Risk Factors Dashboard

Item 1A. Risk Factors." The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS.

All references to "we," "us," "our," "Rocky Brands," or the "Company" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K mean Rocky Brands, Inc. and our subsidiaries.

We are a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of premium quality footwear and apparel marketed under a portfolio of well recognized brand names, including The Original Muck Boot Company ("Muck"), XTRATUF, Rocky, Durango, Georgia Boot, Lehigh CustomFit ("Lehigh"), Ranger, and the licensed brand Michelin. Our brands have a long history of representing high quality, comfortable, functional, and durable footwear and our products are organized around six target markets: work, outdoor, western, commercial military, duty, and military. Our footwear products incorporate varying features and are positioned across a range of suggested retail price points from $45.00 for our value priced products to $680.00 for our premium products. In addition, as part of our strategy of outfitting consumers from head-to-toe, we market complementary branded apparel and accessories that we believe leverage the strength and positioning of each of our brands.

The Company's portfolio of brands is organized into the following reportable segments, in which our products are distributed:

Lehigh

We sell our product lines on our websites at muckbootcompany.com, xtratuf.com, rockyboots.com, durangoboot.com, georgiaboot.com, lehighoutfitters.com, lehighsafetyshoes.com, and slipgrips.com, as well as through online third-party marketplaces. We believe that our internet presence allows us to showcase the breadth and depth of our product lines in each of our target markets and enables us to educate our consumers about the unique technical features of our products.

Outdoor Gear Store

We operate the Rocky Outdoor Gear Store in Nelsonville, Ohio. Our outdoor gear store primarily sells first quality current and discontinued products in addition to a limited amount of factory damaged goods. Related products from other manufacturers are also sold in the store. Our outdoor gear store allows us to showcase the breadth of our product lines as well as to cost-effectively sell slow-moving inventory. Our outdoor gear store also provides an opportunity to interact with consumers to better understand their needs.

Contract Manufacturing

While we are focused on continuing to build our Wholesale and Retail business, we also actively bid, from time to time, on eligible footwear contracts with the U.S. Military. In addition to contracts with the U.S. Military, we bid on private label contracts. Our sales under such contracts are dependent on us winning the bids for these contracts.

Brands and Product Lines

Our products are marketed under eight well-recognized, proprietary brands: Muck, XTRATUF, Rocky, Durango, Georgia Boot, Lehigh, and Ranger, in addition to the licensed brand Michelin.

Product Lines

Competitive Strengths

Our competitive strengths include:

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Strong portfolio of brands. We believe the Muck, XTRATUF, Rocky, Durango, Georgia Boot, Lehigh, Ranger, and Michelin brands are well recognized and established names that have a reputation for performance, quality, and comfort in the markets they serve: work, outdoor, western, commercial military, duty, and military. We plan to continue strengthening these brands through product innovation in existing footwear markets, by extending certain of these brands into our other target markets and by introducing complementary apparel and accessories under our own brands.

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Commitment to product innovation. We believe a critical component of our success in the third-party marketplace has been a result of our continued commitment to product innovation. Our consumers demand high quality, durable products that incorporate the highest level of comfort and the most advanced technical features and designs. We have a dedicated group of product design and development professionals, including well recognized experts in the footwear and apparel industries, who continually interact with consumers to better understand their needs and are committed to ensuring our products reflect the most advanced designs, features, and materials available in the third-party marketplace.

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Long-term retailer relationships. We believe that our long history of designing, manufacturing and marketing premium quality, branded footwear has enabled us to develop strong relationships with our retailers in each of our distribution channels. We reinforce these relationships by continuing to offer innovative footwear products, by continuing to meet the individual needs of each of our retailers and by working with our retailers to improve the visual merchandising of our products in their stores. We believe that strengthening our relationships with retailers will allow us to increase our presence through additional store locations and expanded shelf space, improve our market position in a consolidating retail environment and enable us to better understand and meet the evolving needs of both our retailers and consumers.

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Diverse product sourcing and manufacturing capabilities. We believe our strategy of utilizing both company operated and third-party facilities for the sourcing of our products offers several advantages. Operating our own facilities significantly improves our knowledge of the entire production process, which allows us to more efficiently source product from third parties that is of the highest quality and at the lowest cost available. We intend to continue to source a higher proportion of our products from third-party manufacturers, which we believe will enable us to obtain high quality products at lower costs per unit.

Growth Strategy

We intend to increase our sales through the following strategies:

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Expand into new target markets under existing brands. We believe there is significant opportunity to extend certain of our brands into our other target markets. We intend to continue to introduce products across varying feature sets and price points in order to meet the needs of our customers.

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Cross-sell our brands to our retailers. We believe that many retailers of our brands target consumers with similar characteristics and, as a result, we believe there is significant opportunity to offer each of our retailers a broader assortment of footwear and apparel that target multiple markets and span a range of feature sets and price points.

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Expand business internationally. We intend to extend certain of our brands into international markets. We believe this is a significant opportunity because of the long history and authentic heritage of these brands. We intend to grow our business internationally through a network of distributors.

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Grow our e-commerce business. We intend to drive business to our branded e-commerce websites as well as third-party marketplace platforms. We believe there is an opportunity to capitalize on the changes in the market to online shopping as we focus advertising efforts and maximize our distribution capabilities.

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Increases in our Lehigh business. We believe that our business-to-business CustomFit platform has ample opportunity to grow as we continue to pursue large manufacturers, distributors, and other companies who are reliant on safety footwear programs. We feel that diversifying our product lines and continuing to provide an easy, no hassle approach to purchasing will allow us to expand within the market.

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Acquire or develop new brands. We intend to continue to acquire or develop new brands that are complementary to our portfolio and could leverage our operational infrastructure and distribution network.

