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0CTOBER/NOVEMBER 2026 • VOL 36 • ISSUE 9 • $10

A FRESH ALTERNATIVE TO SNEAKERS MAN WITH A PLAN BOB MULLANEY DETAILS RG BARRY BRANDS’ BIG BUILDOUT GENERATION NEXT THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT HUMPHREYS BOOTERY BUSY SIGNAL MEN’S FASHION WEEK ATTENDEES WEAR IT LOUD HAUTE STUFF THE FIERY MUSES FUELING COCLICO

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2026 FEATURES EDITORIAL

8 Bob the Builder On the heels of two acquisitions, Bob Mullaney, CEO of RG Barry Brands, has plans for more as he constructs a state-of-the-art platform. By Greg Dutter

Greg Dutter Editorial Director Nancy Campbell Trevett McCandliss Creative Directors PAGE

Kiernan McCormick Fashion Editor Rosemary O’Connell Art Director Kathy Passero Editor at Large

14 Here Comes the Son At Humphreys Bootery, third-generation owner Jake Humphreys is honoring the past while making big plans for the future. By Kathy Passero

Mariah Walker Style Director Darby Dutter Contributing Editor Melodie Jeng Marcy Swingle Contributing Photographers ADVERTISING

22 Cool Like That The rebirth of slick: Derbys are not your Dad’s kicks. By Kiernan McCormick

Noelle Heffernan Publisher Laurie Guptill Production Manager Rich Jarrett Circulation Director Kris Pepper Office Manager Mike Hoff Digital Director

D E P A RT M E N T S

WAINSCOT MEDIA

4 Editor’s Note 6 This Just In: Europe

Carroll Dowden Chairman

17 Trend Spotting: Jellies

Mark Dowden President & CEO

18 Trend Spotting: Block Heels

Steven J. Resnick Vice President & CFO

19 Trend Spotting: Red

Lizette Chin SVP/Group Publisher

20 Trend Spotting: Cage Sandals 21 A Note to My Younger Self

Ecco Derbys with removable insoles and ultra-light midsoles.

OFFICES ADVERTISING/EDITORIAL

36 What’s Selling

One Maynard Drive Park Ridge, NJ 07656 Tel: (201) 571-2244

37 Upclose Work

Ads: Noelle.Heffernan@ Wainscotmedia.com

40 Last Shot

Editorial: Greg.Dutter@ Wainscotmedia.com

34 Shoe Salon

CIRCULATION

On the cover: slip-on Derbys with leather uppers and memory foam insoles by Skechers.

Photography: Trevett McCandliss; styling: Nellyfer Espinoza; fashion editor: Kiernan McCormick; models: Jordan Huff, Oleksii Ivanenko/Crawford Models; photo assistant: Raymond Collette; styling assistants: Tania Castaneda and Danny Perez.

One Maynard Drive Park Ridge, NJ 07656 Tel: (201) 571-2244 Circ@Wainscotmedia.com

FOOTWEAR PLUS ™ (ISSN#1054-898X) The fashion magazine of the footwear industry is published monthly (except for bimonthly April/May and October/November editions) by Wainscot Media, One Maynard Drive, Park Ridge, NJ, 07656. The publishers of this magazine do not accept responsibility for statements made by their advertisers in business competition. Periodicals postage paid at Mahwah, NJ, and additional mailing offices. Subscription price for one year: $48 in the U.S. Rates outside the U.S. are available upon request. Single copy price: $10. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to FOOTWEAR PLUS, PO Box 300, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-0300. Publisher not responsible for unsolicited articles or photos. Any photographs, artwork, manuscripts, editorial samples or merchandise sent for editorial consideration are sent at the sole risk of the sender. Wainscot Media will assume no responsibility for loss or damage. No portion of this issue may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. ©2026 by Wainscot Media. Printed in the United States.

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E D I TOR’S NOT E

Pop Quiz

Bursting Bubbles DINER IS ONE of my favorite movies of all time. I revisit it every few years. It’s chockful of great actors, terrific characters, and memorable lines. There’s Mickey Rourke’s character, Boogie, saying, “If you don’t have good dreams…you got nightmares.” And Steve Guttenberg’s character, Eddie, announcing to the gang after his fiancée fails his grueling Baltimore Colts trivia test, “The wedding is off.” But my favorite is by Kevin Bacon’s character, Fenwick. Toward the end of the film, he and Boogie are driving in beautiful Maryland horse country after another night of carousing followed by hanging out in their favorite diner until sunrise. That’s when they come across a wealthy woman on horseback wearing an exquisite English riding outfit. The juxtaposition of their wildly divergent lives culminates with his epiphany: “You ever get the feeling there’s something goin’ on that we don’t know about?” I feel that way often, especially living in Manhattan for the past 32 years. The so-called “center of the universe” is more like a bubble—and life inside that bubble looks little like life outside it. Take a quick PATH train ride across the Hudson River, and you’ll discover a whole different planet, especially sartorially. Drea de Matteo, who played Adriana in The Sopranos, worried that her character’s Jersey-fueled fashion—lots of tight leopard print and leather outfits, big nails, high heels, and even higher hair—was too costume-y for a Garden State mobster’s girlfriend. Until, that is, she took a scouting trip to a local mall. After a look around, the Upper East Sider (since age 7) realized her costume department was spot-on, pun intended. Jersey ain’t like Manhattan, which stretches Spandex-like from its “Joisey” accent to its “this one goes to 11” fashion accents. Head to Middle America, and the de rigueur styles are nothing like the standard-issue minimal, monochromatic black ensembles of Gotham. This is NASCAR country, home to many of Boot Barn’s 566 locations, which serve as fashion meccas. The merchandise mix is heavy on Boho, prairie, western, and workwear. Color, prints, denim, boots, and bling are embraced. Business at the chain is booming, high inflation be damned. Sales are up 20 percent this year, to $2.25 billion, and 70 more stores are slated to open in 2027. Middle America fashion actually spans all 50 states and runs deep. It’s much more indicative of what’s really in fashion in ’Merica. I find it ironic that many fashion editors still reside in New York, where they’re essentially isolated from what the vast majority of the country is wearing—and watching. If I had my druthers, the next Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast publications would be Taylor Sheridan. The creator of Yellowstone and many other

