Nick Wooster has worn a number of hats over the course of his 30-plus yr profession in vogue. He began out as a purchaser and through the years has labored at corporations as diversified as Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, Thom Browne and JCPenney.
However regardless of his lengthy tenure within the trade, he’s been targeted virtually completely on males’s attire — till now.
Allen Edmonds, the Wisconsin-based heritage males’s shoe model whose historical past dates to 1922, has introduced Wooster on board as inventive marketing consultant.
In his new function Wooster will collaborate carefully with the Allen Edmonds staff to supply inventive route, insights on product design, and perspective on rising tendencies, the corporate mentioned.
In an interview from Tokyo, the place he was attending that metropolis’s vogue week, Wooster mentioned he labored with Allen Edmonds about 1 ½ years in the past on a social media program and stayed in contact with the staff, together with Jay Schmidt, chief govt officer of Caleres, Allen Edmonds’ mum or dad. So once they reached out about him taking over a bigger function with the model, he was fast to signal on.
“I’ve such respect for heritage manufacturers basically, and American heritage manufacturers specifically,” Wooster mentioned. “And I haven’t labored with a U.S. model for some time.”
He pointed to the truth that Allen Edmonds has a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin, a merchandising staff in St. Louis and a base in New York as benefits.
Wooster mentioned he has labored “tangentially” with some shoe manufacturers through the years and in the course of the peak of the pandemic, he did some applications with the British shoe model Grenson and the Italian shoe firm Scarosso. However this new place with Allen Edmonds will permit him to delve extra deeply into the footwear area.
By immersing himself within the shoe aspect of the enterprise, Wooster mentioned he’ll work with Allen Edmonds on merchandise and storytelling and can draw on “all the talents I’ve had the great fortune to amass over the previous 37 years,” to use his distinct viewpoint, style stage and understanding of the market to this new function. “I am going to Tokyo and Europe twice a yr and go to shops continually. I proceed to like shops,” he mentioned. “I hope to deliver that viewpoint to Allen Edmonds.”
He’s already doing his homework. Wooster mentioned he lately walked Micam, one of many trade’s main shoe exhibits in Milan, and was impressed. “I’d by no means been to it earlier than and I couldn’t consider how enormous it was,” he mentioned.
Wooster additionally plans to use his experience in males’s vogue to Allen Edmonds. He mentioned that very like males’s attire, consolation is paramount to at present’s footwear buyer. Though he doesn’t anticipate guys to cease sporting sneakers, “I consider within the energy of shoes, sandals and loafers,” he mentioned.
Wooster added that very like denims stay a staple of males’s wardrobes, “folks received’t cease sporting sneakers. That’s the factor we affiliate with consolation, however sneakers are simply as viable a class. I’ve been off sneakers for the previous 5 years and I really like sneakers and boots.”
He mentioned the consolation know-how that manufacturers resembling Allen Edmonds have infused into their merchandise, notably their soles, ought to assist enhance enterprise.
Boots specifically are anticipated to be well-liked this fall, Wooster mentioned, and there are alternatives for Allen Edmonds to enhance “all of the issues occurring in ready-to-wear,” together with a pattern towards wider and extra oversize pants.
“Individuals want issues that do triple responsibility,” he mentioned. “Apart from formal events, there are only a few single-use sneakers.”
Wooster additionally pointed to the 50-plus Allen Edmonds shops as alternatives for the corporate. “Along with footwear, the community of Allen Edmonds shops has a variety of non-shoe product: outerwear, knitwear, baggage, small leather-based items, socks and belts — each third get together and AE branded. So there may be a whole universe of dressing a person from head to toe. This can be a nice solution to make the most of my expertise from the previous too.”
Though Allen Edmonds has a protracted historical past providing consolation know-how in gown sneakers, lately the model has additionally partnered with trend-setting attire manufacturers resembling Willy Chavarria to additional its attain. For fall, it created the Jalisco, a split-toe derby oxford with a 54 mm Cuban heel meant to enhance the more-tailored items in Chavarria’s assortment. Allen Edmonds additionally launched an elevated, hand-crafted providing referred to as the Reserve Assortment retailing for as much as $3,000.
Caleres will launch its fourth quarter and year-end 2024 earnings on Thursday, however in January, the corporate up to date its outlook, saying that because of smooth gross sales general within the vacation interval and weather-related closures at its Well-known Footwear division, the company is now anticipating gross sales to say no 3 p.c to three.5 p.c and earnings per share of between $3.10 to $3.20. It didn’t present particulars on Allen Edmonds particularly.
Nonetheless within the third-quarter earnings, launched in December, Caleres reported new sneakers and gown loafers had been among the many greatest performers for Allen Edmonds whereas boots underperformed.