Marketing and Advertising

We believe that our brands have a reputation for high quality, comfort, functionality, and durability built through their long history in the markets they serve. To further increase the strength and awareness of our brands, we have developed comprehensive marketing and advertising programs to gain national exposure and expand brand awareness for each of our brands in their target markets.

We have focused the majority of our advertising efforts on both digital advertising and consumer advertising in support of our retail partners. Digital advertising includes online brand level marketing, search engine pay-per-click, retargeting, and social media targeting. A key component to supporting our retail partners includes in-store point of purchase materials that add a dramatic focus to our brands and the products our retail partners carry. We also advertise through targeted connected television advertisements and print publications aimed at audiences that share the demographic profile of our typical customers. In addition, we promote through event sponsorships which provide significant national exposure for all of our brands as well as a direct connection to our target consumer. Our print advertisements and television commercials emphasize the technical features of our products as well as their high quality, comfort, functionality and durability.

We also support independent dealers by listing their locations in our national print advertisements. In addition to our national advertising campaigns, we have developed attractive merchandising displays and store-in-store concept fixturing that are available to our retailers who purchase the breadth of our product lines. We also attend numerous tradeshows which allow us to showcase our entire product line to retail buyers and have historically been an important source of new accounts.

Product Design and Development

We believe that product innovation is a key competitive advantage for us in each of our markets. Our goal in product design and development is to continue to create and introduce new and innovative footwear and apparel products that combine our standards of quality, functionality, and comfort and that meet the changing needs of our retailers and consumers. Our product design and development process is highly collaborative and is typically initiated both internally by our development staff and externally by our retailers and suppliers, whose employees are generally active users of our products and understand the needs of our consumers. Our product design and development personnel, marketing personnel, and sales representatives work closely together to identify opportunities for new styles, patterns, design improvements and newer, more advanced materials. We have a dedicated group of product design and development professionals, some of whom are well recognized experts in the footwear and apparel industries, who continually interact with consumers to better understand their needs and are committed to ensuring our products reflect the most advanced designs, features and materials available in the third-party marketplace.

Manufacturing and Sourcing

We manufacture footwear in facilities that we own and operate in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Chuzhou, China and source footwear, apparel, and accessories from third-party facilities in Vietnam, China, the Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Puerto Rico, India, and Mexico. We do not have long-term contracts with any of our third-party manufacturers. We currently do not have long-term contracts with any of our retailers. We believe that operating our own facilities significantly improves our knowledge of the entire raw material sourcing and manufacturing process, which enables us to more efficiently source finished goods from third parties that are of the highest quality and at the lowest cost available, as well as reduce our lead times. In addition, our Puerto Rico facility allows us to produce footwear for the U.S. Military and other commercial businesses that require production by a U.S. manufacturer. Sourcing products from offshore third-party facilities generally enables us to lower our costs per unit while maintaining high product quality and limits the capital investment required to establish and maintain company operated manufacturing facilities. Because quality is an important part of our value proposition to our retailers and consumers, we source products from manufacturers who have demonstrated the intent and ability to maintain the high quality that has become associated with our brands.

Quality control is stressed at every stage of the manufacturing process and is monitored by trained quality assurance personnel at each of our manufacturing facilities, including our third-party factories. In addition, we utilize a team of procurement, quality control, and logistics employees in our China office and a third-party quality control service provider to visit factories to conduct quality control reviews of raw materials, work in process inventory and finished goods. In addition, we could incur costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party property damage or personal injury claims or could be required to incur substantial investigation or remediation costs, if we were to violate or become liable under any environmental laws. We also utilize quality control personnel at our finished goods distribution facilities to conduct quality control testing on incoming sourced finished goods. Random samples are selected for inspection from inbound finished goods shipments from each of our manufacturing and sourcing facilities to ensure that all items meet our high-quality standards.

Foreign Operations and Sales Outside of the U.S.

Our products are primarily distributed in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and other international markets, mainly in Europe. We ship our products from our finished goods distribution facilities located in Ohio and Nevada. Select retailers receive shipments directly from our manufacturing sources, including all of our U.S. Military sales, which are shipped directly from our manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico. Net sales to foreign countries represented approximately 2.3% of net sales in 2025 and 3.2% of net sales in 2024.

As previously mentioned, we also maintain manufacturing facilities that we operate in the Dominican Republic and Chuzhou, China. In addition, we utilize an office in China to support our contract manufacturers.

The net book value of fixed assets located outside of the U.S. totaled $11.1 million at December 31, 2025, of which approximately $3.7 million resides in the Dominican Republic and approximately $7.4 million resides in China.

Resources and Suppliers

We purchase raw materials from sources worldwide. We do not have long-term supply contracts for the purchase of our raw materials. The principal raw materials used in the production of our products, in terms of dollar value, are leather, Cordura nylon fabric and soling materials. The principal raw materials used in the production of our footwear, in terms of dollar value, are leather, Gore-Tex waterproof breathable fabric, Cordura nylon fabric and soling materials. We believe these materials will continue to be available from our current suppliers. However, in the event these materials are not available from our current suppliers, we believe these products, or similar products, would be available from alternative sources.

Seasonality and Weather

Historically, we have experienced significant seasonal fluctuations in our business as many of our footwear products are used by consumers in adverse weather conditions. In order to meet these demands, we must manufacture and source footwear year-round to be able to ship advance and at-once orders for these products during the last two quarters of each year. In order to meet demand, we must manufacture and source outdoor footwear year-round to be in a position to ship advance orders for these products during the last two quarters of each year. Accordingly, average inventory levels have been highest during the second and third quarters of each year and sales have been highest in the last two quarters of the year. In addition, mild or dry weather conditions historically have had a material adverse effect on sales of our outdoor products, particularly if they occurred in broad geographical areas during late fall or early winter. Mild or dry weather has in the past and may in the future have a material adverse effect on sales of our products, particularly if mild or dry weather conditions occur in broad geographical areas during late fall or early winter.

