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Tag: Shoes

  • Global Vans shoe design competition kicks off

    Global Vans shoe design competition kicks off

    Sports shoe & apparel brand Vans is launching its interactive “Vans shoe customisation competition”, designed to inspire artists around the world.

    The Global Custom Culture competition aims to provide the means for self-expression through digital and canvas mediums unique to Vans. This is the inaugural year of the Vans shoe customization competition, encouraging artists from around the world to turn a pair of classic Vans shoes into their personal art piece.

    The contest will award three winners – one each from Asia Pacific, North America and Europe –  a US$25,000, and the designers will have their shoes produced and sold by Vans, experience a trip to the Vans design headquarters in Southern California, and have the opportunity to partner with Vans to donate $100,000 to a charity that will further enable creative communities.

    “Our goal through Vans Global Custom Culture is to create a platform that is accessible to everyone,” said Vans senior director of global brand marketing April Vitkus. “A barrier to creativity is having access to the tools needed to create something unique, and as a brand it’s our purpose and commitment to provide a range of platforms to empower and enable individuals.”

    The public will have the chance to vote for their favorite design submissions, helping determine the top 10 finalists from each geographic region, in early October. Once the top 10 have been selected, the Vans shoe customization competition finalists will receive a pair of Era shoes to apply a new design onto Vans’ literal canvas. The top 10 will be announced on December 5, where all the artist’s creations will be displayed online for a public vote.

    On December 19, Vans representatives from the design and marketing teams, as well as selected art ambassadors, will choose one grand prize winner in each region.

    Throughout the month of September, Vans will host creative workshops, as a way to participate and support competition participants in a collaborative environment.

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  • Esprit shoe range to be developed with Germany’s Deichmann

    Esprit shoe range to be developed with Germany’s Deichmann

    Hong Kong-headquartered fashion brand Esprit has signed a deal with German shoe retailer Deichmann to jointly develop a footwear range.

    The range will be positioned as offering value for money with designs evolving to reflect fast-changing market trends. It will go on sale in Esprit stores and online during the northern hemisphere spring of next year. Deichmann stores will also carry an Esprit-branded lineup.

    Deichmann will manage the materials sourcing and supply chain requirements to ship product to wholesalers, while the two companies will work together on the designs.

    “In collaboration with Esprit, we would like to be at the forefront of setting trends in the development of fashionable shoe ranges, and we consider Esprit to be a valuable addition to our footwear range,” said Heinrich Deichmann, the company’s chairman.

    “We are looking forward to a close and successful collaboration.”

    Esprit group CEO Anders Kristiansen said Deichmann has enormous expertise in the shoe business and a good understanding of the Esprit brand.

    “I am convinced that together we will develop inspired and fashionable shoes with great quality for our customers,” he said.

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  • Allbirds launches first outlet in New-Zealand

    Allbirds launches first outlet in New-Zealand

    Despite being started by New Zealand entrepreneur and former footballer Tim Brown, wool-based footwear brand Allbirds has only been available online its home country – until now.

    The launch comes after the business successfully raised $76.7 million at the end of 2018, aiming to help fuel the business’ expansion into Asia and the UK.

    The company, which is headquartered in San Francisco, opened its first New Zealand bricks-and-mortar store in the Britomart precinct of Auckland on Thursday, August 15.

    “We always imagined we would open a store in New Zealand. It’s one of our founding markets, it’s where I am from and where our key material, wool, is from,” Allbirds co-founder Tim Brown said, according to Stuff.

    Allbirds makes its shoes predominantly with New Zealand merino wool, which helps to make them ‘the world’s most comfortable shoes’, the brand’s tagline.

    Wool uses 60 percent less energy than materials used in a synthetic shoe, according to the brand, which also uses recycled bottles for laces, bean oil in insoles and 90 percent recycled cardboard in its packaging.

