EXHIBIT 99


                                        Contact:  George Powlick
                                                  Chief Financial Officer
                                                  (818) 706-5100

           K-SWISS ACQUIRES LICENSE FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FOOTWEAR

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (May 29, 2001) - K-Swiss Inc. (Nasdaq/NM:KSWS) today
announced that it has formed a joint venture with Rugged Shark, a leading
cutting-edge designer and manufacturer of young, active-oriented footwear, to
license, produce and market a men's, women's and children's collection of
National Geographic outdoor-oriented and casual footwear. The joint venture will
launch a full-scale line of outdoor and casual footwear in fall 2002 after an
initial introduction of technical outdoor product in fall 2001.

     Under terms of the joint venture, K-Swiss will own 75% of the new company
and provide the infrastructure to manufacture, distribute and market the line of
National Geographic footwear. Rugged Shark, which was founded by footwear
designer Jonathan Werman, will own 25% of the venture and will provide its
design and development expertise. Additional industry veterans are expected to
join the new joint venture in various management positions in the near future.
Over the next 15 months, K-Swiss expects to incur expenses estimated at $1.0
million, or $0.10 per share, related to the full-scale launch of this product
line in fall 2002.

     Commenting on the announcement, Steven Nichols, Chairman of the Board and
President of K-Swiss, stated, "We are excited about this new direction. Over the
past 100 years, National Geographic has established itself as one of the most
recognizable brands in the world. It is the world's leading nonprofit scientific
and educational organization with more than 40 million loyal readers of its
magazines. The National Geographic brand, combined with design expertise and
extensive manufacturing capabilities, will create a powerful force in the
footwear industry."

     K-Swiss Inc. designs, develops and markets athletic footwear for high
performance sports use and fitness activities. The Company presently offers
footwear for court, casual and children's categories.

          Certain matters discussed in this press release are subject to certain
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially,
including, but not limited to: non-achievement of the assumptions contained
herein, general and regional economic conditions, industry trends, merchandise
trends, including market acceptance of the Company's new training shoe line,
market acceptance of the Company's casual product being introduced in Europe,
customer demand, competition, and the success of the new joint venture. A
complete description of these factors, as well as others which could affect the
Company's business, is set forth in the Company's periodic filings, including
its Form 10Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2001. "Backlog" as of any date,
represents orders scheduled to be shipped within the next six months. Backlog
does not include orders scheduled to be shipped on or prior to the date of
determination of backlog. The mix of "future" and "at-once" orders can vary
significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year and, therefore, "futures"
are not necessarily indicative of revenues for subsequent periods.

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