality standards.

Most of our production is performed by a limited number of independent manufacturers. We depend on these manufacturers' ability to finance the production of goods ordered and to maintain manufacturing capacity, and store completed goods in a safe and sound location pending shipment. We do not possess direct control over either the independent manufacturers or their materials suppliers, so we may be unable to obtain timely and continuous delivery of acceptable products. In addition, while we do have long standing relationships with most of our factories, we currently do not have long-term contracts with these independent manufacturers, and any of them may unilaterally terminate their relationship with us at any time or seek to increase the prices they charge us. As a result, we are not assured of an uninterrupted supply of acceptable quality and competitively priced products from our independent manufacturers. If there is an interruption, we may not be able to substitute suitable alternative manufacturers to provide products or services of a comparable quality at an acceptable price or on a timely basis. If a change in our independent manufacturers becomes necessary, we would likely experience increased costs as well as substantial disruption of our business, which could result in a loss of sales and earnings.

Interruptions in the supply chain can also result from natural disasters and other adverse events that would impair our manufacturers' operations. We keep proprietary materials involved in the production process, such as shoe molds, knives, and raw materials, under the custody of our independent manufacturers. If these independent manufacturers were to experience loss or damage to our proprietary materials involved in the production process, we cannot be assured that such independent manufacturers would have adequate insurance to cover such loss or damage and, in any event, the replacement of such materials would likely result in significant delays in the production of our products and could result in a loss of sales and earnings.

Most of our independent manufacturers are located outside the US, where we are subject to the risks of international commerce.

Most of our independent manufacturers are in China and Vietnam, with the majority of production performed by a limited number of manufacturers in China. Foreign manufacturing is subject to numerous risks, including the following:

tariffs, import and export controls, and other non-tariff barriers such as quotas and local content rules on raw materials and finished products, including the potential threat of anti-dumping duties and quotas;

increasing transportation costs and a limited supply of international shipping capacity;

increasing labor costs;

poor infrastructure and shortages of equipment, which can disrupt transportation and utilities;

restrictions on the transfer of funds;

changing economic conditions;

violations or changes in governmental policies and regulations including labor, safety, and environmental regulations in China, Vietnam, the US, and elsewhere;

refusal to adopt or comply with our Supplier Code of Conduct and Restricted Substances Policy;

customary business traditions in China and Vietnam such as local holidays, which are traditionally accompanied by high levels of turnover in the factories;

labor unrest, which can lead to work stoppages and interruptions in transportation or supply;

delays during shipping, at the port of entry or at the port of departure;

political instability, which can interrupt commerce;

use of unauthorized or prohibited materials or reclassification of materials;

expropriation and nationalization; and

adverse changes in consumer perception of goods, trade, or political relations with China and Vietnam.

These factors, or others of which we are currently unaware or which we do not currently view as material, could severely interfere with the manufacture or shipment of our products. This could make it difficult to obtain adequate supplies of quality products when we need them, thus materially affecting our sales and results of operations.

While we require that our independent manufacturers adhere to environmental, ethical, health, safety, and other standard business practices and applicable local laws, and we periodically visit and audit their operations, we do not control their business practices. If we discovered non-compliant manufacturers or suppliers that cannot or will not become compliant, we would cease dealing with them, and we could suffer an interruption in our product supply chain. In addition, the manufacturers' or designated suppliers' violations of such standards and laws could damage our reputation and the value of our brands, resulting in negative publicity and discouraging customers and consumers from buying our products.

We conduct business outside the US, which exposes us to foreign currency, global liquidity, and other risks.

The state of the global economy continues to influence the level of consumer spending for discretionary items. This affects our business as it is highly dependent on consumer demand for our products. The current political and economic environments in certain countries in Europe have resulted in significant macroeconomic risks, including high rates of unemployment, high fuel prices, and continued global economic uncertainty largely precipitated by the European debt crisis.

We operate on a global basis, with approximately 31.2% of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2012 from operations outside the US. As we continue to increase our international operations, our sales and expenditures in foreign currencies become more material and subject to currency fluctuations and global credit markets. A significant portion of our international operating expenses are paid in local currencies. Also, our foreign distributors sell in local currencies, which impacts the price to foreign consumers. Many of our subsidiaries operate with their local currency as their functional currency. We currently utilize forward contracts or other derivative instruments for the amounts we expect to purchase and sell in foreign currencies to mitigate exposure to fluctuations in the foreign currency exchange rate. As we continue to expand international operations and increase purchases and sales in foreign currencies, we will evaluate and may utilize additional derivative instruments, as needed, to hedge our foreign currency exposures. Our hedging strategies depend on our forecasts of sales, expenses, and cash flows, which are inherently subject to inaccuracies. Therefore, our hedging strategies may be ineffective. Future changes in foreign currency exchange rates and global credit markets may cause changes in the US dollar value of our purchases or sales and materially affect our sales, profit margins, or results of operations, when converted to US dollars. In addition, the failure of financial institutions that underwrite our derivative contracts may negate our efforts to hedge our foreign currency exposures and result in material foreign currency or contract losses. Foreign currency hedging activities, transactions, or translations could materially impact our consolidated financial statements.

While our purchases from overseas factories are currently denominated in US dollars, certain operating and manufacturing costs of the factories are denominated in other currencies. As a result, fluctuations in these currencies versus the US dollar could impact our purchase prices from the factories in the event that they adjust their selling prices accordingly.

Key business processes and supporting information systems could be interrupted and adversely affect our business.

Our future success and growth depend on the continued operation of our key business processes, including information systems, global communications, the internet, and key personnel. Hackers and computer viruses have disrupted operations at many major companies. We may be vulnerable to similar acts of sabotage. Key processes could also be interrupted by a failure due to weather, natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failure, failure of our computer systems, sabotage, terrorism, or similar event such that:

critical business systems become inoperable or require significant costs to restore;

key personnel are unable to perform their duties, communicate, or access information systems;

significant quantities of merchandise are damaged or destroyed;

we are required to make unanticipated investment in state-of-the-art technologies and security measures;

key wholesale and distributor customers cannot place or receive orders;

eCommerce customer orders may not be received or fulfilled;

confidential information about our customers may be misappropriated or lost damaging our reputation and customer relationships;

we are exposed to unanticipated liabilities; or

carriers cannot ship or unload shipments.

These interruptions to key business processes could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations and result in lost sales and reduced earnings.

We rely on our information management, internet cloud providers, and other enterprise resource planning systems to operate our business, prepare forecasts and track our operating results. Our information management and enterprise planning systems will require modification and refinement as we grow and our business needs change. We may experience difficulties in transitioning to new or upgraded information technology systems, including loss of data, unreliable data, and decreases in productivity as our personnel become familiar with the new systems. If we experience a significant system failure or if we are unable to competitively modify our information management systems to respond to changes in our business needs, then our ability to properly run our business and report financial results could be adversely affected.

The loss of the services and expertise of any key employee could also harm our business. Our future success depends on our ability to identify, attract, and retain qualified personnel on a timely basis.

We may not be able to attract or retain highly capable employees who can achieve our strategic goals and objectives.

Our future success depends on our ability to identify, attract, and retain qualified personnel on a timely basis. The loss of the services and expertise of any key employee could also harm our business through business process interruptions, loss of institutional knowledge, and recruitment and training costs.

We could be adversely affected by the loss of our warehouses.

The warehousing of our inventory is located at a limited number of self-managed domestic facilities and self-managed and third party managed international facilities, the loss of any of which could adversely impact our sales, business performance, and operating results. In addition, we could face a significant disruption in our domestic distribution center operations if our automated pick module does not perform as anticipated or ceases to function for an extended period.

Our sales in international markets are subject to a variety of laws and political and economic risks that may adversely impact our sales and results of operations in certain regions, which could increase our costs and adversely impact our operating results.

Our ability to capitalize on growth in new international markets and to maintain the current level of operations in our existing international markets is subject to risks associated with international operations and joint ventures with international partners that could adversely affect our sales and results of operations. These include:

changes in currency exchange rates, which impact the price to international consumers;

ability to move currency out of international markets;

the burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws and regulations, the interpretation and application of which are uncertain;

legal costs and penalties related to defending allegations of non-compliance;

unexpected changes in legal and regulatory requirements;

inability to successfully import into a country;

changes in tax laws;

complications due to lack of familiarity with local customs;

difficulties associated with promoting products in unfamiliar cultures;

political instability;

changes in diplomatic and trade relationships; and

general economic fluctuations in specific countries or markets.

International trade and import regulations may impose unexpected duty costs or other non-tariff barriers to markets while the increasing number of free trade agreements has the potential to stimulate increased competition; security procedures may cause significant delays.

Products manufactured overseas and imported into the US and other countries are subject to import duties. While we have implemented internal measures to comply with applicable customs regulations and to properly calculate the import duties applicable to imported products, customs authorities may disagree with our claimed tariff treatment for certain products, resulting in unexpected costs that may not have been factored into the sales price of the products and our forecasted gross margins.

We cannot predict whether future domestic laws, regulations or trade remedy actions or international agreements may impose additional duties or other restrictions on the importation of products from one or more of our sourcing venues. Such changes could increase the cost of our products, require us to withdraw from certain restricted markets, or change our business methods and could make it difficult to obtain products of our customary quality at a competitive price. Meanwhile, the continued negotiation of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements by the US and our other market countries with countries other than our principal sourcing venues may stimulate competition from manufacturers in these other sourcing venues, which now export, or may seek to export, footwear and accessories to our target markets at preferred rates of duty, which may have an effect on our sales and operations.

Additionally, the increased threat of terrorist activity and law enforcement responses to this threat have required greater levels of inspection of imported goods and have caused delays in bringing imported goods to market. Any tightening of security procedures, for example, in the aftermath of a terrorist incident, could worsen these delays and increase our costs.

Our revolving credit facility provides our lenders with a first-priority lien against substantially all of our assets and contains financial covenants and other restrictions on our actions.