Backlog

The dollar amount of our order backlog as of any date may not be indicative of actual future shipments and, accordingly, is not material to an understanding of our business taken as a whole.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of our trademarks, patents, and other intellectual property rights, as well as contractual provisions to protect our brands, product designs, technology, marketing materials, and other proprietary research and development, although no such methods can afford complete protection. We own numerous design and utility patents for footwear and footwear components (such as insoles and outsoles) in the U.S. and in several countries where our products are sold or manufactured, including China. We own numerous U.S. and foreign registrations for the patents and trademarks used in our business, including our major brands Muck, XTRATUF, Rocky, Durango, Georgia Boot, Lehigh, and Ranger. In addition, we license the use of third-party trademarks, including Michelin, in order to market our products.

Our license with Michelin Lifestyle Limited permits us to use the Michelin brand and related marks on our products. Our license agreement with Michelin Lifestyle Limited to use the Michelin name expires on December 31, 2028.

In the U.S. and China, our design patents are generally in effect for 15 years from the date of issuance. Our utility patents are generally in effect for 20 years from the date of the filing of the patent application. Our trademarks are generally valid as long as they are in use and their registrations are properly maintained.

While we have an active program to protect our intellectual property by filing for patents and trademark registrations, we do not believe that our overall business is materially dependent on any individual patent or trademark. We are not aware of any material infringement of our intellectual property rights or that we are infringing any intellectual property rights owned by third parties. Moreover, we are not aware of any material conflicts concerning our trademarks or those owned by others. We actively enforce our trademarks and patents, and pursue those who infringe upon them, whether domestically or internationally, as we deem appropriate.

Competition

We operate in a very competitive environment. Product function, design, comfort, quality, technological, and material improvements, brand awareness, product delivery timeliness and pricing are all important elements of competition in the markets for our products. We believe that the strength of our brands, the quality of our products, and our long-term relationships with a broad range of retailers allow us to compete effectively in the footwear and apparel markets that we serve. However, we compete with footwear and apparel companies that have greater financial, marketing, distribution and manufacturing resources than we do. In addition, many of these competitors have strong brand name recognition in the markets they serve.

The footwear and apparel industry is also subject to rapid changes in consumer preferences. Some of our product lines are susceptible to changes in both technical innovation and fashion trends. Therefore, the success of these products and styles are dependent on our ability to anticipate and respond to changing product, material and design innovations, as well as fashion trends and consumer demands in a timely manner. Our inability or failure to do so could adversely affect consumer acceptance of these product lines and styles and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Human Capital

As of December 31, 2025, we employed over 2,200 employees. Approximately 1,700 of our employees work in our manufacturing facilities in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Chuzhou, China. We believe our relations with our employees are in good standing.

Employee Well Being

Founded from the humble beginnings of a small, family-owned business, our employees have always been the key to making our Company successful. As such, we believe that fostering an environment that advocates for all areas of employee health (including physical, mental and emotional) is crucial. We offer a tuition assistance reimbursement program and an employee assistance program, which can assist employees in various aspects of their personal life and overall well-being. We also encourage our employees to take continuing education classes that will aid in their day-to-day work responsibilities and we promote a healthy lifestyle through monthly newsletters and various health focused events throughout the year.

The health and safety of our employees is one of our highest priorities. Our Health and Wellness Committee strives to educate our employees on the importance of taking care of yourself both inside and outside the workplace. Throughout the year we contract with various health and wellness professionals outside of our organization to hold educational sessions for our employees both in-person and virtually. Nothing is more fundamental than providing our employees with an environment where they feel safe, secure and supported.

Talent Recruitment, Retention and Development

Our employee culture is built on our core values of integrity, responsibility and humility. The ability to attract, retain, and develop talented employees is crucial to our long-term success. We focus on attracting, developing, and retaining highly talented individuals through practices that promote our core values. We recruit through a variety of outreach methods including our rockybrands.com/careers website and other online platforms, such as LinkedIn, college recruitment efforts, network relationships and direct communication with career centers. When new employment opportunities within our Company arise, we send out internal communications to inform all associates of new openings. We review internal applications for consideration before considering external applicants.

We strive to maximize engagement with our employees in a variety of ways, including scheduled meetings between employees and executive leadership within the first few months of employment, face-to-face and virtual interviews with employees following 60 days and one year of employment, annual performance evaluations, regular check-in surveys and exit surveys. We also rely on our management team to influence growth and develop a path for success with employees on each team within our organization. Quarterly, our CEO and COO/CFO hold all-employee communication meetings to keep our employees apprised of recent happenings within our organization and to allow employees a forum for their voice to be heard.

We are committed to having a workforce which reflects a wide range of perspectives as well as varied professional and educational backgrounds. We strive to provide an environment that allows our employees to bring their authentic selves to work every day, and we are committed to fostering a workplace that is free of discrimination, harassment, and which promotes allyship, advocacy, and an overall sense of belonging.

Compensation and Benefits

Our compensation structure is set up to reward employees for performance. We regularly evaluate employee compensation to ensure it is competitive and in-line with market benchmarks and to reward employees who perform at a high level. We offer comprehensive benefit programs to our employees including medical, dental, and vision. We also provide a 401(k) match and safe harbor contribution, paid time off, including maternal and paternal leave, life insurance, and long-term and short-term disability.

Available Information

As required by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), we file annual, quarterly, and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The SEC maintains a website that contains information about issuers, like us, who file electronic reports with the SEC. The address of the SEC’s website is www.sec.gov. In addition, we make available free of charge on our corporate website, www.rockybrands.com, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and, if applicable, amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. Our website also contains our Corporate Governance Guidelines and Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as well as the charters of the Audit, Compensation, and Nominating and Corporate Governance committees of the Board of Directors. Except as specifically incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K, information on those websites is not part of this report.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

Business Risks

Expanding our brands into new footwear and apparel markets may be difficult and expensive, and if we are unable to successfully continue such expansion, our brands may be adversely affected, and we may not achieve our planned sales growth.