    Allbirds are available internationally online, and through brick-and-mortar stores in the US, UK and China. The Britomart store is the brand’s first location in its home country of New Zealand.

    The 150sqm store offers the brand’s entire range, as well as limited-edition Auckland-inspired laces: Waiheke Island Teal, Light Path Magenta, and West Coast Black Sand.

    The retailer offered a number of events, such as dried flower arranging workshops, meditation classes and drawing classes, in the first week of the store’s operation.

    According to Brown, it is a challenge to transpose the brand’s online experience into an offline one.

    “Bad retail is being challenged and good retail, thoughtful retail that is about storytelling and leans into the people that work there, that has educated people working in that environment that understand the products and are able to give a good experience is old fashioned and important,” Brown said to

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  • S. Culture warns shareholder for loss

    S. Culture warns shareholder for loss

    S. Culture International has warned shareholders it expects to post a net loss in the range of HK$3 million to $4 million for the six months to June. That would equate to as much as 10 times last year’s first-half loss of $400,000.

    The Hong Kong-listed retailer sells a range of international footwear brands including Clarks, Josef Seibel, The Flexx and Yokono. It has a network of around 100 stores across Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan trading as S.Culture, Shoe Mart and Scoops and under individual brands, such as Clarks, Clarks Originals and Josef Seibel.

    Last March S. Culture hinted at a change of fortune after closing non-performing stores and booking gains from property disposals.

    But yesterday the company essentially revealed its shoe-trading business did not return enough profit to compensate for the absence of a one-off property gain last year, worth $7.57 million.  The company said another factor in the looming loss was overheads relating to the expansion of the management team it is putting in position to oversee the group’s future development.

    The exact result will be revealed later this month.

  • Ecco is heading back to the Philippines

    Ecco is heading back to the Philippines

    Danish footwear brand Ecco is returning to the Philippines through a shop-in-shop concept at SM malls.

    The brand has launched spaces at SM Store Makati, SM Store Mall of Asia, and SM Megamall’s third floor Bridgeway Building. The openings are part of the label’s strategy to continue its expansion in the territory as more shop-in-shop formats and eventually, concept stores at select SM malls are being planned.

    Ecco operates in 87 countries at 2989 shops and shop-in-shops and  15,000 sales points globally. It remains one of the only major international shoe manufacturers to own and manage every step of the shoemaking process.

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  • Samuel Hubbard launched E-commerce platform in Australia

    Samuel Hubbard launched E-commerce platform in Australia

    US footwear brand Samuel Hubbard will launch online in Australia and New Zealand next month through an exclusive partnership with Gold Coast-based orthotic shoe distributor Global Footcare.

    The 10-style range will be featured on the Global Footcare website, in an effort to test the online market for more premium orthotic footwear options.

    According to Global Footcare managing director Jeff Coombridge, adding US brands to the mix was a natural fit.

    “We pride ourselves on our carefully selected products that are not only supported by the medical industry but also stylish for the consumer and the Samuel Hubbard brand aligns closely with those values,” Coombridge said.

    “The Samuel Hubbard brand was developed by the founders of the hugely successful Rockport Shoe Company and with an 85-year history of shoe craftsmanship, they deliver a premium product with extreme comfort that has seen great success in the US, strongly represented with premium shoe retailers.”

    The partnership is not Global Footcare’s only international deal, also supplying Vionic Shoes and Os1st brand to Australia, as well as manufacturing its own Revere Shoes.

    Global Footcare re-branded from Vasyli Medical Orthotics in 2008 in an effort to expand beyond wholesale and into the consumer market.

    “Whilst adding large brands such as Vionic to the portfolio and developing our signature brand, Revere, we moved into mainstream retail, sports shops, e-commerce, and TV shopping and over the last 12 years have continuously sustained double-digit growth in revenue,” Coombridge said.

    “We are proud to provide end to end solutions for the people that matter most – our customers.”