Americana-themed series is far more in tune with our country’s tastes. No offense to Anna Wintour and her long-running reign over all things couture, but if the overall objective is to sell more magazine subscriptions, newsstand copies, and, as a result, ads, then maybe connecting better with millions more Americans is the way to go? To paraphrase Fenwick: Maybe there is something goin’ on in American fashion that they don’t know about. Rumor has it that before author Tom Wolfe’s death he was working on a novel that focused on the middle of the country. After his fascinatingly insightful exposés on American culture, which ranged from the hippie era in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test to fearless fighter pilots in The Right Stuff to the downfalls of excessive wealth in The Bonfire of the Vanities, I could only imagine what his take on this segment of America would have been. Wolfe’s keen reporter’s eye and vivid writing talents would surely have brought readers deep into the heartland, shining a light on the good, the bad, and the style. Maybe Jonathan Franzen or Jay McInerney could have a go at it? In the meantime, we’ll continue to do our best to feature all relevant trends and themes coursing through our beloved industry. A bubble-free space, if you will. Our Trend Spotting pages in this issue hit on jellies, block heels, red, gladiators, and clear vinyl for Spring/ Summer ’27. They speak to a broad demographic. Similarly, our men’s Derby fashion story (p. 22) is in step with the shift away from sneakers as everyday wear. It’s being led by Gen Zers, who, reports say, don’t want to dress like their dads. Talk about the sneaker being on the other foot. Then there’s our Q&A (p. 8) with RG Barry Brands CEO Bob Mullaney, focusing on the company’s recent acquisitions, which enhance its leadership position in slippers and expand its reach into lifestyle sneakers (led by Gola) and dress categories (led by Lotus). If you build the (perfect) platform, Mullaney reasons, brands will come—and thrive. It’s a refreshingly bold strategy in turbulent times that have left many companies paralyzed by fear and/or weakened finances. Last but not all, is our Shoe Salon profile of Coclico (p. 34). Managing Director Diana Haber discusses the muses behind the Spanish label’s latest collection (beware, manosphere) and overall unique approach to design. A former buyer for Tani, Aldo, and Anthropologie, Haber understands and respects the needs of Coclico’s retail partners and expects the same in return. No bubbles here. That’s always refreshing to read. Here’s to living life outside bubbles! Be curious. Be tolerant. Be good. Greg Dutter

Editorial Director

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Built with pride and rooted in comfort, the Built in the USA Collection reflects Twisted X’s dedication to quality, performance, and the American people who shape this country every day. Assembled in the USA with domestic and imported materials, each pair is made to support the way you work and live, with a range of styles available starting at an MSRP of $199.

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THIS JUST IN

Busy Bodies

Prints, patterns, and graphics…guys had a lot going on at Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks. Photography by Melodie Jeng 6

f o o t w e a r p l u s m a g a z i n e . c o m • o c t o b e r / n o v e m b e r 2026

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This is what happy looks like.

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Q&A BY GREG

DUTTER

BOB THE BUILDER

On the heels of two acquisitions, Bob Mullaney, CEO of RG Barry Brands, has plans for more as he constructs a state-of-the-art platform.

SK BOB MULLANEY what he is most hopeful for and in addition to world peace, a cure for cancer, and all four of Boston’s major sports teams winning championships, the CEO of RG Barry Brands (RGB) cites the enormous opportunities that lie ahead for the Columbus, OH-based company. But it’s not just the gamechanging size and revenue growth that he sees the multi-branded conglomerate (led by Dearfoams, Gola, and Baggallini as well as slipper licenses for Clarks and Timberland) reaching over the coming decade. His expectations are much bigger in scope and rooted firmly in strategy. “We want RGB to be where exceptional brands and people want to join because they know they will grow further here,” Mullaney says, noting it’s all about the platform. “We’re building an organization capable of repeatedly growing great consumer brands that are consistent with the executive competencies we’re establishing internally, be it vision, strategic action, using culture as a lever, developing leaders, and aligning people around shared values. It’s not about any individual product or brand; it’s building an organization that can adapt to whatever comes next—sustaining quality growth for the next generation.” This mission kicked into high gear last November with RGB’s acquisition of longtime slippers manufacturer Green Market Services, led by its Timberland and Clarks licenses. Then, in January, RGB’s parent company, Marubeni Corporation, acquired Britain’s Jacobson Group, owner of Gola, Ravel, Lotus, and Frank Wright, and licensee of Lonsdale and Dunlop. RGB’s brand portfolio not only mushroomed in size, but it also includes new categories as well as a much broader international footprint. RGB is thinking and acting big. “RGB is deliberately transforming an almost 80-year-old American company into a broader global consumer platform, focused on quality growth by preserving and strengthening the capabilities and values that have made us endure, while stimulating progress through new brands, categories, and geographies,” Mullaney explains, adding, “We’re choosing strategic boldness