Our growth strategy is founded substantially on the expansion of our brands into new footwear and apparel markets. New products that we introduce may not be successful with consumers or one or more of our brands may fall out of favor with consumers. If we are unable to anticipate, identify or react appropriately to changes in consumer preferences, we may not grow as fast as we plan to grow. If we are unable to anticipate, identify or react appropriately to changes in consumer preferences, we may not grow as fast as we plan to grow or our sales may decline, and our brand image and operating performance may suffer. This could cause our sales to decline, brand image to suffer and operating performance to deteriorate.

Furthermore, achieving market acceptance for new products will likely require us to exert substantial product development and marketing efforts, which could result in a material increase in our expenses, and there can be no assurance that we will have the resources necessary to undertake such efforts. Material increases in our expenses could adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows. Material increases in our operating expenses could adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows.

We may also encounter difficulties in producing new products that we did not anticipate during the development stage. Our development schedules for new products are difficult to predict and are subject to change as a result of shifting priorities in response to consumer preferences and competing products. If we are not able to efficiently manufacture newly-developed products in quantities sufficient to support retail distribution, we may not be able to recoup our investment in the development of new products. Failure to gain market acceptance for new products that we introduce could impede our growth, reduce our profits, adversely affect the image of our brands, erode our competitive position and result in long term harm to our business.

A majority of our products are produced outside the continental U.S. where we are subject to the risks of international commerce and other international conditions.

The majority of our products are produced in Vietnam, China, the Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Puerto Rico, India, and Mexico. Therefore, our business is subject to certain risks of doing business offshore including:

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the imposition of additional U.S. legislation and regulations relating to imports, including quotas, duties, tariffs, taxes or other charges or restrictions, including recent worldwide tariffs on goods under the Trade Act of 1974;

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foreign governmental regulation and taxation, including tariffs, import and export controls and other non-tariff barriers;

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fluctuations in foreign exchange rates;

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changes in economic conditions, including expropriation and nationalization;

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transportation conditions and costs in the Pacific and Caribbean;

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changes in the political stability of these countries;

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labor disputes and other work stoppages or interruptions;

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changes in relationships between the U.S. and these countries; and

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the occurrence of contagious disease or illness.

Changes in any of these factors could materially increase our costs of products or cause us to experience delays and we may not be able to recover all of our cost increases or missed sales. If any of these factors were to render the conduct of business in these countries undesirable or impracticable, we would have to manufacture or source our products elsewhere. There can be no assurance that additional sources or products would be available to us or, if available, that these sources could be relied on to provide product at terms favorable to us or that is of the same quality. The occurrence of any of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our success depends on our ability to anticipate consumer trends.

Demand for our products may be adversely affected by changing consumer trends. Our future success will depend upon our ability to anticipate and respond to changing consumer preferences and technical design or material developments in a timely manner. The failure to adequately anticipate or respond to these changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We depend on a limited number of suppliers for key production materials, and disruptions in the supply of such materials could interrupt product manufacturing and increase product costs.

We purchase raw materials from a number of domestic and foreign sources. We do not have long-term supply contracts for the purchase of our raw materials. The principal raw materials used in the production of our footwear, in terms of dollar value, are leather, Cordura nylon fabric and soling materials. The principal raw materials used in the production of our footwear, in terms of dollar value, are leather, Gore-Tex waterproof breathable fabric, Cordura nylon fabric and soling materials. Availability or change in the prices of our raw materials could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our ability to import products in a timely and cost-effective manner may also be affected by conditions at ports or issues that otherwise affect transportation and warehousing providers, such as fluctuations in freight costs, port and shipping capacity, labor disputes, public health crisis, pandemic, natural disaster, or severe weather due to climate change. These issues have in the past and may in the future delay importation of products or require us to locate alternative ports or warehousing providers to avoid disruption to customers. These alternatives may not be available on short notice or could result in higher costs, which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

The emergence or persistence of geopolitical instability may disrupt the global economy, the impacts of which may negatively impact our business, financial, condition and results of operations.

The emergence or persistence of geopolitical instability creates risks for disruptions in the global economy which may negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Factors such as new global tariffs imposed by the U.S., uncertainties related to the political environment in China, and ongoing conflicts such as the war between Russia and Ukraine have adversely affected the global economy and contributed to geopolitical instability. While we have managed to navigate impacts from these conflicts thus far, the ongoing instability resulting from these disruptions or other future disruptions could potentially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, supply chain, intangible assets, partners, customers, or employees, should tensions escalate. Moreover, an escalation of geopolitical tensions may lead to broader impacts, including but not limited to cyberattacks, supply chain and logistics disruptions, lower consumer demand, and changes to foreign exchange rates and interest rates. Any of these factors may adversely affect our business and supply chain.

Our outdoor and insulated products are seasonal and sales of such products are sensitive to weather conditions.

We have historically experienced significant seasonal fluctuations in our business because we derive a significant portion of our revenues from sales of our outdoor products. Many of our outdoor products are used by consumers in cold or wet weather. As a result, a majority of orders for these products are placed by our retailers in January through April for delivery in July through October. In order to meet demand, we must manufacture and source outdoor footwear year-round to be in a position to ship advance orders for these products during the last two quarters of each year. Accordingly, average inventory levels have been highest during the second and third quarters of each year and sales have been highest in the last two quarters of each year. There is no assurance that we will have either sufficient inventory to satisfy demand in any particular quarter or have sufficient demand to sell substantially all of our inventory without significant markdowns. Mild or dry weather has in the past and may in the future have a material adverse effect on sales of our products, particularly if mild or dry weather conditions occur in broad geographical areas during late fall or early winter. Climate change may exacerbate these conditions.