From time to time, we have financed our liquidity needs in part from borrowing made under a revolving credit facility. Our credit facility provides for a committed revolving credit line of up to $400,000. Our obligations under the agreement are guaranteed by our existing and future domestic subsidiaries, other than certain immaterial subsidiaries and foreign subsidiaries, and are secured by a first priority security interest in substantially all of our assets and our subsidiaries' assets, including a portion of the equity interests of certain of our domestic and foreign subsidiaries. The agreement for our credit facility also contains a number of customary financial covenants and restrictions, which may restrict our ability to engage in transactions that would otherwise be in our best interests. Failure to comply with any of the covenants under the credit agreement could result in a default. A default under the credit agreement could cause the lenders to accelerate the timing of payments and exercise their lien on essentially all of our assets, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, financial condition and liquidity. In addition, because borrowings under the revolving credit facility bear interest at variable interest rates, which we do not anticipate hedging against, increases in interest rates would increase our cost of borrowing, resulting in a decline in our net income and cash flow. There was $33,000 outstanding under our revolving credit facility as of December 31, 2012.

The tax laws applicable to our business are very complicated and we may be subject to additional income tax liabilities as a result of audits by various taxing authorities or changes in tax laws applicable to our business.

We conduct our operations through subsidiaries in several countries including the US, the UK, Japan, China, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Bermuda, France, and Canada. As a result, we are subject to tax laws and regulations in each of those jurisdictions, and to tax treaties between the US and other nations. These tax laws are highly complex, and significant judgment and specialized expertise is required in evaluating and estimating our worldwide provision for income taxes.

We are subject to audits in each of the various jurisdictions where we conduct business, and any of these jurisdictions may assess additional income taxes against us as a result of their audits. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, and we undertake to prepare our tax filings in accordance with all applicable tax laws, the final determination with respect to any tax audits, and any related litigation, could be materially different from our estimates or from our historical income tax provisions and accruals. The results of an audit or litigation could have a material effect on our operating results or cash flows in the periods for which that determination is made and may require a restatement of prior financial reports at a material cost. In addition, future period earnings may be adversely impacted by litigation costs, settlements, penalties, or interest assessments.

We are also subject to constant changes in tax laws, regulations and treaties in and between the nations in which we operate. Our income tax expense is based upon our interpretation of the tax laws in effect in various countries at the time that the expense was incurred. A change in these tax laws, treaties or regulations, including those in and involving the US, or in the interpretation thereof, could result in a materially higher tax expense or a higher effective tax rate on our worldwide earnings. It is possible that tax proposals could result in changes to the existing US tax laws that affect us. We are unable to predict whether any proposals will ultimately be enacted. Any such changes could increase our income tax liability and adversely affect our net income and long term effective tax rates.

We face intense competition, including competition from companies with significantly greater resources than ours, and if we are unable to compete effectively with these companies, our market share may decline and our business could be harmed.

The footwear industry is highly competitive, and many new competitors have entered into the marketplace. We believe that some of these competitors have entered the market place in response to the success of our brands and that such competitors have targeted or intend to target our products with their product offerings. Additionally, we have experienced increased competition from established companies. A number of our competitors have significantly greater financial, technological, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution resources than we do, as well as greater brand awareness in the footwear and accessory markets. Our competitors include athletic and footwear companies, branded apparel companies, and retailers with their own private labels. Their greater capabilities in these areas may enable them to better withstand periodic downturns in the footwear industry, compete more effectively on the basis of price and production, and develop new products more quickly. In addition, access to offshore manufacturing has made it easier for new companies to enter the markets in which we compete, further increasing competition in the footwear and accessory industries.

Additionally, efforts by our competitors to dispose of their excess inventories may significantly reduce prices that we can expect to receive for the sale of our competing products and may cause our consumers to shift their purchases away from our products. If we fail to compete successfully in the future, our sales and earnings will decline, as will the value of our business, financial condition, and common stock price.

The disruption, expense, and potential liability associated with existing and future litigation.

We are involved in various claims, litigations and other legal and regulatory proceedings and governmental investigations that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. Due to inherent uncertainties of litigation and other such proceedings and investigations, we cannot predict with accuracy the ultimate outcome of any such matters. An unfavorable outcome could have an adverse impact on our business, financial position, and results of operations. The amount of insurance coverage we maintain to address such matters may be inadequate to cover these or other claims. In addition, any significant litigation, investigation, or proceeding, regardless of its merits, could divert financial and management resources that would otherwise be used to benefit our operations or could negatively impact our reputation in the marketplace.

Our common stock price has been volatile, which could result in substantial losses for stockholders.

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. While our average daily trading volume for the 52-week period ended February 15, 2013 was approximately 2,140,000 shares, we have experienced more limited volume in the past and may do so in the future. The trading price of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile. The closing prices of our common stock, as reported by the NASDAQ Global Select Market, have ranged from $28.63 to $90.21 for the 52-week period ended February 15, 2013. The trading price of our common stock could be affected by a number of factors, including, but not limited to the following:

changes in expectations of our future performance, whether realized or perceived;

changes in estimates by securities analysts or failure to meet such estimates;

published research and opinions by securities analysts and other market forecasters;

changes in our credit ratings;

the financial results and liquidity of our customers;

shift of revenue recognition as a result of changes in our distribution model, delivery of merchandise, or entering into agreements with related parties;

claims brought against us by a regulatory agency or our stockholders;

quarterly fluctuations in our sales, expenses, and financial results;

general equity market conditions and investor sentiment;

economic conditions and consumer confidence;

broad market fluctuations in volume and price;

increasing short sales of our stock;

announcements to repurchase our stock;

the declaration of stock or cash dividends; and

a variety of risk factors, including the ones described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our other periodic reports.

In addition, the stock market in general has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of individual companies. Accordingly, the price of our common stock is volatile and any investment in our stock is subject to risk of loss. These broad market and industry factors and other general macroeconomic conditions unrelated to our financial performance may also affect our common stock price.

The loss, theft or misuse of sensitive customer or company information, or the failure or interruption of key information technology and resource planning systems, could materially adversely affect our business.

Our business involves the storage and transmission of sensitive information including the personal information of our customers, credit card information, employee information, data relating to consumer preferences, and proprietary company financial and strategic data. The protection of our customer, employee and company data is vitally important to us as the loss, theft or misuse of such information could lead to significant reputational or competitive harm, litigation and potential liability. As a result, we believe that our future success and growth depends, in part, on the ability of our key business processes, including our information and global communication systems, to prevent the theft, loss or misuse of this sensitive information. However, as with many businesses, we are subject to numerous security and cybersecurity risks which may prevent us from maintaining the privacy of sensitive information and require us to expend significant resources attempting to secure such information.

As has been well documented in the media, hackers and computer viruses have disrupted operations at many major companies, and we may be vulnerable to similar security breaches. While we have expended, and will continue to expend, significant resources to protect our customers and ourselves against these breaches and to ensure an effective response to a security or cybersecurity breach, we cannot be certain that we will be able to adequately defend against any such breach. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or attack our systems are constantly evolving and, in some cases, becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect. Despite our efforts, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventive measures in response, and any breaches that we do not detect may remain undetected for some period. In addition, measures that we do take to prevent risks of fraud and security breaches have the potential to harm relations with our customers or suppliers, or decrease activity on our websites by making them more difficult to use or restricting the ability to meet our customers' expectations in terms of their online shopping experience.

In addition, we rely on certain information technology management and enterprise resource planning systems to prepare sales forecasts, track our financial and operating results, and otherwise operate our business. As our business grows and we expand into additional distribution channels and geographic regions, these systems may require expansion or modification. We may experience difficulties expanding these information technology and resource planning systems or transitioning to new or upgraded systems, which may result in loss of data or unreliable data, decreases in productivity as our personnel become familiar with the new systems, and increased costs for the implementation of the new or upgraded systems. If we are unable to modify our information technology or resource planning systems to respond to changes in our business needs, or if we experience a failure or interruption in these systems, our ability to accurately forecast sales, report our financial and operating results, or otherwise operate our business could be adversely affected.

Furthermore, key processes could be interrupted by a failure due to weather, natural disaster, loss of power, telecommunications failure, failure of our computer systems, terrorism, or similar events such that:

critical business systems become damaged or inoperable or require significant cost or resources to replace or restore;

key personnel are unable to communicate, access information systems, or otherwise perform their duties;

significant quantities of merchandise are damaged or destroyed;

we are required to make unanticipated capital expenditures in new or updated technologies;

key wholesale and distributor customers cannot place or receive orders;

eCommerce customer orders cannot be received or fulfilled;

sensitive information about our customers or our business may be misappropriated or lost; or

we are exposed to unanticipated liabilities.

Any such failure of or interruption to our key business processes could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our corporate headquarters are located in Goleta, California. We have two US distribution centers, both in California, and an international distribution center in the Netherlands. Our eCommerce operations are in Arizona, the UK, and Japan. We also have offices in China and Vietnam to oversee the quality and manufacturing standards of our products, an office in Macau to coordinate logistics, an office in Hong Kong to coordinate sales and marketing efforts, and offices in the UK and the Netherlands to oversee European operations and administration. As of December 31, 2012, we had twenty-six retail stores in the US ranging from approximately 2,000 to 7,000 square feet. Internationally, we had fifty-one retail stores in the UK, China, Japan, France, Belgium, and Canada. We have no manufacturing facilities, as all of our products are manufactured by independent manufacturers. We also utilize third-party managed distribution centers in certain international countries. We lease, rather than own, our facilities from unrelated parties. In 2011, we purchased approximately fourteen acres of land to build new corporate headquarters in Goleta, California. We expect the construction of the headquarters to be completed in 2013. With the exception of our eCommerce and retail store facilities, our facilities are attributable to multiple segments of our business and are not allocated to the reportable segments. We believe our space is adequate for our current needs and that suitable additional or substitute space will be available to accommodate the foreseeable expansion of our business and operations. We may utilize additional third-party managed distribution centers internationally, as we continue converting selective international distributor businesses into wholesale businesses.

