Toeing a new line

Long known for comfort, Brown Shoe tries to lure women with sexy styles

By Betsy Taylor ~ The Associated Press

CLAYTON, Mo.

Behind the staid walls of Brown Shoe's brick and glass corporate building lies a fashion lover's dream come true: showrooms featuring hundreds upon hundreds of shoes that have yet to hit store shelves.

There are wedge heels in a rainbow of colors and animal-print Carlos brand shoes with whip-stitching, sexy ankle straps and open toes. There are even updated Dr. Scholl's sandals dressed up with a shiny black patent leather finish.

"We're going to be fashion relevant to today's consumer," said Beth Fagan, a Brown Shoe spokeswoman.

That effort includes a fresh attitude seen in three of the company's brands for women: its flagship Naturalizer, its flashy Carlos by Carlos Santana line, and an expanded offering of Dr. Scholl's shoes, including the wooden-soled sandal that gained popularity in the 1970s.

Brown Shoe was founded 125 years ago in St. Louis by George Warren Brown who believed the region could become a shoe manufacturing center. The company, perhaps most associated with its Buster Brown shoes for children, now does about $1.8 billion a year in sales.

Brown Shoe Company Inc. has about 1,300 Naturalizer and Famous Footwear stores worldwide, and it sells to department stores across the country.

In the fall of 1999, Brown Shoe decided to reposition its Naturalizer line. "It had become outdated. We decided to give the brand an image makeover," said Jennifer Reeves, Naturalizer's senior marketing director.

Eye appeal

The shoes were known for comfort but weren't exactly burning things up on the fashion front. Brown Shoe was hoping to change that. Reeves grabbed an updated mauve suede heel and pointed to the cut-out stripes across the toe basket and the scalloped detailing on the insole. "It gives it a little eye-candy appeal on the shelf," she said.

The brand launched a new look in some stores and a black-and-white photo ad campaign in fashion magazines, such as Vogue and Vanity Fair. The pictures also are appearing in stores and Naturalizer catalogs.

Customers have noticed.

Toby Kraus, 61, of the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur recently visited a new Naturalizer store in a west St. Louis County mall.

She looked around the store and noticed the new store design: the blown-up photos on brightly painted walls and a block pattern rug in shades of orange, red and fuchsia.

"I hate to say it, but it makes me think they're more 'in step' with fashion," she said. Kraus said both she and her 37-year-old daughter shop at Naturalizer, mainly for comfortable shoes, and she admired some of the styles. But her head hasn't been turned entirely; she said she still looks elsewhere for high-fashion, special occasion shoes.

Catering to both ends

The changes haven't just been cosmetic.

Brown Shoe underwent a significant restructuring in recent years: closing underperforming stores, cutting back on staff to streamline operations and also making inventory changes.

Analyst Juli Niemann with R.T. Jones Capital Equity said Brown Shoe has made some wise decisions. Among them, she said Brown Shoe has been working to retain loyal customers, while trying to reach a younger consumer with some brands. "They're catering to both ends, and improving their profit margins," she said.

Brown Shoe officials were particularly pleased that from August to December, the company's share of the department store market increased to 6.4 percent from 5.2 percent, Fagan said. Net income for the fiscal year ending Feb. 1 was about $45 million, or $2.52 per share. A year earlier, Brown Shoe had a net loss of about $4 million, or 23 cents per share, though that loss included a one-time charge of $32 million from efforts to better position the company.

Brown Shoe also is working to appeal to "young-attitude" female customers with its Carlos by Carlos Santana line and new versions of the classic Dr. Scholl's.

Musician Carlos Santana doesn't design the Carlos footwear, but Brown Shoe likes to say the guitarist and his performances provide the inspiration. "I'm not telling him how to play the guitar, and he doesn't tell us how to design the shoes," joked Rick Gelber, vice president and general manager of Carlos shoes.

Carlos shoes are a little more trendy than some others in department stores, with accents like macramé detailing or fur trim; some sport the musician's silhouette traced onto the insole.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the shoes benefit the Milagro Foundation, a foundation started by Carlos and Deborah Santana to help children around the world.

On again, off again

And then there's Dr. Scholl's, which Brown Shoe has made for more than a decade under license from Schering-Plough Corp.

"The exercise sandal has never really gone away," said brand director Lisa Hanly.

With its wooden sole and well-recognized leather buckle piece, the Dr. Scholl's sandal has a reputation for having on-again, off-again popularity.

But Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw character wore Dr. Scholl's a couple of times on the HBO series "Sex and the City" last year. As Parker's styles are perhaps the leading barometer of what's hot, it appeared the Dr. Scholl's sandal was most definitely on again. "Now, it's just back in a way we can't even believe," Hanly said.

Hanly also has a copy of Dr. Scholl's signed by Cindy Crawford in her office, and several new Dr. Scholl's styles that will be hitting the shelves. Among the latest are whimsical sandals decorated with designer Paul Frank's happy Julius monkey logo repeated across them.

One version of the sandals, with a rubber bottom and padded insole, has been named Heaven; the company is pitching them as being "heavenly" comfortable. And then there is another shoe that could take a little more explaining, even to a young customer. Brown Shoe is launching a yoga-inspired line of Dr. Scholl's footwear that slip on and have flexible soles.

Just one catch. "Obviously, you do yoga barefoot," Hanly noted.

On the Net

Brown Shoe Company Inc.: www.brownshoe.com