Our business could suffer if our third-party manufacturers violate labor, environmental or other applicable laws or fail to conform to generally accepted ethical standards.

We require our third-party manufacturers to meet our standards for working conditions and other matters before we are willing to do business with them. As a result, we may not always obtain the lowest cost production. Moreover, we do not control our third-party manufacturers or their respective business practices. If one of our third-party manufacturers violates generally accepted labor standards by, for example, using forced or indentured labor or child labor, failing to pay compensation in accordance with local law, failing to operate its factories in compliance with local safety regulations or diverging from other labor practices generally accepted as ethical, we likely would cease dealing with that manufacturer, and we could suffer an interruption in our product supply. Similarly, if one or more of our third-party manufacturers violate applicable environmental or other laws and regulations, we could suffer an interruption in our product supply. In addition, such actions by a manufacturer could result in negative publicity and may damage our reputation and the value of our brand and discourage retail customers and consumers from buying our products. In addition, such a manufacturer’s actions could result in negative publicity and may damage our reputation and the value of our brand and discourage retail customers and consumers from buying our products.

The growth of our business will be dependent upon the availability of adequate capital.

The growth of our business will depend on the availability of adequate capital, which in turn will depend largely on cash flow generated by our business and the availability of equity and debt financing. We cannot assure that our operations will generate positive cash flow or that we will be able to obtain equity or debt financing on acceptable terms or at all. Our credit facilities contain provisions that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness or make substantial asset sales that might otherwise be used to finance our expansion. Our revolving credit facility contains provisions that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness or make substantial asset sales that might otherwise be used to finance our expansion. Security interests in substantially all of our assets, which may further limit our access to certain capital markets or lending sources, secure our obligations under our credit facilities. Moreover, the actual availability of funds under our credit facilities is limited to specified percentages of our eligible inventory and accounts receivable. Moreover, the actual availability of funds under our revolving credit facility is limited to specified percentages of our eligible inventory and accounts receivable. Accordingly, opportunities for increasing our cash on hand through sales of inventory would be partially offset by reduced availability under our credit facilities. As a result, we may not be able to finance our current expansion plans.

Our current level of indebtedness could adversely affect our business by increasing our borrowing costs and decreasing our overall business flexibility.

Our current level of indebtedness could adversely affect our business by increasing our borrowing costs and decreasing our overall business flexibility. We have debt outstanding under two credit facilities, which contain customary restrictive covenants imposing operating and financial restrictions, including restrictions that may limit our ability to engage in certain actions that may be in our long-term best interests.

We must comply with the restrictive covenants contained in our credit facilities.

Our credit facilities require us to comply with certain financial restrictive covenants that impose restrictions on our operations, including our ability to incur additional indebtedness, make investments of other restricted payments, sell or otherwise dispose of assets and engage in other activities. Any failure by us to comply with the restrictive covenants could result in an event of default under those borrowing arrangements, in which case the lenders could elect to declare all amounts outstanding thereunder to be due and payable, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. Our credit facilities contain restrictive covenants which requires us to maintain a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio. Our credit facilities contain restrictive covenants which requires us to maintain a maximum total average ratio and a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio.

Interest rate increases could adversely affect our financial results.

An increase in interest rates under our credit facilities would adversely affect our financial results, as our loan agreements provide for adjustments in our interest rates based on changes to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) and/or the prime rate.

We face intense competition, including competition from companies with significantly greater resources than ours, and if we are unable to compete effectively with these companies, our market share may decline and our business could be harmed.

The footwear and apparel industries are intensely competitive, and we expect competition to increase in the future. A number of our competitors have significantly greater financial, technological, engineering, manufacturing, marketing and distribution resources than we do, as well as greater brand awareness in the footwear market. Our ability to succeed depends on our ability to remain competitive with respect to the quality, design, price and timely delivery of products. Competition could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our financial success is influenced by the success of our wholesale customers, and the loss of such a key customer could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Much of our financial success is directly related to the ability of our retailer and distributor partners to successfully market and sell our brands directly to consumers. If a retailer or distributor partner fails to satisfy contractual obligations or to otherwise meet our expectations, it may be difficult to locate an acceptable substitute partner. If we determine that it is necessary to make a change, we may experience increased costs, loss of customers, or increased credit or inventory risk. In addition, there is no guarantee that any replacement retailer or distributor partner will generate results that are more favorable than the terminated party. We currently do not have long-term contracts with any of our retailers. Sales to our retailers and distributors are generally on an order-by-order basis and are subject to rights of cancellation and rescheduling by our wholesale customers. We use the timing of delivery dates for our wholesale customer orders as a key factor in forecasting our sales and earnings for future periods. If any of our major customers experience a significant downturn in business or fail to remain committed to our products or brands, these customers could postpone, reduce, or discontinue purchases from us, which could result in us failing to meet our forecasted results. These risks have been exacerbated recently as our key retail customers are operating within a retail industry that continues to undergo significant structural changes fueled by technology and the internet, changes in consumer purchasing behavior and a shrinking retail footprint. We may lose key retail and wholesale customers if they fail to manage the impact of the rapidly changing retail environment. Any loss of one of these key customers, the financial collapse or bankruptcy of one of these customers, or a significant reduction in purchases from one of these customers could result in a significant decline in sales, write-downs of excess inventory, or increased discounts to our customers, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

Certain of our larger wholesale customers may develop and manufacture competing products under their own brands and reduce purchases of our branded products.

Certain of our larger wholesale customers may develop, and in certain cases have developed, products under their own brands that compete with our branded products. Wholesale customers who increase the concentration of their own brands may result in a reduction or elimination of purchases of our branded products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We currently manufacture a portion of our products, and we may not be able to do so in the future at costs that are competitive with those of competitors who source their goods.