The following table reflects the location, use, segment, and approximate size of our significant physical properties:

We are involved in various routine legal proceedings as both plaintiff and defendant incident to the ordinary course of our business, including proceedings to protect our intellectual property rights.

On May 31, 2012, a purported shareholder class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against the Company and certain of its officers. On August 1, 2012, a similar purported shareholder class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against the Company and certain of its officers. These actions are purportedly brought on behalf of purchasers of the Company's publicly traded securities between October 27, 2011 and April 26, 2012. Plaintiffs in both complaints allege that defendants made false and misleading statements, purport to assert claims for violations of the federal securities laws, and seek unspecified compensatory damages and other relief. The California case has been dismissed with prejudice; the Delaware action remains pending. We believe the claim in the Delaware complaint is without merit and intend to defend the action vigorously. While we believe there is no legal basis for liability, due to the uncertainty surrounding the litigation process, we are unable to reasonably estimate a range of loss, if any, at this time.

On July 17, 2012 and July 26, 2012, purported shareholder derivative lawsuits were filed in the California Superior Court for the County of Santa Barbara against our Board of Directors and several of our officers. The Company is named as nominal defendant. Plaintiffs in the state derivative actions allege that the Board allowed certain officers to make allegedly false and misleading statements. The complaints include claims for violation of the federal securities laws, breach of fiduciary duties, mismanagement, waste of corporate assets, insider trading, unjust enrichment, and violations of the California Corporations Code. The complaints seek compensatory damages, disgorgement, and other relief. We believe the claims are without merit and intend to defend the actions vigorously. While we believe there is no legal basis for liability, due to the uncertainty surrounding the litigation process, we are unable to reasonably estimate a range of loss, if any, at this time.

As part of our policing program for our intellectual property rights, from time to time, we file lawsuits in the US and abroad alleging acts of trademark counterfeiting, trademark infringement, patent infringement, trade dress infringement, trademark dilution, and state or foreign law claims. At any given point in time, we may have a number of such actions pending. These actions often result in seizure of counterfeit merchandise or out of court settlements with defendants or both. From time to time, we are subject to claims where plaintiffs will raise, or defendants will raise, either as affirmative defenses or as counterclaims, the invalidity or unenforceability of certain of our intellectual properties, including our trademark registration for UGG Australia. We also are aware of many instances throughout the world in which a third party is using our UGG trademarks within its internet domain name, and we have discovered and are investigating several manufacturers and distributors of counterfeit Teva, UGG, and Sanuk products.

We believe that the outcome of all pending legal proceedings in the aggregate will not have a material adverse effect on our business or consolidated financial statements.

References to "Deckers," "we," "us," "our," or similar terms refer to Deckers Outdoor Corporation together with its consolidated subsidiaries. Unless otherwise specifically indicated, all amounts herein are expressed in thousands, except for share quantity, per share data, and selling prices. All share and related information presented herein reflects the increased number of shares resulting from the three-for-one stock split paid on July 2, 2010. The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes to those statements included elsewhere in this annual report.

Overview

We are a leading designer, producer, marketer, and brand manager of innovative, high-quality footwear, apparel, and accessories. We market our products primarily under three proprietary brands:

UGG®: Premier brand in luxurious comfort footwear, handbags, apparel, and cold weather accessories;

Teva®: High performance multi-sport shoes, rugged outdoor footwear, and sport sandals; and

Sanuk®: Innovative action sport footwear brand rooted in the surf community.

Our financial condition and results of operations include the operations of Sanuk beginning July 1, 2011, the acquisition date. In addition to our primary brands, our other brands include TSUBO®, a line of high-end casual footwear that incorporates style, function and maximum comfort; Ahnu®, a line of outdoor performance and lifestyle footwear; MOZO®, a line of footwear that combines running shoe technology with work shoe toughness for individuals that spend long hours working on their feet; Hoka One One® (Hoka), a line of footwear for all capacities of runner designed to alleviate fatigue, impact and muscle strain; and Simple®, a line for which we ceased distribution effective December 31, 2011.

We sell our brands through higher-end domestic retailers and international distributors and retailers, as well as directly to our end-user consumers through our eCommerce business and our retail stores. Independent third parties manufacture all of our products. In 2010, we converted our Teva business in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg (Benelux) and France from a distributor model to a wholesale model. In January 2011, we converted from a distributor model to a wholesale model for the UGG, Teva, and Simple brands in the UK and Ireland and the UGG and Simple brands in Benelux and France.

Our business has been impacted by, what we believe are, several important trends and we expect that it will continue to be impacted:

Volatile US and global economic conditions and general changes in the market have adversely impacted businesses worldwide. Some of our customers have been, and more may be, adversely affected, which in turn has, and may continue to, adversely impact our financial results.

The sheepskin used in certain UGG products is in high demand and limited supply, and there have been significant increases in the prices of sheepskin as the demand from competitors for this material has increased. However, we expect our sheepskin costs to decrease in 2013 compared to 2012 due to lower pricing negotiated for our Fall 2013 product costs.

The markets for casual, outdoor, and athletic footwear have grown significantly during the last decade. We believe this growth is a result of the trend toward casual dress in the workplace, increasingly active outdoor lifestyles, and a growing emphasis on comfort.

Consumers are more often seeking footwear designed to address a broader array of activities with the same quality, comfort, and high performance attributes they have come to expect from traditional athletic footwear.

Consumers have narrowed their footwear product breadth, focusing on brands with a rich heritage and authenticity as market category creators and leaders.

Consumers have become increasingly focused on luxury and comfort, seeking out products and brands that are fashionable while still comfortable.

There is an emerging sustainable lifestyle movement happening all around the world, and consumers are demanding that brands and companies become more environmentally responsible.

Consumers are following a recent trend of buy now, wear now. This trend entails the consumer waiting to purchase shoes until they will actually wear them, which includes the impact weather will have on their decision of when to buy, contrasted with a tendency in the past to purchase shoes they did not plan to wear until later.

By emphasizing our brands' images and our focus on comfort, performance and authenticity, we believe we can continue to maintain a loyal consumer following that is less susceptible to fluctuations caused by changing fashions and changes in consumer preferences. We have also responded to consumer focus on sustainability by establishing objectives, policies, and procedures to help us drive key sustainability initiatives around human rights, environmental sustainability, and community affairs.

We have experienced significant cost increases, most over the past several years, notably with respect to sheepskin. We attempt to cover the full amount of our sheepskin purchases under fixed price contracts. We continually strive to contain our material costs through increasing the mix of non-sheepskin products, exploring new footwear materials and new production technologies, and utilizing lower cost production, including in the US from where we began sourcing products in 2012. Also, refer to Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk for further discussion of our commodity price risk.

Below is an overview of the various components of our business, including some key factors that affect each business and some of our strategies for growing each business.

UGG Brand Overview

UGG Australia has grown to be well-known in the US and internationally in the footwear industry. With loyal consumers around the world, including high-profile celebrities, the UGG brand continually earns media exposure from numerous outlets both organically and from strategic public relations efforts. The UGG brand has invested in paid media creating impactful integrated campaigns across multiple channels (including television, out-of-home (OOH), print, digital and social) that are globally scalable, contributing to broader public awareness of the brand.

We believe the increased global media focus and demand for UGG products has been driven by the following:

consumer brand loyalty, due to the luxurious comfort of UGG footwear;

continued innovation of new product categories and styles, including those beyond footwear;

increased marketing for women and men in targeted high-end print, OOH, digital and social advertising;

a targeted UGG for Men campaign featuring Tom Brady;

targeted marketing at prospective consumers through email blasts, new catalogs and direct mail pieces;

successful targeting of higher-end distribution;

expanded product assortment purchases from existing accounts;

adoption by high-profile celebrities as a favored footwear brand;

increased media attention that has enabled us to introduce the brand to consumers much faster than we would have otherwise been able to;

increased exposure to the brand driven by our concept stores that showcase all of our product offerings;

continued expansion of worldwide retail through new UGG Australia stores;

continued geographic expansion across the US and internationally; and

expansion of our shop-in-shop program worldwide.

We believe the luxurious comfort of UGG products will continue to drive long-term consumer demand. Recognizing that there is a significant fashion element to UGG footwear and that footwear fashions fluctuate, our strategy seeks to continually extend the longevity of the brand by offering a broader product line suitable for wear in a variety of climates and occasions and by limiting distribution to selected higher-end retailers. As part of this strategy, we have increased our product offering, including a growing spring line, an expanded men's line, and a fall line that consists of a range of luxurious collections for both genders, an expanded kids' line, as well as handbags, cold weather accessories, and apparel. We are introducing more UGG products to drive excitement and demand during the historically slow retail period between back to school and Thanksgiving. We have also recently expanded our marketing and promotional efforts, which we believe has contributed, and will continue to contribute, to our growth. We believe that the evolution of the UGG brand and our strategy of product diversification also will help decrease our reliance on sheepskin, which is in high demand and subject to price volatility. Nonetheless, we cannot assure investors that our efforts will continue to provide UGG brand growth.

Teva Brand Overview

The Teva brand is a leading innovative, global, outdoor adventure brand, with 30 years of contributions to the outdoor experience. The Teva brand pioneered the water sport sandal category in 1984, and today our brand mission is to inspire better stories through outdoor adventure. Leveraging our core performance competencies in footwear and delivering our brand promise to help our consumers Live Better Stories™, we are focused on driving growth through innovation in the growing outdoor space through our heritage sandals, off-road trail activities, freeride mountain bike riding, action water sports, and other outdoor lifestyle products.

Our efforts to expand the Teva brand beyond sandals, while embracing our core water-based competencies, contributed to significant revenue growth over the past few years. Additionally, our broader range of footwear demonstrated strong retail sell-through across all channels, and we believe that our retail partners have viewed both our product and marketing innovations as relevant and compelling.

