Dive Brief:
- Steve Madden reported $552.4 million in revenue in its first quarter, a 19.1% year-over-year increase, according to a news release Wednesday.
- The company’s DTC revenue grew 12.8% to $112.3 million, which the company attributed to increases in both the brick-and-mortar and e-commerce businesses. DTC revenue began to turn around in Q4 last year, following five consecutive quarters of declines.
- Steve Madden saw a 21% rise in its wholesale business, to $438.2 million, largely buoyed by the newly acquired Almost Famous brand. Apart from the Almost Famous results, the company logged a 9.7% wholesale increase.
Dive Insight:
Both wholesale and DTC had been pain points for Steve Madden during the last fiscal year, but the Q1 results follow a revenue bump that began for the company in Q4.
The company reported both the wholesale accessories and apparel division and the wholesale footwear division increased by 78.6% and 4.7%, respectively. Excluding Almost Famous, wholesale in accessories and apparel grew by 27.4%.
Edward Rosenfeld, chairman and CEO, said Q1 represented a return to year-over-year revenue growth in the U.S. wholesale footwear business, and noted that the company was seeing “tangible progress” on some of its other initiatives, including growth in non-footwear categories, DTC and international markets.
“Looking ahead, we are confident that the continued execution of our strategy will enable us to drive sustainable revenue and earnings growth and create significant value for our stakeholders over the long term,” Rosenfeld said in the release.
The company reaffirmed its previously announced fiscal year outlook, in which it expects revenue to grow 11% to 13% year over year.
Steve Madden’s holdings include Dolce Vita, Betsey Johnson, Blondo, Greats and its namesake brand. It licenses the footwear and handbag categories for Anne Klein.