We currently plan to retain our internal manufacturing capability in order to continue benefiting from expertise we have gained with respect to footwear manufacturing methods conducted at our manufacturing facilities. We continue to evaluate our manufacturing facilities and third-party manufacturing alternatives in order to determine the appropriate size and scope of our manufacturing facilities. There can be no assurance that the costs of products that continue to be manufactured by us can remain competitive with products sourced from third parties.

We rely on our distribution centers in Ohio and Nevada and manufacturing facilities in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and China and if there is a natural disaster or other serious disruption at any of these facilities, we may be unable to deliver merchandise effectively to our retailers and consumers.

We rely on our distribution centers located in Ohio and Nevada and our manufacturing facilities in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and China. Any natural disaster or other serious disruption at any of these facilities due to fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, other natural disaster, pandemic, public health crisis, labor dispute, terrorist attack or any other cause could damage our ability to manufacture our products, a portion of our inventory, or impair our ability to use our distribution center as a docking location for merchandise. Any natural disaster or other serious disruption at any of these facilities due to fire, tornado, flood, terrorist attack or any other cause could damage our ability to manufacture our products, a portion of our inventory, or impair our ability to use our distribution center as a docking location for merchandise. Any of these occurrences could impair our ability to adequately supply our retailers and consumers and harm our operating results.

If our efforts to establish and protect our trademarks, patents and other intellectual property are unsuccessful, the value of our brands could suffer.

We regard certain of our footwear designs as proprietary and rely on patents to protect those designs. We believe that the ownership of patents is a significant factor in our business. Existing intellectual property laws afford only limited protection of our proprietary rights, and it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy certain of our footwear designs or to reverse engineer or otherwise obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. If our patents are found to be invalid, however, to the extent they have served, or would in the future serve, as a barrier to entry to our competitors, such invalidity could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We own U.S. registrations for many our trademarks, trade names and designs, including such marks as Muck, XTRATUF, Rocky, Durango, Georgia Boot, Lehigh, and Ranger. Additional trademarks, trade names and designs are the subject of pending federal applications for registration. We also use and have common law rights in certain trademarks. Over time, we have increased distribution of our goods in several foreign countries. Accordingly, we have applied for trademark registrations in a number of these countries. We intend to enforce our trademarks and trade names against unauthorized use by third parties.

An impairment of intangibles, including goodwill, could have an adverse impact to the Company’s results of operations.

The carrying value of intangibles represents the fair value of trade names and other intangibles as of the acquisition date. Intangibles expected to contribute indefinitely to the Company’s cash flows are not amortized but must be evaluated by the Company at least annually for impairment. Acquired intangibles expected to contribute indefinitely to the Company’s cash flows are not amortized but must be evaluated by the Company at least annually for impairment. If the carrying amounts of one or more of these assets are not recoverable based upon discounted cash flow and market-approach analyses, the carrying amounts of such assets are impaired by the estimated difference between the carrying value and estimated fair value. An impairment charge could adversely affect the Company’s results of operations.

Our success depends on our ability to forecast sales.

Our investments in infrastructure and product inventory are based on sales forecasts and are necessarily made in advance of actual sales. The markets in which we do business are highly competitive, and our business is affected by a variety of factors, including brand awareness, changing consumer preferences, product innovations, susceptibility to fashion trends, retail market conditions, weather conditions and economic conditions, and other factors. One of our principal challenges is to improve our ability to predict these factors in order to enable us to better match production with demand. In addition, our growth over the years has created the need to increase the investment in infrastructure and product inventory and to enhance our systems. To the extent sales forecasts are not achieved, costs associated with the infrastructure and carrying costs of product inventory would represent a higher percentage of revenue, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our dividend policy may change.

Although we have paid dividends to our shareholders, we have no obligation to continue doing so and may change our dividend policy at any time without notice to our shareholders. Our ABL Facility and Term Facility (as such terms are defined in Note 7 - Long-Term Debt of our Consolidated Financial Statements) also contain restrictions on the amount of dividend payments. Holders of our common stock are only entitled to receive such cash dividends as our Board of Directors may declare out of funds legally available for such payments.

Industry Risks

Because the footwear market is sensitive to decreased consumer spending and slow economic cycles, if general economic conditions deteriorate, many of our customers may significantly reduce their purchases from us or may not be able to pay for our products in a timely manner.

The footwear industry has been subject to cyclical variation and decline in performance when consumer spending decreases or softness appears in the retail market. Many factors affect the level of consumer spending in the footwear industry, including:

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general business conditions;

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interest rates;

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the availability of consumer credit;

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weather;

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increases in prices of nondiscretionary goods;

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taxation; and

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consumer confidence in future economic conditions.

Consumer purchases of discretionary items, including our products, may decline during recessionary periods and also may decline at other times when disposable income is lower. A downturn in regional economies where we sell products also reduces sales.

The continued shift in the third-party marketplace from traditional independent retailers to large mass merchandisers may result in decreased margins.

A continued shift in the third-party marketplace from traditional independent retailers to large mass merchandisers has increased the pressure on many footwear manufacturers to sell products to these mass merchandisers at less favorable margins. Due to the competition from large discount mass merchandisers, a number of our small retailing customers have gone out of business, and in the future more of these customers may go out of business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our e-commerce and third-party marketplace platforms pose numerous risks that could have an impact on our results of operations including:

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unanticipated operating problems such as computer viruses, electronic data theft and other disruptions;

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reliance on third-party software and service providers;

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continual investment in technology and cybersecurity;

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our ability to adapt and change to the ever-changing consumer buying habits through customer-facing technology, including mobile technology solutions that function, and provide a convenient and consistent experience for consumers;

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exposure to potential liability for online content; and

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increased competition among other e-commerce vendors.

General Risk Factors

There are risks, including stock market volatility, inherent in owning our common stock.