We see an opportunity to grow the Teva brand significantly outside of the US. In 2013, we plan to further our Teva brand's global expansion in Asia and Latin America. Within the US, we see strong growth opportunities within our current core channels of distribution, outdoor specialty and sporting goods, as our product assortment evolves and expands. We continue to see strong sandal sales and growth in our closed-toe offerings. Also, through effective product and distribution segmentation, we see significant expansion opportunities within the family value, department store, better footwear, and action sports channels. However, we cannot assure investors that these efforts will be successful.

Sanuk Brand Overview

The Sanuk brand was founded over 15 years ago, and from its origins in the Southern California surf culture, has grown into a global presence. The Sanuk brand's use of unexpected materials and unconventional constructions has contributed to the brand's identity and growth since its inception, and led to successful products such as the Yoga Mat sandal collection and the patented SIDEWALK SURFERS®.

We believe that the Sanuk brand provides substantial growth opportunities within the action sports market, as well as other domestic and global markets and channels.

Other Brands Overview

Our other brands consist of TSUBO, Ahnu, MOZO, and Hoka. Our other brands are all sold through most of our distribution channels, with the majority sold through wholesale channels.

TSUBO, meaning pressure point in Japanese, is marketed as high-end casual footwear for men and women. The brand is the synthesis of ergonomics and style, with a full line of sport and dress casuals, boots, sandals and heels constructed to provide consumers with contemporary footwear that incorporates style, function, and maximum comfort. We are positioning the TSUBO brand as the premium footwear solution for people in the city. We are continuing to create products to address consumers' unique needs of all-day comfort, innovative style, and superior quality.

The Ahnu brand is an outdoor performance and lifestyle footwear brand for men and women. The name Ahnu is derived from the Celtic goddess representing the balance of well-being and prosperity. The brand focuses primarily on women consumers offering style and comfort for active women on both trails and pavement. The product goal is to achieve uncompromising footwear performance by developing footwear that will provide the appropriate balance of traction, grip, flexibility, cushioning, and durability for a variety of outdoor activities — whether on trails, beaches, or sidewalks.

The MOZO brand is dedicated to creative culinary leadership for people who succeed by pushing their craft and art of food to the edge of possible. MOZO footwear provides protection, support, comfort, style and ultimately the confidence needed to thrive in a world where consistently flawless execution is the only way to exist.

The Hoka brand focuses on designing shoes that alleviate fatigue, impact and muscle strain. Runners from around the world are experiencing the benefits of the Hoka brand products. These shoes are used by marathon runners, and even ultra-marathon runners as well as every day runners to enjoy running, maintain top physical performance, and protect against shocks, jolts and injuries.

We expect to leverage our design, marketing, and distribution capabilities to grow our other brands over the next several years, consistent with our mission to build niche brands into global market leaders. Nevertheless, we cannot assure investors that our efforts to grow these brands will be successful.

eCommerce Overview

Our eCommerce business, which sells all of our brands, allows us to build our relationship with the consumer. eCommerce enables us to meet the growing demand for our products, sell the products at retail prices, and provide significant incremental operating income. The eCommerce business provides us an opportunity to communicate to the consumer with a consistent brand message that is in line with our brands' promises, drives awareness of key brand initiatives, and offers targeted information to specific consumer segments. Our websites also drive wholesale and distributor sales through brand awareness and directing consumers to retailers that carry our brands, including our own retail stores. In recent years, our eCommerce business has had significant revenue growth, much of which occurred as the UGG brand gained popularity and as consumers continued to increase internet usage for footwear and other purchases.

Managing our eCommerce business requires us to focus on the latest trends and techniques for web design and marketing, to generate internet traffic to our websites, to effectively convert website visits into orders, and to maximize average order sizes. We plan to continue to grow our eCommerce business through improved website features and performance, increased marketing, expansion into more international markets, and utilization of mobile and tablet technology. Nevertheless, we cannot assure investors that revenue from our eCommerce business will continue to grow.

Retail Stores Overview

Our retail stores are predominantly UGG Australia concept stores and UGG Australia outlet stores. Our retail stores enable us to directly impact our customers' experience, meet the growing demand for these products, sell the products at retail prices and generate strong annual operating income. In addition, our UGG Australia concept stores allow us to showcase our entire product line including footwear, accessories, handbags, and outerwear; whereas, a wholesale account may not represent all of these categories. Through our outlet stores, we sell some of our discontinued styles from prior seasons, plus products made specifically for the outlet stores. We sell Teva products as well as some of our other brands through limited outlet locations.

As of December 31, 2012, we had a total of 77 retail stores worldwide. These stores are company-owned and operated and include our China stores, which prior to April 2, 2012 were owned and operated with our joint venture partner. On April 2, 2012, we purchased the remaining interest in our Chinese joint venture. During the remainder of 2013, we plan to open additional retail stores, with the majority to be located in international locations, with the total being approximately the same as the number of stores we opened in 2012. We intend to continue opening more retail stores worldwide beyond 2013.

Seasonality

Our business is seasonal, with the highest percentage of UGG brand net sales occurring in the third and fourth calendar quarters and the highest percentage of Teva and Sanuk brand net sales occurring in the first and second calendar quarters of each year. Our financial results include the Sanuk brand beginning July 1, 2011. Our other brands do not have a significant seasonal impact.

With the level of UGG brand net sales over the past several years, net sales in the last half of the year have exceeded net sales for the first half of the year. Given our expectations for our brands, we currently expect this trend to continue. Nonetheless, actual results could differ materially depending upon consumer preferences, availability of product, competition, and our wholesale and distributor customers continuing to carry and promote our various product lines, among other risks and uncertainties. See Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors."

Results of Operations

Year Ended December 31, 2012 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2011

The following table summarizes our results of operations:

Overview. The Sanuk brand operations are included in our results of operations effective upon the acquisition date of July 1, 2011. The increase in net sales was primarily due to the addition of the Sanuk brand as well as increased UGG brand sales through our retail stores and eCommerce sites, partially offset by decreased UGG, Teva and other brands product sales through our wholesale channel. The decrease in income from operations resulted from higher selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) and lower gross margin.

Net Sales. The following table summarizes net sales by location and net sales by brand and distribution channel:

Calculation of percentage change is not meaningful.

The increase in net sales was primarily driven by the addition of the Sanuk brand as well as increased UGG brand sales through our retail stores and eCommerce sites, partially offset by decreased UGG, Teva and other brands wholesale sales. We experienced an increase in the number of pairs sold primarily through our Sanuk wholesale channel and continued retail and eCommerce growth, partially offset by a decrease in pairs sold in our UGG, Teva, and other brands wholesale segments. This resulted in a 3.9% overall increase in the volume of footwear sold for all brands and channels to approximately 23.7 million pairs for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to approximately 22.8 million pairs for 2011. Our weighted-average wholesale selling price per pair decreased to $49.17 for the year ended December 31,

2012 from $52.38 for 2011. The decreased average selling price was primarily due to our Sanuk wholesale segment, which has lower overall average selling prices due to the nature of the brand. We experienced an increase in the average selling price in all other segments excluding eCommerce.

Wholesale net sales of our UGG brand decreased primarily due to the volume of pairs sold, partially offset by an increase in the average selling price. The decrease in volume was primarily due to our wholesale customers in the US, as well as our wholesale customers in Benelux and the UK and distributors in Europe and Asia, partially offset by an increase in volume to our wholesale customers in Japan and distributors in Canada and Latin America. For UGG wholesale net sales, the decrease in volume had an estimated impact of approximately $103,000 and the increase in weighted-average wholesale selling price per pair had an estimated impact of approximately $7,000. We believe the decline was partially due to reduced orders for the fall season caused by our customers' increased carryover inventory levels resulting from the warm winter in the prior year, a new trend of on-demand purchasing whereby consumers shift the timing of their purchases to when they plan to actually wear the shoes, as well as the recessionary conditions in Europe. At this time, we expect our customers' carryover inventory levels to decrease but not diminish completely. We expect the trend of on-demand purchasing to continue for the foreseeable future, thus shifting sales into future periods, and we continue to address pricing and use global strategy to pursue sales in other parts of the world to mitigate the risk in Europe.

Wholesale net sales of our Teva brand decreased primarily due to a decrease in the volume of pairs sold, partially offset by an increase in the average selling price. The decrease in volume was primarily due to our wholesale customers in the US, as well as our distributors in Europe and Asia and wholesale customers in Benelux and the UK, partially offset by an increase to our wholesale customers in Japan and France. For Teva wholesale net sales, the decrease in volume had an estimated impact of approximately $24,000 and the increase in weighted-average wholesale selling price per pair had an estimated impact of approximately $14,000.

Wholesale net sales of our Sanuk brand were $89,804 for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2012, compared to $26,039 for the six months commencing on July 1, 2011, the acquisition date, and ending on December 31, 2011.

Wholesale net sales of our other brands decreased due to a decrease in the volume of pairs sold, partially offset by an increase in the average selling price. The decrease in volume of pairs sold was due to ceasing distribution of the Simple brand as of December 31, 2011. Excluding the Simple brand, our other brands experienced an increase in both average selling price and volume of pairs sold.

Net sales of our eCommerce business increased due to an increase in the volume of pairs sold primarily attributable to the UGG brand, partially offset by a decrease in the average selling price. The decrease in the average selling price was primarily due to the addition of Sanuk brand sales which carry lower average selling prices.

Net sales of our retail store business, which are primarily UGG brand sales, increased largely due to the addition of 30 new stores opened since December 31, 2011. We do not expect this growth rate to continue because as we increase the number of our stores, each new store will have less proportional impact on our growth rate. We cannot assure investors that retail store sales will continue to grow at their recent pace or that revenue from our retail store business will not at some point decline. For those stores that were open for the full 52 weeks ending December 30, 2012 compared to the 52 weeks ending January 1, 2012, same store sales decreased by 3.4%.

