Question for Footwear Brand CEOs/Presidents: Do your shareholders know that you’re leaving millions of dollars on the table in gross revenue annually?

History

During a meeting early in my career while working for the Stride Rite brand, the president of a prominent department store chain operating a preeminent children’s footwear business asked, “Does anyone make money in the kid’s shoe business?” I knew then that the kid’s segment was the most challenging within the footwear category and to be successful takes a special set of skills and experience to deliver on profit and growth.

I’ve spent over two-thirds of my career focused on launching and scaling kid’s footwear brands. Anyone who has worked on both the adult and kid’s footwear categories will tell you that the kid’s category is challenging. Honestly, it’s a bit like learning a foreign language.

The premium kid’s footwear business reached its peak in the 1980’s. At that time, Stride Rite was the largest wholesaler and retailer of premium kid’s footwear in the U.S with over 500 retail concept locations between corporate and privately owned stores and significant distribution with premium department stores. At that time, there were multiple, premium, kid-specific footwear brands competing for market share – brands like Stride Rite, Jumping Jacks and Buster Brown. The adult brands that held a somewhat significant share of the kid’s market were primarily a handful of athletic brands. Today, the kid’s footwear market is dominated by value retailers like Target, Walmart and Carter’s/OshKosh. On the premium side, there are only a few kid-specific brands of significance left, like Stride Rite and See Kai Run and most kid’s shoe business is done today in a limited way by dozens of adult brands distributing to department stores and Zappos and through their own platforms. We also still see a small contingent of successful independent retailers as well as a handful of athletic brands selling kid’s footwear through their retail stores and vertical sites.

The Opportunity

For decades we’ve understood that a healthy kid’s footwear business for an adult footwear brand should represent at least 10% of total brand revenue - few brands achieve that today. We see big brands – brands exceeding well over $100M in revenue - generating just single digits on the kid’s side, well below 10% of total revenue. There are many reasons for this (see above “foreign language”, lack of investment in people, strategy and assets, etc), but usually it comes down to other strategic priorities on the adult side relegating kid’s shoes to the back burner.

Kid’s footwear is foundational. Think about it – with every child consumer comes an adult parent or grandparent. The opportunity to extend your brand reach and percent of closet share increases when an adult brand maintains a robust kid’s shoe component. And it’s not only about the significant increase in revenue and profit, but about reaching a consumer with your brand at the earliest age – and retaining them for decades to come.

The Challenge

Why aren’t more adult brands focusing on growing their kid’s shoe business? It’s difficult! There are many reasons - sizing is confusing – why are sizes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 repeated between baby and big kid consumers? “Gut” sizes? Depends on which size range you’re referring to: prewalker, baby, toddler, big kid. There are so many things that distinguish kid’s footwear from adult footwear – weight, height, shape and flexibility of the outsole, materials/breathability, colors, styling, pricing – why are so few kid’s shoes sold above $50 retail?

Earlier in my career, while working at what was then the Stride Rite Corporation (now Wolverine Worldwide), I had the opportunity to launch the kid’s component of many adult brands to the marketplace. Brands like Saucony, Sperry, Keds, Born, Tommy Hilfiger, Jessica Simpson, and others. What we learned is that yes, some adult styles are important and relevant to take down into kid’s sizes, especially those iconic styles for the brand. But we also learned that not all adult styles work well for kids and when they do, they need to be engineered to fit and perform for a unique child’s foot and activity level. We also learned that for a kid’s segment to truly succeed within an adult brand, you had to develop kid’s specific patterns that still hold true to the brand’s DNA – aesthetic and performance features. For instance, when we launched Saucony to the kid’s market, we found that some of the best-selling styles were not adult takedowns – instead they were kid-specific styles that included alternative closures that made it easy for kids and parents.

The Solution

Bottom line: there is no one-size-fits-all approach. But with the right plan, working with experts who are experienced and passionate about scaling kid’s footwear businesses, your brand can capture the millions of dollars you’re currently missing out on and increase your share of market/closet.

Click on the link to book a discovery call to see if we’re a great fit to work together. We’ll put a plan together to help you 2-5X your kid’s footwear business.