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  • Hush Puppies breaks out of “vicious cycle”

    Hush Puppies breaks out of “vicious cycle”

    Iconic footwear brand Hush Puppies is undergoing a major brand transformation in Australia, backed by updated modern collections designed to appeal to younger customers, fun collaborations and an upcoming gamification campaign in September.

    Traditionally known as the comfort footwear choice for grandparents, the local team has “really spun this brand on its head”, according to general manager, Charlene Perera.

    “It’s a 61-year-old brand and we had gotten to this point where we had gotten old with our customer. We were doing the same things, expecting a different result. It’s a vicious cycle so many retailers get into,” she said.

    “It took us probably a year and a half to find our feet and being predominantly wholesale with a smaller retail network, it took a lot longer to turn it around. But the last two years for us have just been on the up, which has been really amazing for a heritage rand in this climate. So we’ve seen growth across our retail network, online and our department stores.”

    Next month, as part of a campaign to promote the bounce technology within their shoes, Hush Puppies will launch an online game on its website for customers, which will be promoted for four weeks across radio stations in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

    In each state, Hush Puppies will run an activation, where radio announcers representing customers at the top of the leaderboard will then battle it out against each other in zorb balls.

    According to Perera, it is these “unexpected” and fun initiatives that have helped to re-direct the brand and give it new life.

    “For our 60th birthday last year, we threw a party, we invited all the buyers into our office, the customers that shop in our store, all our team and we raffled off the car on the night. It was a massive party, you know. It’s fun stuff and I don’t think other brands are doing it. And I think those little things go a really long way,” she said.

    Earlier this year, Hush Puppies was the official shoe of Mardi Gras and a sparkly pair of shoes was created specifically for the event. When the brand turned 60 last year, it went on a music road trip around Australia, paying homage to the rich rock ‘n’ roll history behind the brand – musician Keith Richards famously wore a pair during a Rolling Stones concert.

    According to Perera, while Hush Puppies is based in the US, the brand turnaround has largely been led by the Australian team, which designs 90 percent of the local collection.

    The updated Hush Puppies range is now focused on the everyday woman who wants both style and comfort.

    However, there has since been a global push by Hush Puppies in the US towards an updated collection of the brand’s famous Power Walkers.

    “I think in the women’s space, we had really allowed ourselves to get old, we were aging with our customer,” Perera said.

    “It’s fun for us to be able to have a bit of tongue in cheek. We know that they the Power Walker were the grandpa shoes that everyone relates to Hush Puppies, but in slightly less cooler colors. The heart of the brand for me is it’s a happy brand and optimistic – it’s backed by a little dog!”

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  • US shoes-from-plastic brand begins Outlet rollout

    US shoes-from-plastic brand begins Outlet rollout

    Online shoes-from-plastic brand Rothy’s is opening its first physical stores in four key US locations.

    The brand creates women’s shoes from recycled materials, including plastic bottles, and has a burgeoning following in the territory. Its new stores will open in downtown Manhattan, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington DC.

    A further five locations are planned to open in the US next year. To date Rothy’s has operated just one store – in its home city of San Francisco. But it has sold online across the US and internationally.

    The shoes are all flats with knitted materials, retailing from $125–165. The popularity of the footwear has rested on the Rothy’s marketing savvy and advertising investment on social media. The firm has thus far raised $42 million and earnt $140 million in revenue last year. It has recycled around 32 million plastic bottles.

  • Clarks opens first dual concept store

    Clarks opens first dual concept store

    Footwear retailer Clarks has opened its first dual concept store at Suntec City Singapore.

    The store showcases Clarks casual footwear products on one side and Cloudsteppers line, which targets Millennial and GenZ consumers, on the other.

    The store marks what Clarks’ management describe as a “milestone of the retail transformation initiated in Southeast Asia”.

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  • Ziera closing stores as part of Restructuring Plan

    Ziera closing stores as part of Restructuring Plan

    New Zealand women’s shoe brand Ziera has appointed a new CEO and chairman to transform the business into a digital-first omnichannel retailer.