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Q&A

O FF TH E C UF F What are you reading? The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation. And I’m always referring to Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. It feels incredibly relevant to where RGB is today. Like “preserve the core and stimulate progress.” Great companies know what should never change, but they’re equally willing to evolve everything else. “Clock building versus time telling” is another idea that resonates. The greatest thing a CEO can build isn’t one great product or catch the right trend. It’s building an organization and culture capable of producing great ideas and leaders long after any one person is gone. That’s very much what I’m thinking about at RGB right now. What are you watching? Peaky Blinders. A friend recommended it after I enjoyed House of Guinness, and I’m hooked. What’s inspiring you now? The opportunity in front of RGB. We have an almost 80-year-old company, some terrific brands, two new acquisitions, a much greater global footprint, and technology like AI changing what’s possible. The opportunity to put those pieces together and build what RGB can become over the next decade is incredibly energizing.

rather than allowing uncertainty to paralyze us, and investing most importantly in the organization itself.” Mullaney describes 2026 as an onboarding year. His primary focus has involved making sure these acquisitions are absorbed seamlessly and that the cultures align as the two acquisitions have brought new people, brands, geographies, and capabilities into the fold. Much of the work has involved getting everyone to think less in terms of “us and them” and increasingly as one company with shared capabilities, values, processes, and ambitions. It’s a lot synchronize but it’s the linchpin to sustained success. “There’s an old saying that culture eats strategy for breakfast, and acquisitions are where you really discover that,” Mullaney offers. “So, for example, we want to preserve what made Jacobson successful while bringing the best capabilities of RGB to them and vice versa. The objective isn’t for Jacobson to become RGB or RGB to become Jacobson. Eventually, we want people thinking as one organization.” Mullaney’s working mantra is to “preserve the core, stimulate progress, generate quality growth, and build the platform.” The core is led by Dearfoams (who is also celebrating its 80th anniversary next year) and overall slipper expertise; Baggallini’s bag/travel prowess; consumer understanding; retailer relationships; sourcing; and operational excellence. “Green Market Services strengthens our core by adding Timberland and Clarks slippers to a capability where RGB already has decades of expertise,” he says, noting that stimulating progress is where Jacobsen, led by the 121-year-old Gola brand, comes into play. “That takes RGB somewhere meaningfully new—athletic/sport lifestyle footwear, international markets, new consumers and retailers, and a global organization. Both create growth, but they create it differently.” At a time when many in the industry are playing it safe amid extremely turbulent conditions, RGB’s approach might appear to be aggressive. Mullaney, however, sees it as ambitious, disciplined, and strategically bold. It’s a big difference, he says. “We’ve been talking internally for the last year or so about ‘Choosing Strategic Boldness Over Fear.’ Fear naturally focuses you on what

What keeps you awake at night? Probably the same thing that excites me: the pace of change. AI, tariffs, geopolitics, consumer behavior…everything is moving incredibly fast. I worry at times whether our organization is evolving fast enough to support our ambition. Growth can expose weaknesses very quickly if your people, systems, and culture don’t keep pace. It’s my job to make sure we do. What might people be surprised to know about you? I’m more reflective. While I’m competitive and ambitious, I’m also a big believer in Carol Dweck’s concept of a growth mindset: the idea that your capabilities aren’t fixed and that you can continue to develop throughout your life. Part of that is having enough self-awareness to understand what you do well but also be curious about what you can learn and where you can grow. I still work with an executive coach every month to seek feedback and different perspectives. I don’t think you ever graduate from development, especially as a leader. The moment you think you’ve figured it all out is probably the moment you stop growing. What’s on your to-do list today? The same bullet points that are on it almost every day: consumer, brand, product, people, culture, values, systems, and execution. Right now there’s an added dimension as we integrate two acquisitions. I’m spending a disproportionate amount of time making sure we’re not just connecting systems and processes, rather we’re connecting people and cultures. Title of your life story and who plays you in the film adaptation? Nothing Up, Nothing In: A Story of Grit, Curiosity, and Growth. Kyle Chandler will play me. I didn’t pick him, but I’m going with it.

you might lose. Strategic leadership has to acknowledge those risks but also focus the organization on what you have the opportunity to build.” Take tariffs, inflation, supply-chain disruption, and geopolitical uncertainty as examples. “You can respond by protecting everything you have and waiting for the world to become predictable again. But waiting for certainty isn’t a strategy,” Mullaney says. “For us, strategic boldness isn’t recklessness. It’s thoughtful action with a clear understanding of the risks and returns. That’s why our philosophy is quality growth—preserve and strengthen the aspects that make RGB special while continuing to stimulate progress. You can’t control uncertainty, but you can control whether you allow it to define your strategy.” Mullaney says there are risks to this approach. The biggest internal one currently is complexity. RGB has more brands, countries, categories, customers, and people than it did 12 months ago. Growth can outrun an organization. “That’s why I’m spending so much time on building the RGB platform,” he says. “Do we have the right people, leaders, systems, processes, culture, decision rights, and data? The organization has to become more capable faster than the business becomes more complex.” Another risk that companies often underestimate: becoming so focused on protecting what you have that you stop building what comes next. “That’s where strategic boldness comes into play,” Mullaney says. “We want to manage the downside intelligently while continuing to invest in the future. The rewards, if we get that balance right, are significant: a stronger, more diversified, and resilient global consumer platform with multiple engines of quality growth.” So far, so good as Mullaney reports this year has been strong overall for RGB structurally and financially. Equally important, he says RGB is considerably stronger strategically than a year ago. “The exciting aspect of RGB today is it’s multiple growth engines rather than asking one brand to carry the company,” he says, adding that this is just the beginning. “If we do our jobs right, we’ll add two to four more brands over the next three to

