...first quarter of 2001.
Net sales in the 2002 first quarter were $736 million as compared with 2001's net sales of $770 million. Sales comparisons are being adversely affected by the weakening exchange rates of most foreign currencies against the strong U.S. dollar. Worldwide sales for the Reebok Brand in the 2002 first quarter were $612 million, approximately the same as last year's first quarter sales in constant dollars. In the U.S., sales of the Reebok Brand increased to $319 million. This is the sixth consecutive quarter of sales increases in the U.S. market. International sales declined to $293 million. Sales for the Company's Rockport subsidiary were $87 million in the first quarter of 2002, a decline of 14% from last year's first quarter sales of $101 million.
The Company reported that its total worldwide backlog of open customer orders scheduled for delivery from April 2002 through September 2002 for the Reebok Brand increased 6.1% excluding backlog comparisons for the Company's new sports licensing business which did not begin operations until March of 2001. Including the 2002 open orders in the sports licensing business the Company's backlog increased 19%. However, this comparison is not indicative of overall future sales trends since the Company's sports licensing business had no comparable backlog of open customer orders last year. For the balance of the year 2002 the Company currently estimates that its overall worldwide sales will increase in the mid single digit range.
Paul Fireman, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "I am pleased with the improvement in our open backlog position, particularly in our U.S. footwear business where we were able to report sequential backlog improvement from last quarter. And, t ...