The market price and volume of our common stock have been, and may continue to be, subject to significant fluctuations. These fluctuations may arise from general stock market conditions, the impact of risk factors described in this Item 1A on our results of operations and financial position, or a change in opinion in the market regarding our business prospects or other factors, many of which may be outside our immediate control. Changes in the amounts and frequency of share repurchases or dividends also could adversely affect the value of our common stock.

Disruption of our information technology systems and e-commerce platforms could adversely affect our business

Our information technology systems and e-commerce platforms are critical to our business operations. Any interruption, unauthorized access, impairment or loss of data integrity or malfunction of these systems could severely impact our business, including delays in product fulfillment and reduced efficiency in operations. In addition, costs and potential problems and interruptions associated with the implementation of new or upgraded systems, or with maintenance or adequate support of existing systems, could disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations. Disruption to our information technology systems may be caused by natural disasters, accidents, power disruptions, telecommunications failures, acts of terrorism or war, denial-of-service attacks, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, or similar events or disruptions. System redundancy may be ineffective or inadequate, and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for all eventualities. Such failures or disruptions could prevent access to our online services and preclude retail transactions resulting in loss of sales. System failures and disruptions could also impede the manufacturing and shipping of products, transactions processing and financial reporting. Additionally, we may be adversely affected if we are unable to improve, upgrade, maintain, and expand our technology systems.

Some of our employees are working remotely which could strain our information technology systems and impact business continuity plans. Remote work could also introduce operational risk such as, but not limited to, cybersecurity risks.

A cybersecurity breach could have a material adverse effect on our business and reputation.

We rely heavily on digital technologies for the successful operation of our business, including electronic messaging, digital marketing efforts and the collection and retention of customer data and employee information. We also rely on third parties to process credit card transactions, perform online e-commerce and social media activities and retain data relating to our financial position and results of operations, strategic initiatives and other important information. Despite the security measures we have in place, our facilities and systems and those of our third-party service providers, may be vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors or other similar events. Any misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized disclosure of confidential or personally identifiable information, whether by us or by our third-party service providers, could damage our reputation and our customers’ willingness to purchase our products, which may adversely affect our business. In addition, we could incur liabilities and remediation costs, including regulatory fines, reimbursement or other compensatory costs, additional compliance costs, and costs for providing credit monitoring or other benefits to customers or employees affected. We maintain cyber risk insurance, but this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses from any future breaches of our systems.

Compliance with data privacy and marketing laws may subject us to increased additional costs, and our ability to effectively engage customers via personalized marketing may be impacted, all of which may have a material adverse effect on our business operations.

As data privacy and marketing laws change, we may incur additional costs to ensure we remain in compliance. If applicable data privacy and marketing laws become more restrictive at the federal or state level, our compliance costs may increase, our ability to effectively engage customers via personalized marketing may decrease, opportunities for growth may be curtailed by our compliance capabilities or reputational harm and the potential liability for security breaches may increase. We are also subject to U.S. and international data privacy and cybersecurity laws and regulations, which may impose fines and penalties for noncompliance and may have an adverse effect on our operations. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR"), which became effective in May 2018, extends the scope of the European Union’s data protection laws to all companies processing data of European Union residents, regardless of our location, and imposes significant new requirements on how we collect, processes and transfer personal data.

In addition, California adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"), which became effective January 1, 2020 and limits how we may collect and use personal data. Various other states have followed with similar laws governing the collection and use of personal data. As a result, GDPR, CCPA and other state law compliance increased our responsibility and potential liability in relation to personal data that we process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to ensure compliance with the new data protection rules. As a result, GDPR and CCPA compliance increased our responsibility and potential liability in relation to personal data that we process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to ensure compliance with the new data protection rules. Any failure to comply with these rules and related national laws of European Union member states, could lead to government enforcement actions and significant penalties and fines against us, and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations. Continued compliance with the foregoing laws and regulations, as well as any new laws or regulations that may be enacted in the future, can be costly.

We are subject to certain environmental and other regulations.

Some of our operations use substances regulated under various federal, state, local and international environmental and pollution laws, including those relating to the storage, use, discharge, disposal and labeling of, and human exposure to, hazardous and toxic materials. Compliance with current or future environmental laws and regulations could restrict our ability to expand our facilities or require us to acquire additional expensive equipment, modify our manufacturing processes or incur other significant expenses. In addition, we could incur costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions, or incur liability for third-party property damage or personal injury claims, or we could be required to incur substantial investigation or remediation costs if we were to violate or become liable under any environmental laws. In addition, we could incur costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party property damage or personal injury claims or could be required to incur substantial investigation or remediation costs, if we were to violate or become liable under any environmental laws. Liability under environmental laws can be joint and several and without regard to comparative fault. There can be no assurance that violations of environmental laws or regulations have not occurred in the past and will not occur in the future as a result of our inability to obtain permits, human error, equipment failure or other causes, and any such violations could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Many governmental and regulatory bodies globally are implementing regulations to address the impacts of climate change. Compliance with these laws and regulations, whether mandated or voluntarily adopted by us, our suppliers, or third-party manufacturers, may lead to heightened costs across various aspects of our operations. These increased costs may encompass energy, production, transportation, raw materials, capital expenditures, as well as insurance premiums and deductibles. Such financial impacts have the potential to adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We maintain an ongoing assessment and monitoring processes to gauge the impact that future climate change disclosures, regulations, or industry standards, and international treaties may have on our business and results of operations.

Our products are subject to increasingly stringent and complex domestic and foreign product labeling, performance, environmental and safety standards, laws and other regulations, including those pertaining to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other environmental impacts. These requirements could result in greater expense associated with compliance efforts, and failure to comply with these regulations could result in delay, non-delivery, recall, or destruction of inventory shipments during key seasons, a loss of advance orders from wholesale customers or in other financial penalties. Significant or continuing noncompliance with these standards and laws could disrupt our business and harm our reputation. Our products are generally used in outdoor activities, sometimes in severe conditions. Product recalls or product liability claims resulting from the failure, or alleged failure, of our products could have a material adverse effect on the reputation of our brands and result in additional expenses.