International sales, which are included in the segment sales above, for all of our products combined increased by 2.1% and represented 31.2% and 31.4% of worldwide net sales for the year ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The decrease in international sales as a percentage of worldwide net sales was largely due to decreased sales to our wholesale customers in Benelux and the UK and distributors in Europe, partially offset by increased sales to our retail, eCommerce and Japan wholesale customers.

Gross Profit. As a percentage of net sales, gross margin decreased primarily due to increased sheepskin and other material costs as well as an increased impact of discounted and closeout sales in the UK and Benelux for our UGG and Teva brands. Our sheepskin costs in 2012 were approximately 40% higher than our 2011 costs. These decreases to gross margin were partially offset by the contribution of the Sanuk brand, which generally carries higher margins, and increased gross profits for our eCommerce and retail stores segments. Our gross margins fluctuate based on several factors, and we expect our gross margin to increase for the full year 2013 compared to 2012, the majority of which will be realized in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. SG&A increased primarily from:

increased retail costs of approximately $36,000 largely related to 30 new retail stores that were not open as of December 31, 2011;

approximately $25,000 of expenses for our Sanuk brand, including an increase of approximately $9,000 to the fair value of the contingent consideration liability from the Company's purchase of the brand;

increased marketing expenses of approximately $14,000 largely related to our new UGG women's prospects, UGG Men's and Classic campaigns;

increased eCommerce expenses of approximately $7,000 largely related to increased marketing and advertising; partially offset by

decreased performance-based cash compensation of approximately $16,000;

decreased legal expense of approximately $10,000, due to having fewer litigation costs in the current year, a decrease in anti-counterfeiting expenses, as well as receiving increased judgments and collections in the current year from our website litigation;

decreased sales commissions of approximately $5,000 primarily due to the decrease in wholesale sales; and

decreased UGG amortization expense of approximately $4,000 primarily related to order books we acquired from our distributor conversions in Europe being fully amortized in 2011.

Income (Loss) from Operations. The gross profit derived from the sales to third parties of the eCommerce and retail stores segments is separated into two components, and is recorded at the time of sale to the third party: (i) the wholesale profit is included in the related operating income or loss of each wholesale segment, and represents the difference between the Company's cost and the Company's wholesale selling price, and (ii) the retail profit is included in the operating income of the eCommerce and retail stores segments, and represents the difference between the Company's wholesale selling price and the Company's retail selling price. Each of the wholesale segments charge the eCommerce and retail segments the same price that they charge third party retail customers, with the resulting profit from inter-segment sales included in income (loss) from operations of each respective wholesale segment.

Inter-segment sales and cost of sales are eliminated upon consolidation. The following table summarizes operating income (loss) by segment:

Income from operations as a percentage of sales decreased due to increased SG&A and decreased gross margin, partially offset by increased sales.

The decrease in income from operations of UGG brand wholesale was primarily the result of the decrease in net sales and a 8.2 percentage point decrease in gross margin primarily related to increased sheepskin and other material costs of approximately $16,000 as well as an increase in the impact of closeout sales in the US and lower sales in Europe, which generally carry higher margins. We also experienced increases in marketing and promotional expenses of approximately $10,000 and increased international sales expenses of approximately $3,000. These increases to expenses were partially offset by decreased sales commissions of approximately $7,000 and decreased amortization expenses, primarily related to order books we acquired from our distributor conversions in Europe being fully amortized in 2011, of approximately $4,000. At this time, we expect our sheepskin costs to decrease in the latter half of 2013 as a result of lower pricing negotiated for our Fall 2013 product costs. Once our current inventory is sold through and we begin to sell the product that was purchased with the lower priced sheepskin, we expect the gross margin and income from operations to be positively impacted. Although we expect to have discounted sales going forward, we are unable to quantify the impact of the trend in future periods.

The decrease in income from operations of Teva brand wholesale was primarily the result of the decrease in net sales and a 4.2 percentage point decrease in gross margin primarily due to lower sales in Europe, which generally carry higher margins, and an increased impact of closeout sales. In addition, we recognized increased marketing and promotional expenses and other divisional expenses totaling approximately $2,000.

The income from operations of our Sanuk brand, which we acquired in July 2011, was $15,567.

The loss from operations of our other brands wholesale decreased primarily due to an increase in gross profit of approximately $2,000 as well as a decrease in operating expenses of approximately $3,000 primarily due to ceasing of the Simple brand operations as of December 31, 2011. Gross profit increased despite the decrease in net sales because sales of Simple brand products in fiscal year 2011 had significantly lower gross margins.

The increase in income from operations of our eCommerce business was primarily the result of the increase in net sales and a 1.6 percentage point increase in gross margin, partially offset by increased operating expenses of approximately $7,000.

Income from operations of our retail store business, which primarily involves the UGG brand, decreased due to an increase in operating expenses of approximately $36,000 largely attributable to 30 new stores opened during the year, partially offset by an increase in gross profit of approximately $30,000 due primarily to the increase in net sales.

The decrease in unallocated overhead costs resulted most significantly from a decrease in legal expenses of approximately $10,000 due to having fewer litigation costs in the current year, a decrease in anti-counterfeiting expenses, as well as receiving increased judgments and collections in the current year from our website litigation. We also experienced a decrease in performance-based cash compensation of approximately $9,000 and the positive impact of currency exchange rate fluctuations of approximately $2,000, partially offset by an increase in international expenses of approximately $7,000.

Other Expense (Income), Net. Other expense, net for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 was $2,830 compared to other income, net for the twelve months ended December 31, 2011 of $424. In fiscal year 2012, we had an increase in interest expense related to increases in our short-term borrowings, partially offset by income primarily related to expired eCommerce website customer credits.

Income Taxes. Income tax expense and effective income tax rates were as follows:

The increase in the effective tax rate was primarily due to the increase in our annual US pre-tax income as a percentage of worldwide pre-tax income, as income generated in the US is taxed at significantly higher rates than most of our foreign jurisdictions. For the full year 2012, we generated approximately 21.0% of our pre-tax earnings from a country which does not impose a corporate income tax. Unremitted earnings of non-US subsidiaries are expected to be reinvested outside of the US indefinitely. Such earnings would become taxable upon the sale or liquidation of these subsidiaries or upon the remittance of dividends. As of December 31, 2012, we had approximately $37,000 of cash and cash equivalents outside the US that would be subject to additional income taxes if it were to be repatriated. We have no plans to repatriate any of our foreign cash.

Net Income Attributable to the Noncontrolling Interest. On April 2, 2012, we purchased the remaining 49% noncontrolling interest in our joint venture with Stella International. Prior to this purchase, we already had a controlling interest in this entity, and therefore, the subsidiary had been and will continue to be consolidated with our operations. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2012, net income attributable to the noncontrolling interest was $148, which represents the noncontrolling interest's share of income prior to April 2, 2012.

Net Income Attributable to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. Our net income decreased as a result of the items discussed above. Our diluted earnings per share decreased primarily as a result of the decrease in net income, partially offset by a reduced number of diluted weighted-average common shares outstanding due to share repurchases we made under our stock repurchase program.

Year Ended December 31, 2011 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2010

The following table summarizes our results of operations:

Overview. The Sanuk brand operations are included in our results of operations effective upon the acquisition date of July 1, 2011. The increase in net sales was primarily due to an increase in UGG product sales. The increase in income from operations resulted from higher sales, partially offset by higher SG&A and lower gross margin.

Net Sales. The following table summarizes net sales by location and net sales by brand and distribution channel:

Calculation of percentage change is not meaningful.

The increase in net sales was primarily driven by strong sales for the UGG brand. We experienced an increase in the number of pairs sold primarily through our UGG and Teva wholesale channels, as well as the addition of the Sanuk brand. This resulted in a 26.7% overall increase in the volume of footwear sold for all brands to approximately 22.8 million pairs for the year ended December 31, 2011 compared to approximately 18.0 million pairs for 2010. Our weighted-average wholesale selling price per pair increased to $52.38 for the year ended December 31, 2011 from $47.71 for 2010. The increased average selling price was partially due to higher selling prices resulting from our conversion from a distributor model to a direct wholesale model for our UGG brand in the UK and Benelux and for our Teva brand in the UK.

Wholesale net sales of our UGG brand increased primarily due to the volume of pairs sold, as well as an increase in the average selling price, which was largely related to our conversion to a direct wholesale model in the UK and Benelux.

Wholesale net sales of our Teva brand increased due to both an increase in the volume of pairs sold, as well as an increase in the average selling price, which was largely related to our conversion to a direct wholesale model in the UK, as well as increased closed-toe footwear that carry higher average selling prices.

Wholesale net sales of our Sanuk brand, which we acquired in July 2011, were $26,039.

Wholesale net sales of our other brands decreased due to a decrease in the average selling price, primarily due to closeout sales for our Simple brand, partially offset by an increase in pairs sold.

Net sales of our eCommerce business increased due to both an increase in the volume of pairs sold and an increase in the average selling price, primarily for the UGG brand.

Net sales of our retail store business, which are primarily UGG brand sales, increased largely due to the addition of 18 new stores that opened since December 31, 2010. New stores that were not open during the full year ended December 31, 2010 contributed approximately $75,000 of retail sales for the year ended December 31, 2011 compared to their partial year sales of approximately $19,000 in 2010. For those stores that were open during the full year ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, same store sales grew by 6.3%.

International sales, which are included in the segment sales above, for all of our products combined represented 31.4% and 23.7% of worldwide net sales for the year ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The international sales growth was led by the UGG and Teva brands in the European region largely due to our conversion to a direct wholesale model.