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Q&A five years, if not sooner. We’re a nearly 80-year-old company that still has tremendous curiosity about what we can become.” How’s the Jacobson integration going? Really well. Jacobson brings us aspects we didn’t have at the same scale, which includes terrific footwear expertise, international capabilities, strong retailer relationships, and Gola. The acquisition goes back to wanting to stimulate progress. For example, it makes us much more international and takes us into athletic footwear category. Gola puts us into the sport-lifestyle space with an authentic brand that dates to 1905. It isn’t diversification simply for diversification’s sake. It extends capabilities we already had into Europe and other markets—categories and geographies where we see substantial opportunity. We believe there’s quality growth here for RGB. How does the expanded portfolio make RGB a better retail partner? We can solve more problems for our retail partners today. We have more tools to be a value-creating partner. We’ve got enormous expertise in slippers and comfort. We’ve got Baggallini in bags and travel. We now have Gola and the rest of the Jacobson portfolio. We have Timberland and Clarks in slippers. And we have international capabilities that allow us to think beyond the U.S. But breadth by itself isn’t a strategy. Retailers don’t need another big vendor. They need great product, consumer insight, reliability, speed, and people who understand their business. So our aspiration is to combine the capabilities and resources of a larger platform with the entrepreneurial accountability of a smaller company. Gola headlines the Jacobson acquisition. What can retailers expect to see from that brand going forward? We’re still in the early innings with Gola. First off, what attracts me is something that’s very difficult to manufacture: authenticity. Gola has genuine British sporting heritage, but the product feels completely relevant today because of a tremendous archive that’s deserving to be modernized. Our job isn’t to manufacture demand; we’re already seeing tremendous enthusiasm from consumers and retailers. Our job is to build the brand responsibly. Elevate it. Respect it. So you’ll see continued product innovation, stronger storytelling, thoughtful expansion in the U.S., and continued international development. I emphasize thoughtful. We’re not interested in putting Gola everywhere because we can. The quickest way to destroy a great brand is to confuse short-term distribution with long-term brand building. We’re building Gola for the next decade and beyond, not the next season. How’s the Green Market Services integration going? This is the other side of our Built to Last equation: preserve and strengthen the core. RGB has been in slippers for nearly 80 years. We understand comfort, construction, sourcing, merchandising, gifting, seasonality, and that consumer extraordinarily well. Green Market Services isn’t taking RGB

The licenses for Timberland and Clarks (below) enhance RGB’s leadership position in slippers.

somewhere unfamiliar. It has allowed us to leverage one of our greatest existing competencies across two extraordinary global brands: Timberland and Clarks. Our Timberland relationship is going exceedingly well. When the deal was first announced they told us they weren’t sure they would renew the license long term. I told them to just give us a year and let us show you what we can do and we’ll develop your trust. Well, they just renewed for 10 years. They’re actually bringing their design team into our organization.

Join the experts, so to speak. Yes. Slippers is our wheelhouse. Some brands have one slipper wonders. Others think they can do it, and then they’re out of it quickly when it goes wrong. It’s not their priority and they move on to their higher priority items. In the meantime, they wasted capital, like on inventory. They don’t know the market nuances like we do. For example, with slippers its half buying for yourself and the other half is buying them as a gift. So understanding that purchase criteria—the decision-making of why they’re buying and where that is in the value equation—is critical to being successful. Then there’s a small thing called seasonality. That’s another market nuance that needs to be understood. Slippers are just a different animal than shoes. So, if you already know where to make them, how to make them, how and when to ship them, and at the right cost to make a profit, it’s a much safer bet. You don’t know what you don’t know. Yes. A lot of it is ego. That’s easy, I can do that… I find this sentiment often in private equity boardrooms and with consultants. They all have the answers to everything, but they’ve never actually done it. Then it goes astray because they make the wrong decisions. We’ve seen a lot of acquisitions in this industry go the wrong way. So it’s a two-way street. Any acquisition we make, we’ll listen to them closely and we expect the same. We can learn a lot from each other. What’s the reasoning behind Dearfoams’ expansion into additional lifestyle categories? Because Dearfoams’ equity isn’t just “slippers.” The equity is comfort. Slippers are where Dearfoams has expressed that promise extraordinarily well for generations. But consumers don’t compartmentalize their lives that way anymore. Home, work, travel, wellness, active, and leisure increasingly overlap. People expect comfort throughout their day. So the question isn’t: What else can we put the Dearfoams logo on? The question is: Where else does Dearfoams have the credibility to make someone’s life more comfortable? Comfort has moved from being an attribute to being an expectation. That’s a much higher bar, and that’s how we’re approaching the expansion. That includes sleepwear, hosiery and legwear, cold-weather and fashion accessories, base layers, casual activewear, women’s intimates, familyoriented throws, and pet products. We’re following the consumer rather than forcing an extension. Similarly, distribution has to follow the consumer and

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Q&A these categories. Some extensions belong with existing Dearfoams partners, while others may open new doors. But quality growth matters more to us than simply maximizing doors. Tariffs, inflation, wars…how is it all impacting RGB? The environment is unquestionably difficult. But I’ve come to believe that complexity isn’t temporary anymore. It’s just the environment in which we now live. We’ve stopped asking when things will return to normal. Instead, we’re asking how do we build RGB to win when volatility is normal? That’s what we mean by Choosing Strategic Boldness Over Fear. We can’t control tariffs, currencies, freight, and geopolitics. But we’re not powerless either. We can diversify sourcing, improve forecasting, maintain disciplined inventory, price intelligently, deepen retailer partnerships, and create more optionality throughout the business. Strategic boldness is about concentrating less on predicting the future and more on building an organization capable of adapting to it. Resilience becomes a competitive capability. We’re not building a strategy that requires calm seas. We’re building a better ship. Still, it’s not easy to stay the course when so much of the volatility is beyond your control. The key is to know what doesn’t change and be incredibly adaptable about everything else. That’s another reason Built to Last resonates with me. Our values and our consumer orientation haven’t changed, nor has our commitment to product and our partners. But sourcing, technology, and distribution changes. Organizational structures and strategies can also change. So preserve the core and stimulate progress. That’s how you stay on course without standing still.