    Ziera has announced a new partnership with The Iconic to grow its e-commerce presence, which will make it less reliant physical locations. The retailer plans to have fewer high street stores but offers higher quality service in the top locations is retains.

    “We will always have flagship stores on the ground where customers can come in, check out the range and get fitted properly,” said Ziera chairman Andrew Robertson.

    “But, once we have customized their footprint, their details can be stored online and they can then also buy with confidence from one of our digital channels.”

    In addition to its partnership with The Iconic, Ziera has also forged an exclusive trading relationship with Foot Mechanics, a New Zealand-based podiatry business, which will offer a core Ziera range at its 17 clinics as well as online.

    This relationship will make Foot Mechanics one of Ziera’s largest wholesale partners in New Zealand.

    Additionally, three of the brand’s stores will close in July as a result of expiring leases – Bridge Road in Melbourne, Garden City in Brisbane, and Orange in New South Wales – further pushing the brand to embrace online capabilities.

    The retailer has appointed a new chairman in Robertson, a new chief executive in Martin Bremner, and a new head of product design in Rosie Jamieson.

    Bremner was previously chief executive of Super Liquor Holdings, and has helped businesses through similar transformational periods before. Since Bremner joined in 2018, Ziera’s online sales have grown by approximately 33 percent, and has become it’s biggest “store”.

    Jamieson has more than two decades of experience in footwear creation, having previously worked at Hush Puppies, Sacha London, and Hotton. According to the brand, her involvement has seen the “reinvention” of the Ziera range.

    “Exciting times lie ahead of Ziera as we transform our business into an omnichannel retailer that provides customers with a convenient and easy experience, allowing them to shop however and whenever they choose,” Robertson said.

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  • Showpo loses Important Mangement Executive

    Showpo loses Important Mangement Executive

    Jane Lu’s right-hand woman, Alex Durkin, is leaving Showpo after seven years to start her own business.

    One of the first outsides hires to join Showpo in 2012, Durkin saw the retailer evolve from a physical store selling party outfits under the name Show Pony, to an online-only fashion brand with a team of more than 150 people and annual sales approaching $100 million.

    During her tenure, Durkin helped manage three major website rebuilds, introduced a new warehouse management operations system, oversaw a complete rebrand of the business and was eventually named general manager of the fast-growing company.

    But now she is looking to pursue a venture of her own.

    “I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and I am currently in the process of working through different business models for my next venture which will not necessarily be in fashion, or a physical product for that matter – so watch this space,” Durkin said.

    Durkin has been preparing to depart Showpo for the past year to ensure she leaves the business in as strong a position as possible. She discussed her plans with Lu along the way.

    “It’s been a busy year aligning strategy and ensuring that the key people were in place,” she said.

    Showpo will not immediately replace Durkin, who plans to leave next month, though Lu said she is currently working through some options.

    “They’re big shoes to fill,” Lu said.

    “She has not only helped grow the team and the business, but she has also been an incredible mentor and friend that has helped me develop personally and professionally as well.”

    Lu credited Durkin with putting the systems and processes in place that have enabled Showpo to grow to the size it is today, while Durkin said she has learned many valuable lessons from Lu’s leadership.

    “One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned through the business is a success is all about people. Getting the right people, doing the right things at the right time,” she said.

    Durkin and Lu announced the change on Thursday in posts on the company’s blog.

  • Louis Vuitton sues Belle International For Copycatting

    Louis Vuitton sues Belle International For Copycatting

    French luxury retailer says Hong Kong company’s shoe designs too similar to its own to be coincidental.

    Luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton is suing two Belle International subsidiaries for copyright infringement.

    The Chinese footwear brands are being taken to court over the design over a pair of trainers valued at HK$8950 (US$1140).