We are subject to periodic litigation and other regulatory proceedings, which could result in the unexpected expenditure of time and resources.

We are a defendant from time to time in lawsuits and regulatory actions relating to our business and to our past operations. Due to the inherent uncertainties of litigation and regulatory proceedings, we cannot accurately predict the ultimate outcome of any such proceedings. An unfavorable outcome could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, regardless of the outcome of any litigation or regulatory proceedings, such proceedings are expensive and will require that we devote substantial resources and executive time to defend, thereby diverting management’s attention and resources that are needed to successfully run our business.

Loss of services of our key personnel could adversely affect our business.

The development of our business has been, and will continue to be, dependent upon execution at all levels of our organization which requires an experienced and talented executive team. The loss of service of any of the executive officers or key employees could have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition. We have entered into employment agreements with several executive officers and key employees, and also offer compensation packages designed to attract and retain talent.

We may use artificial intelligence in our business, which could result in reputational harm, competitive harm, and legal liability, and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may leverage artificial intelligence, including generative artificial intelligence and machine learning, to support our business operations. We may also use products and services from third parties that use integrated artificial intelligence technology. Our competitors or other third parties may incorporate artificial intelligence into their operational processes more quickly or more successfully than us, which could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, reputation and operations. In addition, there are significant risks involved in developing and deploying artificial intelligence and there can be no assurance that the usage of artificial intelligence will be beneficial to our business, including our efficiency or profitability. The legal, regulatory and compliance environments surrounding the design and use of artificial intelligence technology - involving federal, state and foreign regulators - are evolving and complex. Our obligation to comply with the evolving regulatory landscape could entail significant costs and negatively affect our business. In addition, there has been a significant increase in artificial intelligence-related litigation and government regulatory actions targeting the design, deployment and other uses of artificial intelligence, and claiming liability under numerous areas of the law, such as consumer protection, product liability, privacy, intellectual property, securities and defamation. Any of these risks could have an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, business and reputation.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

None.

ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY.

Risk Management & Strategy

Rocky Brands recognizes the critical importance of developing, implementing, and maintaining a robust information security program to safeguard our information systems and protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our data. We have established information security programs and policies, including processes for identifying, assessing, and managing risks arising from cybersecurity threats. These processes involve regular assessments of our information systems and infrastructure to identify vulnerabilities and threats. We focus on executing a centralized information technology and cybersecurity program. Our Company-wide approach is to be positioned as one security program, one posture and one roadmap for the enterprise. This platform is administered across our departments by our cybersecurity team led by our Vice President of Information Technology. Our information security programs and policies are aligned with those of the Center for Internet Security (CIS), Control Objectives for Information Technologies (COBIT), and the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) Cyber Security Framework (CSF).

We are integrating our information security programs and cybersecurity risk management processes into our overall enterprise risk management (“ERM”) strategy. We are developing an entity-wide information technology ERM framework and will take steps to monitor, report on and communicate to stakeholders consistent with our ERM strategy. Recognizing the cybersecurity risk landscape is complex and ever evolving, we engage with a broad group of external experts and consultants, and auditors in evaluating and testing our information security programs. We leverage this specialized expertise to manage threat detection and response management, conduct regular audits and consult on our overall information security programs.

We are acutely aware of risks associated with third-party service providers and we incorporate cybersecurity into our third-party vendor management policy. We conduct thorough security assessment to determine the category of risk third parties pose to Rocky Brands, with a priority focus on vendors with products or services that will have access to private and sensitive information. Vendor assessments incorporate inputs, including for example, BitSight and Service Organization Control Type 2 (“SOC2”) information available for our third-party vendors. Our assessments and monitoring are designed to mitigate risks related to data breaches or other security incidents originating from third parties.

Although no cybersecurity incidents occurred during the year ended December 31, 2025 that had a material impact on our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition, the scope and impact of any future incident cannot be predicted. See Item 1A. - Risk Factors for more information about our information security and cybersecurity risks.

Governance

Our Board of Directors has established governance protocol over risk management, including general oversight of information technology security and cybersecurity risk. The Audit Committee is central to the Board’s oversight of cybersecurity risks and is primarily responsible for this domain. The Audit Committee actively participates in discussions with management, external experts and amongst themselves regarding cybersecurity risks. The Audit Committee is comprised of Board members with broad expertise, including technology, risk management and finance, enabling them to effectively oversee and govern cybersecurity risks. One Audit Committee member is certified under the National Association of Corporate Directors Certificate in Cyber-Risk Oversight Program.

We have developed a robust organizational structure to manage and oversee our information technology and cybersecurity programs, including full-time information security associates dedicated to cybersecurity. These individuals possess relevant experience and expertise in cybersecurity and risk management. Our Director, IT Infrastructure & Security leads our information security, data privacy and protection, and information technology compliance programs. The Director stays current with security related topics by either webinars, training classes or cybersecurity conferences. Guided by management, our information technology teams maintain a detailed Cyber Incident Response Plan ("CIRP") and hold frequent meetings to ensure the proper communication and execution of our security controls and procedures. The Cybersecurity team has various expertise ranging in Associate of ISC2-CISSP certification and extensive training on current security products. The Director, IT Infrastructure & Security regularly reports to the Vice President of Information Technology and maintains ongoing dialog with the reporting structure to our CEO, CFO and COO, and Board of Directors regarding our information security programs. This reporting includes updates on matters evaluated under our CIRP, the current threat landscape, cybersecurity initiatives, and the effectiveness of our cybersecurity programs.

Our Vice President of Information Technology has more than 35 years working as an IT professional, 14 years of which has been at the Company in various roles such as, Programming, Business Analysis, Systems Analysis, Operations, EDI Manager, and Applications Director.