How would you assess the current market overall? Competitive, selective, and pretty exciting. The consumer isn’t necessarily saying, “I’m not buying.” She’s saying, “Convince me.” So is the product distinctive? Is the brand authentic? Is the value there? That’s tough for undifferentiated brands and commodity product. But it’s a great environment for brands that have authenticity, product relevance, and offer a genuine point of view. That’s one reason why I’m so enthusiastic about Gola, Baggallini, and Dearfoams Fireside Collection, for starters. Clarks also allows us to take the wellness and longevity trend to a new level with whitespace we see in the category, and Timberland allows for a premium slipper brand giving the consumer alternatives.

What about AI-related drawbacks? The biggest danger may be intellectual laziness. Obviously there are also issues around privacy, accuracy, IP, and security. But I don’t want someone bringing me an AI-generated answer and assuming the thinking is finished. AI should make us more curious and more capable, not less thoughtful. Our philosophy is human plus technology. Judgment still matters. Taste matters. Experience matters. Relationships matter. What are RGB’s biggest challenges near and long term? Near term, it’s execution. Longer term, it’s organizational capability. We’ve created enormous opportunity. Now we have to deliver against it. The longer-term challenge is making sure RGB itself evolves as rapidly as the portfolio. The most important thing I can build is the company. Brands go through cycles. Products change. Consumer trends change. So it’s about building an exceptional platform (people, culture, capabilities, values, systems) that can repeatedly create and grow successful brands. RGB as a platform creates a performance framework that spans developing talent, translating vision into execution, and building a team-based culture. What’s your take on the current state of retail—the good, the bad, and the ugly? The good: great brands and retailers are getting better. They’re consumer-focused, data-driven, creative, and increasingly interested in true partnerships. The bad: mistakes are expensive. Inventory, pricing, and product mistakes get punished quickly. The ugly: everybody is dealing with about six different forms of uncertainty simultaneously. Still, I’m fundamentally bullish. Consumers haven’t stopped wanting great 37 s

Might the consumer be reaching a breaking point on price increases—for everything? There’s unquestionably a limit to what any brand can pass through on costs. And our responsibility isn’t simply to pass on cost increases to the consumer. We have to attack the entire value chain—sourcing, engineering, materials, logistics, inventory, assortment, and only then pricing. Ultimately the consumer decides whether we’ve created enough value to justify the price. Value matters enormously, but value and cheap are not synonyms. Consumers are asking is this worth it? That’s a healthy question for brands to ask. Across our portfolio, we need to earn that purchase through product, quality, functionality, design, and trust. Dearfoams is a great example because it provides an accessible, everyday comfort product from a brand consumers know. In a pressured environment, trusted brands matter.

What’s your general take on AI? I’m fascinated by it. I think we’re at the beginning of something even more transformational as the internet and bigger than ecommerce. We’re already using AI to analyze information, improve productivity, and accelerate decision-making. But that’s table stakes. The really interesting question isn’t how can AI help us do today’s work faster? It’s what can we do now that wasn’t economically or practically possible before? Consumer insight, forecasting, merchandising, product creation, marketing personalization, supply-chain decisions…we’re going to see extraordinary changes. And we’re encouraging our organization to experiment.

The new and the core: Gola and Dearfoams anchor RGB’s state-of-the-art platform.

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Here Comes the Son At Humphreys Bootery in Northeast PA, third-generation owner Jake Humphreys is honoring the past while making big plans for the future.

By Kathy Passero

Jake’s dad, Jay, recalls a unique approach to business that the family AKE HUMPHREYS LIKES to say he was “born in a shoetook in the early years. “My dad used to pack up a van with inventory from box.” The third generation of his family to own Humphreys the shoe store and from my grandparents’ store, and go to the homes of Bootery in Shavertown, PA, Jake grew up immersed in the customers who had big families to sell clothes and to fit the kids for shoes family business and worked on the sales floor through high back in the ’60s,” he says. school and college. But it wasn’t until he traded his picturLike Jake, Jay grew up in the family business. “At 16, when I was a senior esque hometown for an accounting career in Baltimore that in high school, I was working full time in the co-op program,” he says. “I he realized his true calling was independent shoe retail. would leave school at noon and work until 5:30 p.m. We were open two “It took doing something completely different to realize nights a week, so I worked until 8:30 p.m. those nights, plus weekends. I I had a passion for footwear,” says Jake, who purchased the went to college for a year, then I jumped back into 68-year-old store in the foothills of the store. I always say I have a PhD in retail.” northeastern Pennsylvania’s Back Mountain when his Although Jay lost his left arm in a car accident father, Jay Humphreys, retired a year ago. “I love the when he was 19, “it didn’t slow me down in any customer interaction and the whole buying process.” way,” he says. An avid golfer, he hit a hole in one Previous generations of his family would undoubtedly when his kids were little and was written up by a be proud—but perhaps not surprised. Jake’s great-grandlocal newspaper. father, Edward Humphreys, worked at footwear stores “It’s kind of an interesting twist that a guy with in the area in the 1940s. In 1958, Jake’s grandfather, one arm ran and owned a shoe store,” he points also named Edward Humphreys, opened Humphreys out. “How many stories of one-armed salesmen are Bootery as a shoe store for babies and kids in the same there in the footwear business? When I tied shoes strip mall location where you’ll find it today. for people, they’d want to help me, but I’d say, ‘Don’t “Footwear has been in our blood for forever,” says Jake, Jake Humphreys, owner, Humphreys Bootery worry. I got it.’” who still has the vintage newspaper flyer announcing You need an upbeat, indomitable spirit like the one that runs in the the shopping center’s grand opening nearly seven decades ago. Humphreys family to succeed in independent retail, and, in Jay’s opinion, The bootery was (and is) adjacent to another family business—a children’s Jake has plenty of it. “His personality is just perfect for this business. He clothing store that Jake’s great-grandmother ran and later passed down impresses me every day. He knows more people in the shoe industry than I through the family. Today Humphreys Apparel & Toys is owned by Jake’s ever thought about knowing, and the customers love him. I know the store aunt. The two Humphreys stores are the last original tenants remaining is in good hands.” at the mall.