Gross Profit. As a percentage of net sales, gross margin decreased primarily due to increased sheepskin and other material costs as well as increased factory costs. Our sheepskin costs in 2011 were approximately 27% higher than 2010 costs, partially offset by increased sales prices. In addition, we received approximately $7,000 in duty refunds during the year ended December 31, 2010, which did not recur in 2011. The decrease was partially offset by a higher percentage mix of retail sales and higher average selling prices. We began realizing the benefit of the direct wholesale model, versus distributor margins, in the UK for our UGG and Teva brands and in Benelux for our UGG brand starting in January 2011.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. SG&A increased primarily from:

increased retail costs of approximately $30,000 largely related to 18 new retail stores that were not open as of December 31, 2010;

increased international division expenses of approximately $21,000 in support of our international expansion and our distributor conversions to the wholesale model;

increased marketing expenses of approximately $19,000 primarily related to our UGG brand;

increased commissions and other selling expenses of approximately $17,000 related to our increased sales; and

increased depreciation, amortization, and accretion expenses of approximately $11,000, primarily related to our Sanuk acquisition intangible assets and contingent consideration.

Income (Loss) from Operations. The gross profit derived from the sales to third parties of the eCommerce and retail stores segments is separated into two components, and is recorded at the time of sale to the third party: (i) the wholesale profit is included in the related operating income or loss of each wholesale segment, and represents the difference between the Company's cost and the Company's wholesale selling price, and (ii) the retail profit is included in the operating income of the eCommerce and retail stores segments, and represents the difference between the Company's wholesale selling price and the Company's retail selling price. Each of the wholesale segments charge the eCommerce and retail segments the same price that they charge third party retail customers, with the resulting profit from inter-segment sales included in income (loss) from operations of each respective wholesale segment. Inter-segment sales and cost of sales are eliminated upon consolidation. The following table summarizes operating income (loss) by segment:

Calculation of percentage change is not meaningful.

Income from operations as a percentage of sales decreased due to increased SG&A and decreased gross margin, partially offset by increased sales.

The increase in income from operations of UGG brand wholesale was the result of higher sales. The increase to income was partially offset by a 1.8 percentage point decrease in gross margin primarily related to the increased sheepskin and other material costs. We also experienced increases in marketing and promotional expenses of approximately $17,000; increased sales expenses of approximately $6,000; increased sales commissions of approximately $5,000; and higher amortization expenses, primarily related to order books we acquired from our distributor conversions in Europe, of approximately $4,000.

The increase in income from operations of Teva brand wholesale was largely due to increased sales and decreased amortization of approximately $2,000, partially offset by a 0.6 percentage point decrease in gross margin, primarily due to higher inventory write-downs and an increased impact of closeout sales. In addition, we recognized increased divisional sales expenses and increased marketing and promotional expenses totaling approximately $5,000.

The income from operations of our Sanuk brand, which we acquired in July 2011, was $797.

The loss from operations of our other brands wholesale increased primarily due to a 14.8 percentage point decrease in gross margin as well as the decreased sales. In the process of ceasing distribution of the Simple brand as of December 31, 2011, we experienced an increased impact from Simple brand closeout sales. The increase in the loss was partially offset by lower operating expenses of approximately $400.

Income from operations of our eCommerce business increased slightly due to the increased sales, partially offset by increased operating expenses of approximately $6,000, while gross margin remained flat.

Income from operations of our retail store business, which is primarily the UGG brand, increased due to the increased sales, partially offset by increased operating expenses of approximately $30,000, while gross margin remained flat. The increased operating expenses were largely attributable to the 18 new stores.

The increase in unallocated overhead costs resulted most significantly from an increase of approximately $21,000 related to international infrastructure costs primarily to support our conversions from distributor models to direct wholesale models, as well as increased legal expenses of approximately $7,000 primarily related to the protection of our intellectual property including our trademarks. We also incurred approximately $4,000 related to Sanuk acquisition costs.

Other Income, Net. Other income, net decreased primarily due to a one-time foreign sales tax exemption of approximately $1,000 recognized in the prior year, partially offset by a credit to interest expense in the current year resulting from a reversal of a prior year income tax related accrual.

Income Taxes. Income tax expense and effective income tax rates were as follows:

The decrease in the effective tax rate was primarily due to the increase in our annual foreign pre-tax income as a percentage of worldwide pre-tax income, as income generated in the US is taxed at significantly higher rates than most of our foreign jurisdictions. For the full year 2011, we generated approximately 28.0% of our pre-tax earnings from a country which does not impose a corporate income tax. Unremitted earnings of non-US subsidiaries are expected to be reinvested outside of the US indefinitely. Such earnings would become taxable upon the sale or liquidation of these subsidiaries or upon the remittance of dividends. As of December 31, 2011, we had approximately $43,000 of cash and cash equivalents outside the US that would be subject to additional income taxes if it were to be repatriated. We have no plans to repatriate any of our foreign cash.

Net Income Attributable to the Noncontrolling Interest. Net income attributable to the noncontrolling interest in our joint venture with Stella International increased slightly primarily due to the new stores in China.

Net Income Attributable to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. Our net income increased as a result of the items discussed above. Our diluted earnings per share increased for the year ended December 31, 2011 compared to the same period of 2010, primarily as a result of the increase in net income.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have off-balance sheet arrangements consisting of guarantee contracts. See "Contractual Obligations" below.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We finance our working capital and operating needs using a combination of our cash and cash equivalents balances, cash generated from operations, and as needed, the credit available under our credit agreement. Under adverse economic conditions, we may be unable to realize a return on our cash and cash equivalents, generate sufficient cash from operations, access our credit agreement, or secure additional credit on favorable terms. Such failures may impact our working capital reserves and have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our cash flow cycle includes the purchase of inventories, the subsequent sale of the inventories, and the eventual collection of the resulting accounts receivables. As a result, our working capital requirements begin when we purchase, or make deposits on, the inventories and continue until we ultimately collect the resulting receivables. The seasonality of our UGG brand business requires us to build fall and winter inventories in the second and third quarters to support sales for the UGG brand's major selling seasons, which historically occur during the third and fourth quarters; whereas, the Teva and Sanuk brands generally begin to build inventory levels beginning in the fourth and first quarters in anticipation of the spring selling season that occurs in the first and second quarters. Given the seasonality of our UGG, Teva, and Sanuk brands, our working capital requirements fluctuate significantly throughout the year. The cash required to fund these working capital fluctuations has been provided using our cash flows from operations and short-term borrowings. As needed, we borrow funds under our credit agreement.

The following table summarizes our cash flows and working capital:

Cash from Operating Activities. Net cash provided by operating activities increased primarily due to the differences in yearly changes in prepaid expenses and other current assets, inventories and trade accounts receivable. Prepaid expenses and other current assets decreased in fiscal year 2012, adding to net cash provided by operating activities, while they increased in fiscal year 2011. Inventories increased by less in fiscal year 2012 than they did in fiscal year 2011, resulting in less cash used in operating activities. Trade accounts receivable decreased slightly in fiscal year 2012, while they increased in fiscal year 2011. The change in prepaid expenses and other current assets was due to refunds of deposits received in accordance with our contracts to purchase sheepskin in fiscal year 2012 compared to deposits paid in fiscal year 2011. The smaller increase in inventory was primarily due to the international expansion that occurred in fiscal year 2011 and did not repeat in fiscal year 2012. The change in accounts receivable was primarily due to decreased wholesale sales as well as increased cash collections in fiscal year 2012 versus fiscal year 2011. These increases in operating cash flows were partially offset by a smaller increase in accounts payable, which increased less in fiscal year 2012 versus fiscal year 2011. Accounts payable increased less primarily due to our decreased inventory purchases. Net working capital decreased as of December 31, 2012 from December 31, 2011, primarily as a result of decreased cash and prepaid and other current assets, and an increase in our short-term borrowings and accounts payable. These decreases to working capital were partially offset by higher inventory. Changes in working capital are due to the items discussed above, as well as our normal seasonality and timing of cash receipts and cash payments.

Wholesale accounts receivable turnover decreased to 6.1 times in the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 from 7.5 times for the twelve months ended December 31, 2011, primarily due to higher average accounts receivable balances, partially offset by increased cash collections for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 compared to the twelve months ended December 31, 2011. The higher accounts receivable balances were partially the result of the conversion of our European distributor business to our European wholesale operations, which provides us higher selling prices and also extends the payment terms of our customers compared to sales we make to distributors. Our selling prices through our wholesale channel directly to retailers are substantially higher than our selling prices to our distributors, because when we sell product to distributors, the pricing needs to allow for the distributors to then sell the product to retailers at a profit. Further, our sales terms are longer for wholesale sales made directly to retailers than for sales made to distributors, because distributors either pre-pay for orders or have 30-day letters of credit. These longer payment terms for our wholesale customers have lead to higher accounts receivable balances. We do not expect that the conversion to our European wholesale operations will be a cause of further decline in our accounts receivable turnover in the near-term as we do not expect additional conversions in the near-term.

Inventory turnover decreased to 2.4 times for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 compared to 3.3 times for the twelve months ended December 31, 2011, primarily due to higher average inventory levels during the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 compared to the twelve months ended December 31, 2011, partially offset by increased sales. The higher inventory balances were primarily attributed to our projected increased sales, increased international inventory, new retail locations, and increased materials and factory costs. We are maintaining higher international inventory levels in part because of our recent conversions to a wholesale business from a distributor business. We warehouse inventory in anticipation of shipping to our wholesale customers, whereas sales to our distributors are drop-shipped and are not supplied from inventory on hand. This has caused the inventory turnover to decrease but we expect this trend to level off since we are not expecting any additional conversions in the near-term.

Cash from Investing Activities. Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2012 resulted from the purchases of property and equipment, as well as our acquisitions of the Hoka brand and an intangible asset for lease rights for a retail store location in France. Capital expenditures in fiscal year 2012 included the build out of 30 new retail stores and our corporate facilities.

For the year ended December 31, 2011, net cash used in investing activities resulted primarily from our acquisition of the Sanuk brand and purchases of property and equipment. Capital expenditures in fiscal year 2011 included the purchase of land for our new corporate headquarters and the build out of 18 new retail stores. In November 2011, we made a cash payment of approximately $20,000 for approximately fourteen acres of land for our new headquarters facility in Goleta, California.

