Deckers Asia Pacific, the regional arm of global sports brand HOKA’s parent company Deckers, announced Aug. 20 that it has selected E-Land as HOKA’s new exclusive distributor in South Korea.
In an official statement, Deckers said, “We look forward to HOKA’s continued growth in the Korean market through our partnership with E-Land,” adding, “We will continue to do our utmost to provide authentic service to Korean consumers.”
E-Land said, “We plan to announce our official position and details once discussions are completed.”
Attention is now focused on how Joyworks, HOKA’s existing distributor in South Korea, will respond. Joyworks said earlier this year that Deckers had notified the company of the termination of its contract, but argued that it could maintain its HOKA business rights in South Korea through arbitration proceedings with the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) in the United States.
However, with Deckers appointing E-Land as its new distributor, a legal dispute involving E-Land, Joyworks and Deckers is expected to unfold.
Cho Sung-hwan, former CEO of Joyworks, held a press conference on Aug. 10 and claimed that the assault incident that led to the contract termination was a “planned operation” aimed at taking over HOKA’s distribution rights.