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Small space, big selection: Humphreys Bootery carries the largest selection of Birkenstock and Ugg in the area.

KEEPING UP WITH CHANGING TIMES Although Humphreys Bootery still has the same footprint it had in 1958, much has changed over the decades. For example, the mix shifted from kids’ to men’s and (primarily) women’s. A second store, Walter’s Shoes in nearby Wilkes-Barre, came and went between 1972 and the recession of the early ’90s. Jake remembers that economic downturn as “the roughest patch in the history of our business,” and it happened right when Jay took over from Edward in 1989. The bootery almost went under, but branching into the European comfort sector provided a new niche and a smart survival strategy. “We opened an Ugg account in 1999 not knowing the height the brand would get to in the 2000s. In fact, in the mid-’90s we opened a lot of the brands we’re still known for today, including Birkenstock, Dansko, and Naot,” says Jake. “That’s when we went from being just one of the area shoe stores to the premier destination for many of the brands people want.” It was Birkenstock’s meteoric rise in popularity from 1997 to 1999 that put an end to children’s footwear at Humphreys. “Now we just carry kids’ Ugg and Birkenstock for mommy and me purchases, which grandparents love.” Inventory wasn’t the only thing evolving around Humphreys. As the years passed, more and more folks discovered the charms of Northeast Pennsylvania, the manufacturing-driven economy diversified, and tourism grew significantly. The hit TV series The Office also put nearby Scranton on the map. “When my grandfather started in our location, we were on a two-lane state road. The area around us was very rural,” says Jake. “Since then, it has exploded. We’re now on a five-lane highway with 20,000 to 50,000 cars passing us a day. The school districts have become the most desirable in the area, and that has brought a ton of new people to our neck of the woods.” Despite the throngs driving by, a highway location has certain disadvantages, Jake points out. When you’re not in a Main Street–style shopping area, potential customers don’t stroll by and wander in, so discovery can be a challenge. Jake helped on that front when he came back to Shavertown to help Jay with the store in December 2019—a few months before the pandemic shut them down. “With no website or ecommerce to speak of, my first project here was building them,” Jake remembers. “I couldn’t get a website out super quickly, so I started posting pictures of our displays on Facebook and numbering all

the products. I took appointment orders and met people in the parking lot if they needed shoes.” Six years later, ecommerce is “a nice little chunk of the business,” accounting for five to 10 percent of annual sales. He also introduced a POS system in 2019 and has ramped up marketing through social media and email in the years since, five of which he spent working side-by-side with his dad, learning the ins and outs of running the store. SERVICE AND SELECTION Today, Humphreys Bootery carries about 40 brands. The merchandise mix is roughly 85 percent women’s footwear, with the core customer between 40 and 65, though for fall/winter it skews a bit younger, and shoppers show up from farther afield, drawn by the store’s reputation for carrying the area’s largest selection of Ugg and Birkenstock, two of the bootery’s top-selling brands, along with Pikolinos and Blundstone. Athletic too, performs well for Humphreys. “I was a little late to the athletic boom, but we’ve opened some great brands since 2024,” says Jake. “I started with Brooks and soon after that we added Altra and Hoka. The addition of those three has really helped in the last few years.” Of course, robust product offering is only one piece of the puzzle at Humphreys Bootery. “I’m very aware that everybody out there could find every one of our products at the click of a button on their phone or computer, so what sets us apart is that we try to create an all-around experience that is a genuine thank you for everybody who walks through our door,” says Jake, whose staff includes a full-time manager and several part-timers, all of whom have at least five years’ tenure. “We take pride in our sit-and-fit process. We ask questions, give every customer our full attention, and really listen to what each one has to say. That’s the core of our business, and that will never change.” “Whatever a customer comes in for—whether it be the latest trend or a doctor’s referral for a foot issue—we take time to make sure they find what they need and that it’s the right fit for them, and maybe introduce them to a brand they haven’t heard of that could someday be their new favorite.” Speaking of new favorite brands, “I’m always at the national and regional 2026 october/november • footwearplusmagazine.com 15