As of December 31, 2012, we had approximately $2,000 of material commitments for future capital expenditures primarily related to the build out of new retail stores. We estimate that the capital expenditures for 2013 including the aforementioned commitments will range from approximately $85,000 to $90,000. We anticipate these expenditures will primarily include the construction costs of our new headquarters and new retail stores. The actual amount of capital expenditures for the year may differ from this estimate, largely depending on the timing of new store openings or any unforeseen needs to replace existing assets and the timing of other expenditures, including design and construction of the new headquarters.

Cash from Financing Activities. For the year ended December 31, 2012, net cash used in financing activities was comprised primarily of repayments of short-term borrowings and repurchases of our common stock, as well as contingent consideration paid related to our Sanuk acquisition, and the purchase of the remaining 49% noncontrolling interest in our joint venture with Stella International. Our decision to borrow $307,000 was largely due to our repurchase of $221,000 of our common stock. The cash used was partially offset by cash from our short-term borrowings, leaving a $33,000 balance for borrowings as of December 31, 2012.

For the year ended December 31, 2011, net cash used in financing activities was comprised primarily of repayments of short-term borrowings, cash paid for shares withheld for taxes from employee stock unit vesting and for repurchases of our common stock. The cash used was partially offset by cash from our short-term borrowings, leaving a zero balance for borrowings as of December 31, 2011, and excess tax benefits from stock compensation. The excess tax benefits from stock compensation changes were larger than the prior period primarily due to the issuance of stock in relation to our long-term incentive program.

In February 2012, our Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase program to repurchase up to $100,000 of our common stock in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, subject to market conditions, applicable legal requirements, and other factors. The program did not obligate us to acquire any particular amount of common stock and the program could have been suspended at any time at our discretion. As of June 30, 2012, the Company repurchased approximately 1,749,000 shares under this program, for approximately $100,000, or an average price of $57.16. As of June 30, 2012, the Company had repurchased the full amount authorized under this program. The purchases were funded from available working capital.

In June 2012, the Company approved a stock repurchase program to repurchase up to $200,000 of the Company's common stock in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, subject to market conditions, applicable legal requirements, and other factors. The program does not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of common stock and the program may be suspended at any time at the Company's discretion. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had repurchased approximately 2,765,000 shares under this program, for approximately $120,700, or an average price of $43.66, leaving the remaining approved amount at $79,300.

In August 2011, we entered into a Credit Agreement (the Credit Agreement) with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association as the administrative agent, Comerica Bank and HSBC Bank USA, National Association, as syndication agents, and the lenders party thereto. In August 2012 we amended and restated in its entirety the Credit Agreement (Amended and Restated Credit Agreement). The Amended and Restated Credit Agreement is a five-year, $400,000 secured revolving credit facility. Refer to Note 3 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information on our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. At December 31, 2012, we had approximately $33,000 of outstanding borrowings under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement and outstanding letters of credit of $189, leaving $366,811 available under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. As of December 31, 2012, we were in compliance with all covenants and we remain in compliance as of the date of this report. Subsequent to December 31, 2012, we repaid $33,000, resulting in no outstanding borrowings under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement as of March 1, 2013.

Contractual Obligations. The following table summarizes our contractual obligations at December 31, 2012 and the effects such obligations are expected to have on liquidity and cash flow in future periods.

(1)

Our operating lease obligations consist primarily of building leases for our retail locations, distribution centers, and corporate and regional offices. The majority of other long-term liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets, with the exception of our Sanuk contingent consideration liability discussed below, are related to deferred rents, of which the cash lease payments are included in operating lease obligations in this table.

(2)

Our purchase obligations consist mostly of open purchase orders. They also include promotional expenses and service contracts. Outstanding purchase orders are primarily with our third party manufacturers and are expected to be paid within one year. These are outstanding open orders and not minimum purchase obligations. Our promotional expenditures and service contracts are due periodically through 2014.

We have also entered into minimum purchase commitments with certain suppliers (see Note 7 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements). Certain of the agreements require that we advance specified minimum payment amounts. We have included the total remaining cash commitments under these agreements, net of deposits, as of December 31, 2012 in this table. We expect sheepskin purchases by third party factories supplying UGG product to us will eventually exceed the minimum commitment levels; therefore we believe the deposits will become fully refundable, and thus, we believe this will not materially affect our results of operations, as it is in the normal course of our business.

Commitments and Contingencies. The following reflect the additional commitments and contingent liabilities that may have a material impact on liquidity and cash flow in future periods.

The purchase price for the Sanuk brand also includes contingent consideration over the next five years as follows:

51.8% of the Sanuk brand gross profit in 2012, which was $25,450,

36.0% of the Sanuk brand gross profit in 2013, and

40.0% of the Sanuk brand gross profit in 2015.

There is no maximum to the contingent consideration payments for 2012, 2013, and 2015. Estimated contingent consideration payments of $70,360 are included within other accrued expenses and long-term liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2012, and are not included in the table above. See Note 1 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements.

The purchase price for the Hoka brand also includes contingent consideration through 2017, with a maximum of $2,000. Estimated contingent consideration payments of $1,100 are included within other accrued expenses and long-term liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2012, and are not included in the table above. See Note 1 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements.

We are currently involved in various legal claims arising from the ordinary course of business. Management does not believe that the disposition of any of these matters, whether individually or collectively, will have a material effect on our financial position or results of operations. In addition, we have agreed to indemnify certain licensees, distributors and promotional partners in connection with claims related to the use of our intellectual property. The terms of such agreements range up to five years initially and generally do not provide for a limitation on the maximum potential future payments. Management believes the likelihood of any payments is remote and would be immaterial. We determined the risk was low based on a prior history of insignificant claims. We are not currently involved in any indemnification matters in regards to our intellectual property.

On May 31, 2012, a purported shareholder class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against the Company and certain of its officers. On August 1, 2012, a similar purported shareholder class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against the Company and certain of its officers. These actions are purportedly brought on behalf of purchasers of the Company's publicly traded securities between October 27, 2011 and April 26, 2012. Plaintiffs in both complaints allege that defendants made false and misleading statements, purport to assert claims for violations of the federal securities laws, and seek unspecified compensatory damages and other relief. The California case has been dismissed with prejudice; the Delaware action remains pending. We believe the claim in the Delaware complaint is without merit and intend to defend the action vigorously. While we believe there is no legal basis for liability, due to the uncertainty surrounding the litigation process, we are unable to reasonably estimate a range of loss, if any, at this time.

On July 17, 2012 and July 26, 2012, purported shareholder derivative lawsuits were filed in the California Superior Court for the County of Santa Barbara against our Board of Directors and several of our officers. The Company is named as nominal defendant. Plaintiffs in the state derivative actions allege that the Board allowed certain officers to make allegedly false and misleading statements. The complaints include claims for violation of the federal securities laws, breach of fiduciary duties, mismanagement, waste of corporate assets, insider trading, unjust enrichment, and violations of the California Corporations Code. The complaints seek compensatory damages, disgorgement, and other relief. We believe the claims are without merit and intend to defend the actions vigorously. While we believe there is no legal basis for liability, due to the uncertainty surrounding the litigation process, we are unable to reasonably estimate a range of loss, if any, at this time.

We believe that cash generated from operations, the available borrowings under our existing Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, and our cash and cash equivalents will provide sufficient liquidity to enable us to meet our working capital requirements for at least the next 12 months. However, risks and uncertainties that could impact our ability to maintain or grow our cash position include our earnings growth rate, the continued strength of our brands, our ability to respond to changes in consumer preferences, our ability to collect our receivables in a timely manner, our ability to effectively manage our inventories, our ability to generate returns on our acquisitions of businesses, and market volatility, among others. See Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" for a discussion of additional factors that may affect our cash position. Furthermore, we may require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If these sources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell debt securities or additional equity securities or to obtain a new credit agreement or draw on our existing Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. The sale of convertible debt securities or additional equity securities could result in additional dilution to our stockholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in incurring debt service obligations and could result in operating and financial covenants that would restrict our operations. In addition, there can be no assurance that any additional financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. Although there are no other material present understandings, commitments or agreements with respect to the acquisition of any other businesses, we may evaluate acquisitions of other businesses or brands.

Impact of Inflation

We believe that the rates of inflation in the three most recent fiscal years have not had a significant impact on our net sales or profitability.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Refer to Note 1 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements for a discussion of our significant accounting policies. Those policies and estimates that we believe are most critical to the understanding of our consolidated financial statements contained in this report are revenue recognition; use of estimates, which includes the below reserves and allowances; inventories; accounting for long-lived assets; goodwill and other intangible assets; fair value of contingent consideration; and stock compensation.

Use of Estimates. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts during the reporting period. Management reasonably could use different estimates and assumptions, and changes in estimates and assumptions could occur from period to period, with the result in each case being a potential material change in the financial statement presentation of our financial condition or results of operations. We have historically been materially accurate in our estimates used for the reserves and allowances below.

The following table summarizes data related to the critical accounting estimates for accounts receivable allowances and reserves, which are discussed below:

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts. We provide a reserve against trade accounts receivable for estimated losses that may result from customers' inability to pay. We determine the amount of the reserve by analyzing known uncollectible accounts, aged trade accounts receivables, economic conditions and forecasts, historical experience and the customers' credit-worthiness. Trade accounts receivable that are subsequently determined to be uncollectible are charged or written off against this reserve. The reserve includes specific reserves for accounts, which all or a portion of are identified as potentially uncollectible, plus a non-specific reserve for the balance of accounts based on our historical loss experience. Reserves have been established for all projected losses of this nature. Our use of different estimates and assumptions could produce different financial results. For example, a 1.0% change in the rate used to estimate the reserve for the accounts we consider to have credit risk and are not specifically identified as uncollectible would change the allowance for doubtful accounts at December 31, 2012 by approximately $858.

Reserve for Sales Discounts. A significant portion of our domestic net sales, as well as our international wholesale sales, and resulting trade accounts receivable reflects a discount that our customers may take, generally based upon meeting certain order, shipment and payment timelines. We use the amount of the discounts that are available to be taken against the period-end trade accounts receivable to estimate and record a corresponding reserve for sales discounts. The decrease in the reserve was primarily due to one of our largest customers receiving discounted pricing on invoices rather than receiving payment terms discounts, which lowered the overall reserve.

