How Skechers Walked the Talk and Earned the FNAA 2024 Icon Award for Social Impact
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On Dec. 4, Skechers will be honored with the Icon Award for Social Impact at the 38th annual FN Achievement Awards. Below is an article from the magazine’s Dec. 2 print issue about the company’s deep commitment to helping others.
The Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk has come a long way since its first event in 2008. Just over 2,000 people gathered for the 3.5- mile walk along the coastline of Manhattan Beach, Calif., to raise funds for The Friendship Foundation, an organization that provides peer support to kids with special needs.
At its latest event in October, at least 21,000 people registered to participate, making it the largest charity walk in California, according to Yossi Mintz, who co-founded the Friendship Foundation with Skechers president Michael Greenberg. This year, the walk raised over $3.4 million, to go toward public education programs and fund construction of the Friendship Campus, a 3.5-acre, $55 million space for vocational training that is set to open in early 2026.
“For a lot of the kids that we support, many of them grow up to be adults who are unemployed — and they are employable if we can give them the opportunity and educate them,” said Mintz. “I had this dream from day one to build this facility. Michael and Skechers have been very influential in making this miracle happen.”
For Greenberg, the Friendship Foundation and its fundraiser have been a true passion project. “Growing up in New England, in the fourth grade I was asked to help the children with special needs get from class to class,” he recalled. “So when it was brought to my attention that we wanted to create friendships for children who really don’t have friends, I was all in.”
And, he added, the success of the event has proven that others care about the issue as well. “To see [our partners in] other countries start their own charity events — Skechers in China has a walk, Skechers in Malaysia — they’ve made even greater impacts than ever imagined.”
Each year, the crowd at the Manhattan Beach pier includes several Skechers celebrity partners, such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Amanda Kloots and Mr. T. But its most consistent supporter is model and TV host Brooke Burke, who has attended for more than a decade. “Seeing thousands come together, lifting each other up and helping out those in need fills me with an overwhelming sense of pride and joy,” Burke said. “Every child deserves a friend and opportunities to flourish in school.”
And the Friendship Walk has made an important impact on the community, according to Nancy Hersman, mayor of Manhattan Beach. “Thanks to the generosity of the Skechers Foundation, in partnership with the Friendship Foundation, all our public schools have Friendship Circle clubs where typical students engage socially with special needs students,” she said. “This experience transforms all the children involved.” Hersman also noted that Skechers supports the community’s fireworks and contributes to its schools. “I’m really proud that Skechers has its headquarters here in Manhattan Beach.”
But those are still only a fraction of Skechers’ work to improve the lives of others. In early November, for instance, Greenberg traveled to Maui, Hawaii, to bestow $75,000 in donations to Help Maui Rise and Lahaina Intermediate School, while also reopening the store it lost in the 2023 wildfires in Lahaina’s Maui Outlets.
That’s in addition to the $250,000 Skechers gave immediately following the fires, when it also donated footwear, apparel and supplies for affected families. It has also offered support following other global disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, Haiti’s earthquake and the war in Ukraine, among others.
“Like what we did with Maui, we don’t just step in and then step out,” said Greenberg. “So many times, individuals and organizations are there in the beginning, but they’re nowhere to be found months later. We focus on continuing to work with these organizations.”
Indeed, the company’s Bobs sneaker brand has a longstanding commitment to aiding kids and animals. Since 2011, it has donated 16 million pairs of shoes to children in need through groups like Soles4Souls. And it has surpassed $12 million in donations since 2015 to animal organizations, saving more than 2.2 million shelter dogs and cats.
Partners say that Skechers’ philanthropic mission is part of its central ethos.
“What sets Skechers apart is not just its words, but its actions,” said Burke. “It genuinely walks the talk when it comes to corporate responsibility. The company demonstrates a deep understanding that gratitude matters and expresses this gratitude through tangible support for communities and causes.”
For Greenberg, one of the company’s most personal projects was the Roundhouse Aquarium — a place that his late son Harrison loved to visit as a boy. He said the $4 million restoration, completed in 2021, transformed the space into the “gem of Manhattan Beach” now visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year.
But ultimately, he added, these philanthropic programs thrive through the support of partners — and the commitment of his team. “Our work that we do within Skechers is embraced by everyone in Skechers — it’s our employees. They feel a sense of additional purpose because they work for a company like Skechers,” said Greenberg.
For 38 years, the annual FN Achievement Awards — often called the “Shoe Oscars” — have celebrated the style stars, best brand stories, ardent philanthropists, emerging talents and industry veterans. The 2024 event is supported by sponsors Listrak, Marc Fisher, Nordstrom and Vibram.
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