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“I’m looking to scale the business to multiple doors in the next five years. It has to be the right place, the right time, the right sort of deal, and we need to have the staff to do it right.” shows looking for what could be next. I never shy away from taking a chance on a brand if the quality is good and if it fits our business. Sometimes it pushes our legacy customers to try something out of their comfort zone. Sometimes it brings new people in.” Occasionally the suggestions come from customers themselves. “I love it when somebody’s motivated enough to bring up a brand they think I should look at,” Jake says. After almost 70 years in business, it’s no surprise that the store has cultivated a loyal clientele. “It’s hard for me to go a day on our sales floor without someone saying, ‘My mom or my grandmother used to bring us here to see your dad or your grandfather to get our school shoes,’” says Jake. “Another comment I hear is from people who moved out of the area but are back in town visiting and tell me they save all their shoe shopping for when they’re home. They say they look forward to coming in to see what new stuff we have and to pick up their old favorites again. That’s the best compliment I could get.” To thank loyal customers and encourage first-time visitors to become regulars, Jake introduced a Customer Appreciation Rewards Program this year that gives shoppers $10 in rewards for every $200 they spend on regular-priced merchandise. Humphreys also shows its gratitude to the community that supports it by donating to charity events and local fundraisers, as well as sponsoring area triathlons, 5Ks, and other races—an effort that reinforces their image as an athletic footwear purveyor. “It’s no secret that the economic climate has gotten a lot tougher this year,” says Jake. “It seems to get tougher every day, but we have great product and great vendor relationships that get us through everything, and we’re always out there trying to find new business and getting people who might not know who or where we are to come through the door and become loyal customers in the future.” “Their commitment to quality footwear, to exceptional customer service, and to us as a brand sets Humphreys Bootery apart,” says Jordan Rogowsky, Mid Atlantic territory manager for Birkenstock, the store’s longtime rep. “We’re grateful for their partnership.” THE POWER OF PEER NETWORKING As part of a new generation of young retailers stepping into leadership roles and shaping the future of independent footwear stores, Jake is a member of NSRA’s NextGen Leadership Program and has found connection with his peers highly beneficial. “There’s a group of about 10 or 12 of us multi-generational footwear families who meet on Zoom every two weeks, but the conversation never stops there. We’re always bouncing ideas off each other. Whenever we’re in the same place for a conference or trade show, we take the opportunity to get together, even if it’s just for dinner. We talk about new products and new brands that one of us saw and that we think could work for everybody. It’s a great network of free-flowing information, and we’ve really developed friendships over the

Edward Humphreys, the sit-and-fit patriarch, looks sales-floor sharp, circa the ’80s.

past couple of years. If I have a problem, I can ask questions and hear from somebody who has already dealt with the same issue. I know I’m not the first or only person going through it. That makes problems a lot easier to solve.” FAMILY MATTERS Jay is also a go-to source for advice. “My dad will always be my closest advisor,” says Jake. “He’s my first call If I have something I’m not sure on.” Jake says he’s grateful to Jay for never pressuring him to follow in his footsteps. “Growing up, my dad would joke with my brother and me, saying, ‘You guys can do anything you want as long as it’s not retail,’ because retail is a crazy thing to be in. I just made my way back here organically.” Jake plans to take the same approach with his daughters—Stevie, 4, and Finley, 2—as they grow up. Right now, they love visiting the store, taking boxes off the wall, and looking at all the shoes, he says, but “they’ll have the same opportunity as me to do absolutely anything they want.” He credits his wife as another unofficial advisor for the store, as well as a vital source of support. “I wouldn’t be doing any of this without her help,” he says. “She has a great career as a veterinary technician, and she handles the brunt of the work on the home front, which enables me to focus on building our business.” What does that building plan look like? “We’re very undersized for what we do,” says Jake of the 2,200-square-foot retail space, more than half of which is stock and office space. “My goal in the next couple of years is to expand, whether it be here or somewhere in the area.” Beyond that, “I’m looking to scale the business to multiple doors in the next five years. It has to be the right place, the right time, the right sort of deal, and we need to have the staff to do it right.” In the meantime, economic challenges notwithstanding, Jake is happy to come to work each day. “I’m not going to say this is what I was meant to do, but it’s something I really love to do. I’m glad to be where I am, and we’re lucky to have a great customer base. It’s the day-to-day, person-to-person interactions we have with them that keep us going and make us better.” •

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TREND SPOTTING

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A N OT E T O M Y Y OU N G E R S E L F