Allowance for Estimated Chargebacks. When our wholesale customers pay their invoices, they often take deductions for chargebacks against their invoices, which are often valid. Therefore, we record an allowance for the balance of chargebacks that are outstanding in our accounts receivable balance as of the end of each period, along with an estimated reserve for chargebacks that have not yet been taken against outstanding accounts receivable balances. This estimate is based on historical trends of the timing and amount of chargebacks taken against invoices.

Allowance for Estimated Returns and Estimated Returns Liability. We record an allowance for anticipated future returns of goods shipped prior to period-end and a liability for anticipated returns of goods sold direct to consumers. In general, we accept returns for damaged or defective products. We also have a policy whereby we accept returns from our retail and eCommerce customers for a thirty day period. We base the amounts of the allowance and liability on any approved customer requests for returns, historical returns experience, and any recent events that could result in a change from historical returns rates, among other factors. The allowance for estimated returns increased as a percentage of net sales due to higher levels of actual returns received subsequent to year end. Our use of different estimates and assumptions could produce different financial results. For example, a 1.0% change in the rate used to estimate the percentage of sales expected to ultimately be returned would change the allowance and liability reserves for returns in total at December 31, 2012 by approximately $5,029. Our historical estimates for returns have been reasonably accurate.

Inventory Write-Downs. We review the various items in inventory on a regular basis for excess, obsolete, and impaired inventory. In doing so, we write the inventory down to the lower of cost or expected future net selling prices. At December 31, 2012, inventories were stated at $300,173, net of inventory write-downs of $3,645. At December 31, 2011, inventories were stated at $253,270 net of inventory write-downs of $2,419. The amount of inventory write-downs as a percentage of inventory were 1.2 and 1.0 as of December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Our use of different estimates and assumptions could produce different financial results. For example, a 10.0% change in the estimated selling prices of our potentially obsolete inventory would change the inventory write-down reserve at December 31, 2012 by approximately $1,043.

Valuation of Goodwill, Intangible and Other Long-Lived Assets. We assess the impairment of goodwill, intangible, and other long-lived assets on a separate asset basis based on assumptions and judgments regarding the carrying amount of these assets individually.

We performed our 2012 annual impairment tests for goodwill and nonamortizable intangible assets. We evaluated our UGG, Sanuk and other brands' goodwill and our Teva trademarks. Based on the carrying amounts of the UGG, Teva, Sanuk and other brands' goodwill, trademarks, and net assets, the brands' 2012 sales and operating results, and the brands' long-term forecasts of sales and operating results as of their evaluation dates, we concluded that the carrying amounts of the UGG, Sanuk and other brands' goodwill, as well as the Teva trademarks, were not impaired. Our Teva trademarks were evaluated under ASU, Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment, and we concluded, based on an evaluation of all relevant qualitative factors, including macroeconomic conditions, industry and market considerations, cost factors, financial performance, entity-specific events, and legal, regulatory, contractual, political, business, or other factors, that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the Teva trademarks is less than its carrying amount, and accordingly we did not perform a quantitative impairment test for the Teva trademarks. Our goodwill balance at December 31, 2012 represents goodwill in the UGG, Sanuk and other brands' reporting units. We believe that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the UGG reporting unit's fair value is less than its carrying value. We believe that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the Sanuk reporting unit's fair value is less than its carrying value, as we have increased our Sanuk sales and profitability forecasts since the acquisition. We believe that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the other brands' reporting unit's fair value is less than its carrying value, as we only recently completed our acquisition of the related goodwill as of September 27, 2012, and have not experienced any significant negative trends since acquisition. All goodwill was evaluated based on qualitative analyses.

We also evaluated amortizable long-lived assets, including intangible assets as of December 31, 2012 and 2011. We recorded immaterial impairment losses in SG&A in our other brands segment and for one of our retail stores for which the fair values did not exceed their carrying values. We recorded certain amortizable intangible assets related to our Sanuk and Hoka acquisitions (see Note 11 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements for the valuation methodologies used). Our other valuation methodologies used as of December 31, 2012 did not change from the prior year.

Fair Value of Contingent Consideration. We have entered into contingent consideration arrangements when we acquired brands. The fair value of our Sanuk brand contingent consideration is material and highly subjective. It is based on estimated future sales and gross profits, and discount rates, among other variables and estimates, and certain years have no maximum payment (see Note 1 to our accompanying consolidated financial statements). These are evaluated each reporting period and the contingent consideration is adjusted accordingly. Our estimated revenue forecasts include a compound annual growth rate of 21.3% through 2015. Our use of different estimates and assumptions could produce different financial results. For example, a 5.0% change in the estimated compound annual growth rate would change the total liability balance at December 31, 2012 by approximately $4,000.

Commodity Price Risk. We purchase certain materials that are affected by commodity prices, the most significant of which is sheepskin. The supply of sheepskin used in certain UGG products is in high demand and there are a limited number of suppliers able to meet our expectations for the quantity and quality of sheepskin required. There have been significant increases in the price of sheepskin in recent years as the demand from us and our competitors for this commodity has increased. We experienced an approximate 40% increase in sheepskin costs in 2012 compared to 2011. We expect an overall decrease in 2013 for this commodity due to lower pricing negotiated for our Fall 2013 product costs, the majority of which will be realized in the fourth quarter of 2013. Other significant factors affecting the price of sheepskin include weather patterns, harvesting decisions, global economic conditions, and other factors which are not considered predictable or within our control. We use purchasing contracts, pricing arrangements, and refundable deposits to attempt to reduce the impact of price volatility as an alternative to hedging commodity prices. The purchasing contracts and pricing arrangements we use may result in unconditional purchase obligations, which are not reflected in our consolidated balance sheets. In the event of significant commodity cost increases, we will likely not be able to adjust our selling prices sufficiently to mitigate the impact on our margins.

Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk. We face market risk to the extent that changes in foreign currency exchange rates affect our foreign assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. We hedge certain foreign currency forecasted transactions and exposures from existing assets and liabilities. Other than an increasing amount of sales, expenses, and financial positions denominated in foreign currencies, we do not believe that there has been a material change in the nature of our primary market risk exposures, including the categories of market risk to which we are exposed and the particular markets that present the primary risk of loss. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we do not know of or expect there to be any material change in the general nature of our primary market risk exposure in the near term.

We currently utilize forward contracts and other derivative instruments to mitigate exposure to fluctuations in the foreign currency exchange rate, for a portion of the amounts we expect to purchase and sell in foreign currencies. As our international operations grow and we increase purchases and sales in foreign currencies, we will evaluate and may utilize additional derivative instruments, as needed, to hedge our foreign currency exposures. We do not use foreign currency contracts for trading purposes.

Although the majority of our sales and inventory purchases are denominated in US currency, these sales and inventory purchases may be impacted by fluctuations in the exchange rates between the US dollar and the local currencies in the international markets where our products are sold and manufactured. Our foreign currency exposure is generated primarily from our Asian and European operations. Approximately $314,000, or 22.2%, of our total net sales for the year ended December 31, 2012 were denominated in foreign currencies. Certain of our foreign subsidiaries' local currency is their designated functional currency. As we begin to hold more cash and other monetary assets and liabilities in currencies other than our subsidiary's functional currency, we are exposed to financial statement transaction gains and losses as a result of remeasuring the operating results and financial positions into their functional currency. We remeasure these monetary assets and liabilities using the exchange rate as of the end of the reporting period. In addition, we translate assets and liabilities of subsidiaries with reporting currencies other than US dollars into US dollars using the exchange rates at of the end of the reporting period, which results in financial statement translation gains and losses in other comprehensive income. Changes in foreign exchange rates affect our reported profits and can distort comparisons from year to year. In addition, if the US dollar strengthens, it may result in increased pricing pressure on our foreign distributors, and retailers, which may have a negative impact on our net sales and gross margins. As of December 31, 2012, our non-designated derivative contracts had notional amounts totaling approximately $19,000. These contracts were comprised of offsetting contracts with the same counterparty, each expire in March 2013, and have an unrealized gain of approximately $500 at December 31, 2012. Subsequent to December 31, 2012 we entered into designated hedging contracts with notional amounts totaling approximately $63,000.

Interest Rate Risk. Our market risk exposure with respect to financial instruments is tied to changes in the prime rate in the US and changes in the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement provides for interest on outstanding borrowings at rates tied to the prime rate or, at our election, tied to LIBOR. At December 31, 2012, we had outstanding borrowings under the credit agreement of $33,000. A 1.0% increase in interest rates on our current borrowings would not have a material impact on income before income taxes.

(a) Disclosure Controls and Procedures.

The Company maintains a system of disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the reports that the Company files or submits under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms. These disclosure controls and procedures include, among other processes, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that the Company files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including the principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

The Company carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of management, including the principal executive officer and the principal financial officer of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2012 pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 13a-15. Based upon that evaluation, the principal executive officer and the principal financial officer concluded that the Company's disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e), were effective as of the end of the period covered by this annual report.

(b) Management's Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting.

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting at the Company. Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed under the supervision of the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of the Company's financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:

pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company;

provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and the directors of the company; and

provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Management assessed the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2012. Management based this assessment on criteria for effective internal control over financial reporting described in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Management's assessment included an evaluation of the design of the Company's internal control over financial reporting and testing of the operational effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting. Management reviewed the results of its assessment with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors.

Based on this assessment, management determined that, as of December 31, 2012, the Company maintained effective internal control over financial reporting. The registered public accounting firm that audited the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report has issued an attestation report on the Company's internal control over financial reporting. The Reports of our Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm are filed with this annual report in a separate section following Part IV, as shown on the index under Item 15 of this Annual Report.

(c) Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting.

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the quarter ended December 31, 2012 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.