Sunshine Calçados e Confecções, the main franchisee of the footwear brand Skechers in Brazil, is closing three of its seven stores in the country amid a judicial recovery of almost R$20 million. The group, which owns half of the American sneaker brand’s units in Brazil, blames Skechers itself for the worsening of its financial situation — and now, it has even taken email responses to court.
In November, judge Marcio Aparecido Guedes accepted Sunshine’s request for judicial recovery, valuing it at R$19.3 million. Between 2015 and 2025, the franchisor estimates that it has accumulated R$49.6 million in direct losses caused by Skechers.
In the Judicial Recovery request documents to which the InfoMoney had access, Sunshine mentions the supply failures caused by Skechers as an argument. “Collection shortfalls” of 20% to 30% would have been recurrent and delays would have reached 77% of products confirmed in the second half of 2025.
They also allege recurring monthly delays in the delivery of pre-purchases made six months in advance, mainly for products from lines with better sales. Sunshine also says in the documents that Skechers violated equality between them by imposing a higher profit margin benefit for retailers based in São Paulo to offset the tax burden.
In a statement, Skechers do Brasil stated that the commercial relationship between the parties has always strictly followed the provisions of the contract. “The company therefore vehemently denies having imposed any irregular conditions or conditions that went beyond the agreed terms,” he said.
Sunshine calculates losses of R$15.1 million due to undelivered products, R$7.2 million due to lower profit margins than other retailers. When contacted, the Group chose not to comment at the moment.
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Part of the loss recorded in RJ’s request arose precisely from Sunshine’s debts to Skechers. R$2.4 million is the result of interest payments to Skechers do Brasil between 2020 and 2025; another R$7 million was paid to banks and R$6.3 million in interest on tax liabilities.
As Sunshine argues in the RJ documents, Skechers promoted “constant blocking of merchandise invoicing in retaliation for Sunshine’s debts.” But the transfer problems would have been caused precisely by Skechers, which damaged the franchisee’s stocks and coverage with delays in the delivery of goods, says Sunshine.
Unanswered contacts and closed stores
Now, the franchisor has communicated via email to Skechers that it will close its stores in Park Shopping, in Brasília, Pantanal Shopping, in Cuiabá, and Amazonas Shopping, in Manaus, in 2026. These are three of the footwear brand’s 13 stores in Brazil, which has already seen a unit in Goiânia Shopping closing in 2025.
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Sent in November, the email also communicates to the management of Skechers do Brasil that the Sunshine group would not participate in a sales meeting organized for the end of 2025, in addition to ceasing to make the purchase schedule while the billing block promoted by the franchisor continues.
The request for an injunction to which the communications are attached, which has not yet been granted by the judge, precisely asks Skechers to respond to this and another email, from September, requesting clarification on collection management and asking for visibility in communications.
Although Sunshine argues that most of its emails have not been responded to since September, Skechers confirmed in a response that the collection for the first half of 2026 would have 341 models. Sunshine questions, however, whether the value takes into account 193 models not yet delivered by the supplier.
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The Sunshine Group requires that the supply contract with Skechers be declared an essential capital asset, given that it is the sole supplier of the franchised stores and the maintenance of deliveries would be necessary for the operation during the period of suspension of debt executions in the judicial recovery.
In 2025, . The conflicts reported by Sunshine and the company’s management in Brazil precede the deal that delists the company after a US$9.4 billion purchase.
Sunshine began operating as a franchisee in Brazil in October 2015 in a project that aimed to open 60 stores in 5 years. Today, the seven stores are in the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Amazonas and Distrito Federal.
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“Skechers reinforces that it maintains a relationship based on respect, transparency and strict adherence to contractual rules with all its franchisees and commercial partners, valuing continuous dialogue as a pillar of its business model”, said the company in a statement. “As this is an ongoing legal process, the company does not comment on the merits of the action,” he stated.
