13. SEGMENT INFORMATION

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

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 primarily sell our products directly to consumers through our consumer and business direct websites and our Rocky outlet store. We also operate four mobile trucks to service the New York Transit Authority’s employees. 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 and 2015, we shipped boots under this agreement.

The following is a summary of segment results for the Wholesale, Retail, and Military segments. Certain amounts from prior year have been reclassified to conform to current year presentation.

	Years Ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013
NET SALES:
Wholesale	$	206,072,657	$	233,898,250	$	192,901,438
Retail		45,808,705		44,347,775		43,092,829
Military		17,420,661		7,996,144		8,876,464
Total Net Sales	$	269,302,023	$	286,242,169	$	244,870,731
GROSS MARGIN:
Wholesale	$	65,979,792	$	75,840,977	$	62,420,052
Retail		20,621,884		19,449,609		19,856,441
Military		2,290,163		1,070,139		1,265,958
Total Gross Margin	$	88,891,839	$	96,360,725	$	83,542,451

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:

	2015		% of Sales			2014		% of Sales			2013		% of Sales
Work footwear	$	120,422,188		44.7	%	$	131,510,217		45.9	%	$	123,131,787		50.3	%
Western footwear		43,435,734		16.1	%		45,475,880		15.9	%		36,998,504		15.1	%
Duty and commercial military footwear		33,341,424		12.4	%		38,174,738		13.3	%		33,517,114		13.7	%
Lifestyle footwear		23,370,822		8.7	%		25,823,220		9.0	%		10,599,879		4.3	%
Outdoor footwear		20,688,005		7.7	%		24,606,151		8.6	%		20,194,524		8.2	%
Military footwear		17,420,661		6.5	%		7,996,144		2.8	%		8,876,464		3.6	%
Apparel		5,662,277		2.1	%		7,471,005		2.6	%		6,676,075		2.7	%
Other		4,155,137		1.5	%		4,100,128		1.4	%		4,454,968		1.8	%
Royalty income		805,775		0.3	%		1,084,686		0.4	%		421,416		0.2	%
	$	269,302,023		100	%	$	286,242,169		100	%	$	244,870,731		100	%

Net sales to foreign countries, primarily Canada, represented approximately 4.8% of net sales in 2015, 6.3% of net sales in 2014 and 2.9% of net sales in 2013.