13. SEGMENT INFORMATION

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

13.    SEGMENT INFORMATION

Operating Segments - We operate our business through three business segments: wholesale, retail and military.

Wholesale. In our wholesale segment, our products are offered in over ten thousand retail locations representing a wide range of distribution channels in the U.S. and Canada. These distribution channels vary by product line and target market and include sporting goods stores, outdoor retailers, independent shoe retailers, hardware stores, catalogs, mass merchants, uniform stores, farm store chains, specialty safety stores and other specialty retailers.

Retail. In our retail segment, we sell our products directly to consumers through our consumer and business direct websites, our Lehigh mobile and retail stores and our Rocky outlet store. Our Lehigh operations include a small fleet of trucks, supported by small warehouses that include retail stores, which we refer to as mini-stores. Through our outlet store, we generally sell first quality or discontinued products in addition to a limited amount of factory damaged goods, which typically carry lower gross margins.

Military. While we are focused on continuing to build our wholesale and retail business, we also actively bid, from time to time, on footwear contracts with the U.S. military. Our sales under such contracts are dependent on us winning the bids for these contracts.

We have received an order to fulfill a contract to the U.S. Military to produce “Hot Weather” combat boots. We began shipping boots in the first quarter of 2013. The contract included a minimum purchase amount of $3.0 million and a maximum of $15.0 million for the first year and included an option for four additional years with the same terms. During 2014, we shipped boots under this same agreement.

F-21

	Years Ended December 31,
	2014		2013		2012
NET SALES:
Wholesale	$	233,898,250	$	192,901,438	$	186,219,918
Retail		44,347,775		43,092,829		41,284,731
Military		7,996,144		8,876,464		1,032,401
Total Net Sales	$	286,242,169	$	244,870,731	$	228,537,050
GROSS MARGIN:
Wholesale	$	75,840,977	$	62,420,052	$	60,987,243
Retail		19,449,609		19,856,441		19,475,431
Military		1,070,139		1,265,958		43,303
Total Gross Margin	$	96,360,725	$	83,542,451	$	80,505,977

Segment asset information is not prepared or used to assess segment performance.

Product Group Information - The following is supplemental information on net sales by product group:

	2014		% of Sales			2013		% of Sales			2012		% of Sales
Work footwear	$	131,510,217		45.9	%	$	123,131,787		50.3	%	$	116,504,833		51.0	%
Western footwear		45,475,880		15.9	%		36,998,504		15.1	%		29,998,191		13.1	%
Duty and commercial  military footwear		38,174,738		13.3	%		33,517,114		13.7	%		35,023,601		15.3	%
Lifestyle footwear		25,823,220		9.0	%		10,599,879		4.3	%		10,162,700		4.4	%
Outdoor footwear		24,606,151		8.6	%		20,194,524		8.2	%		22,387,493		9.8	%
Military footwear		7,996,144		2.8	%		8,876,464		3.6	%		1,032,401		0.5	%
Apparel		7,471,005		2.6	%		6,676,075		2.7	%		9,651,847		4.2	%
Other		4,100,128		1.4	%		4,454,968		1.8	%		3,556,597		1.6	%
Royalty income		1,084,686		0.4	%		421,416		0.2	%		219,387		0.1	%
	$	286,242,169		100	%	$	244,870,731		100	%	$	228,537,050		100	%

Net sales to foreign countries, primarily Canada, represented approximately 6.3% of net sales in 2014, 2.9% of net sales in 2013 and 3.9% of net sales in 2012.