    A High Court document described the case accusing Hong Kong-registered firms Belle International (China) and Best Able Footwear of retailing sneakers substantially similar to its LV Archlight trainers. Louis Vuitton has demanded the firms cease all infringements and hand over or destroy the alleged copies.

    The trial date has yet to be scheduled.

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  • Xtep Takes Over Footwear brands Palladium, K-Swiss and Supra

    Xtep Takes Over Footwear brands Palladium, K-Swiss and Supra

    Palladium, K-Swiss and Supra brands sold by South Korean’owned E-Land Footwear USA.

    Hong Kong-listed sportswear giant Xtep International has bought three US footwear brands from South Korea’s E-Land USA.

    The Chinese company will pay US$260 million for all the outstanding shares in E-Land Footwear USA Holdings, which owns the K-Swiss, Palladium and Supra brands. Settlement is due by the end of July.

    Xtep chairman and CEO Ding Shui Po said the purchase marked the company’s move into “a new era of business” following a three-year strategic transformation.

    He said the brands would complement Xtep’s product portfolio “and elevate us as one of the leading global multi-brand sportswear companies”.

    “Not only will it strengthen Xtep’s foothold in the expanding Chinese sportswear market, but will also provide us with growth opportunities in untapped overseas markets such as Southeast Asia. In other words, Xtep has what it takes to speed up business growth both domestically and overseas in the years to come.”

    All three brands have global name recognition and are target the high end of the market.

    K-Swiss, a heritage athletic shoe brand which was founded in California in 1966, offers performance tennis footwear, lifestyle and fitness footwear targeting athletes and trendsetters. Palladium is one of the best-known global pampa boot brands established in France in 1947. Between them, the brands have a global presence covering more than 80 countries and territories.

    Ding Shui Po said the brands’ distinctive positioning and different target customer groups are highly complementary to Xtep’s brand portfolio.

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  • Foot Locker Opens in Jewel Changi Airport, Celebrating Youth and Sneaker Culture

    Foot Locker Opens in Jewel Changi Airport, Celebrating Youth and Sneaker Culture

    Located in Jewel Changi Airport, the two-story space with a dedicated women’s and kids’ area, delivers an engaging retail experience, combining premium products, elevated in-store presentations, as well as enhanced customer experiences.

    With impressive footwear and apparel collections from global brand partners, customers can expect elevated product storytelling from Nike, adidas, Puma, Fila and Champion. The store celebrates basketball culture, offering a premium selection of sneakers and apparel from Nike and Jordan, and features the widest selection of Nike Air Max Plus (TN’s) available in market.

    The store features specially commissioned artwork by local artist Clogtwo, setting the tone for how Foot Locker will regularly tailor the store to the local community.

    To celebrate the launch, Foot Locker hosted a preview event for media. Attendees experienced Xbox gaming, a pop up nail bar and Nike customisation.

    Commenting on the new store, Tomas Petersson, VP and GM, Foot Locker Asia said, “The Jewel store gives Foot Locker a great opportunity to engage and inspire youth culture within the local community. We designed a space that celebrates the city’s creative community and inspires Singapore’ssneaker enthusiasts.”

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  • Gianvito Rossi Opens Its First SEA Flagship Store in Singapore at Marina Bay Sands

    Gianvito Rossi Opens Its First SEA Flagship Store in Singapore at Marina Bay Sands

    The boutique is a further step in the collaboration between Gianvito Rossi and Milan based architect, Patricia Urquiola. The three backlit logos attract attention towards Gianvito Rossi’s refined world whilst the grand shop window, purposefully designed bilaterally, is the perfect showcase for the designer’s elegant collections.

    As each Gianvito Rossi store retains its unique flavour and individual characteristics, a single undercurrent unites each location reflecting the valued codes of the brand: elegance, feminity, and modernity, as well as impeccable quality and craftsmanship.

    Gianvito Rossi is now open to the public and is located at B1-86/87, Galleria Level, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.

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