L.A. WOMAN Jennifer Stanley, veteran retailer and current Sofft sales rep, reflects on a career fueled by always striving to figure it out. Kushins Shoes in Beverly Hills, owned by industry legend Arthur Beren. DEAR 10-YEAR-OLD JENNIFER…You love fashion! You’re always You learn to be cut-throat amid their up system. Fight for your customer so accessorized—bracelets, necklaces, rings…the works. You always sniff turn on that board! Remember, shrinking violets never fully bloom. out great deals at the May Co. in Covina, CA. You spot the cutest top hiding It’s now 1990. You’re at Cole Haan, helping manage its first West Coast in the bargain bin and know instinctively it’s a steal. Some credit goes to store, on Rodeo Drive. You’re thrilled! The brand still makes beautifully working in Mom’s antique stores, where you wait on customers, ring up crafted shoes in Maine. It’s also where many friendships begin with colleagues sales, and pitch in at trade shows. You learn to work with people, convert who you’re still close with 36 years later. Tour buses unload regularly out change on an old-fashioned register (life before computers!), and how to front. Foreigners, especially, want the iconic, American-made shoes—as merchandise. Above all, you learn how to be a good merchant, which will well as $300 woven handbags and even steamer trunks! You make great come in handy in your future career in the fabulous footwear industry. money! But then comes the L.A. race riots in 1992. Fewer tourists. Then, So does working through high school and college at Contempo Casuals, in 1994, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hits. Enough of this! On the advice of Judy’s (the best experience!), Windsor, and The Limited. your best friend, you take a job selling cell phones for what is now Verizon. After graduating Brooks College with a Business Management degree It’s easy money! When flip phones debut, it rains cash. your plan is to own a business some day. But first you just need a job. You Eventually, though, the siren call of the shoe biz rings louder than cell scour the L.A. Times help wanted section and eventually land an interview phones, pun intended. You spot an ad for Department Manager at I. Magnin. You’re on Monster for an Ecco tech rep. You asked whether you’d like to manage lingerie or know how to guide salespeople into shoes? Exactly, how does one accessorize lingerie? wanting to sell a brand over all the others So, you pick shoes! You’re named manager of a store carries. Ecco is a great experience. the women’s Shoe Salon at its Pasadena location. However, your first calling is retail. Your footwear career is off and running! You and a partner who’d been an Ecco Just one tiny problem. You know account open Well-Heeled Footwear in squat about how to sell shoes, let alone Beverly Hills, a unique comfort/fashion how to manage experienced “shoe concept. Then you and your husband dogs.” The brands, the lingo, size runs, open another location in Studio City. widths, what’s a combination last, a Business booms through the early aughts. Brannock Device…Nobody tells you You open another location in Santa this stuff beforehand! Fear not as Lord of the rings: Jennifer Stanley has been Barbara. This is the pre-ecommerce you’re a “learn by doing” person. dialing up sales for decades. era; no showrooming or MAP policy. In fact, that becomes your working Your biggest challenge is finding employees who believe in what you’re mantra throughout your career. The other is: doing and want to succeed at selling shoes. Some things never change. figure it out (FIO). Ask questions. Listen. Watch. Learn. Do the work. Then, in 2008, the Financial Crisis hits. The world economy tanks. Before long, you’re selling Ferragamo, Bruno Magli, Van Eli, Sesto Business is tough. You hang on for two years then jump to Bloomingdale’s M., and SAS with ease. You also learn how to coach the team on growth as Sales Manager for its new shoe department concept. Four years later, and achieving goals. The numbers prove it! Your department grows the wholesale bug calls again. You want to go back on the road. You join significantly. Soon you’re promoted to manager of the Shoe Salons at Spring Footwear as its California rep. Four more years pass and it’s on I. Magnin’s Los Angeles and Beverly Hills locations! It’s an honor to to Sofft Shoe Co., where you’ve been for the last nine years, repping for work in such couture meccas. 13 states. Another (not so) tiny problem, though. You’re still relatively new at Whew! What a long, wonderful trip it’s been! You’ve sat on both sides of managing, and now you’re overseeing more experienced shoe dogs who the stool and seen the business from almost every angle. You’ve thrived in want nothing to do with you! You’re deemed too young. They leave the good times and survived bad times. Thank yourself for being curious, for floor for hours at a time. Hiding in the stockroom in the hopes that taking jobs you didn’t know how to do just yet, for learning from people these problems will disappear isn’t a solution. Instead, lean into tough around you, for believing in yourself, and for embracing FIO. conversations. Leadership isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about Enjoy the ride—the ups and even the downs! That’s life. And whenever having the courage to address the uncomfortable, ask hard questions, set you think you don’t know what to do, remember that you do. Ask. Watch. expectations, and deal with what’s right in front of you. These experiences Listen. Learn. Try. And, when necessary, try again. FIO! are what prepare you for owning your own shoe stores. Yes, your dream Sometimes the greatest careers aren’t planned; they’re built one expeof owning a business some day comes true! rience at a time. As poet Muriel Strode wrote: “I will not follow where the Right now, though, you’re 25 and don’t want to manage people. You path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail.” want to make more money selling shoes on commission. So you move to

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Guiding Lights Diana Haber, managing director of Coclico, dishes on the Spanish label’s feminist-inspired Fall/Winter ’26 collection. By Greg Dutter

HEN IN DOUBT use a muse or, when called for, use a few. That’s the approach Coclico has taken with its Fall/Winter ’26 collection, Her Light. The muses span Mama Quilla, the Incan moon goddess; Amelia Bloomer, 19th century American newspaper editor, women’s rights and temperance advocate, and known for helping popularize loose trousers (later called “bloomers”); and ’70-era feminist icons Gloria Steinem, Diane Keaton, Lou Doillon, and Diana Ross. Coclico Managing Director Diana Haber says the common thread is powerful women with an equally strong sense of individual style. These women surely wouldn’t fear today’s manosphere. “They made very different choices about how to look, work, and move through the world,” Haber says, noting that agency is what connects them. “The manosphere seems to require a fairly elaborate denial of women’s ambitions, tastes, contradictions, and interior lives. We encounter evidence to the contrary every day.” Her Light manifests itself in shoe archetypes like loafers, lace-ups, and high vamps alongside glove-fit shoes, substantial clogs, and boots with more visual weight. All feature unique “nudges” that elevate the designs. “Riding, western, Chelsea, and moto references are there, but stripped of anything that starts to feel like costume,” Haber says. Similarly, sculptural clogs feature a strong’70s vibe with solid beechwood, warm stains, and moc toe details, while metallics and reptile are considered ordinary neutrals. “Pewter or espresso snake should be able to do the same work in a wardrobe as black or brown,” she says, adding that the palette moves through oxblood, chestnut, and other warm browns, muted neutrals, black, and navy expressed across rich leathers and suedes. Haber was a Coclico customer before she joined the company 14 years ago. She also bought the brand during her years working for Tani, Aldo, and Anthropologie. The brand has evolved just like Haber—rooted in tradition but embracing technology. “We develop our own lasts and constructions rather than building a collection around a handful of stock shapes, and we continue to update them,” she says. “It gives each collection a very broad vocabulary while still being recognizably Coclico.” Haber adds, “Construction is often part of the design rather than something hidden underneath. We have very soft sacchetto constructions alongside natural crepe, sculpted solid wood, and more structured boots. Underneath all of that, Coclico is fundamentally product-led.” How is your retail experience an asset in managing Coclico? At my first serious retail job at Tani (RIP), a much-loved store on the Upper West Side, I was given a lot of creative freedom to build an assortment that I thought was cool and excited me. At the same time, I was on the floor with customers and reading sales reports, so I was constantly seeing what happened when my taste met someone else’s wants and needs. I loved that exercise, the balance between influence and service, instinct and evidence. I credit it with keeping my excitement for design intact, and I still find the job of figuring out the end customer fascinating. My corporate years at Aldo and Anthropologie gave me formal training in buying, product development, planning, and management. They gave me technical fluency and a deep, passionate love for data and a

Espresso is the new black; Diana Haber.

killer spreadsheet. But that early combination of creative freedom and immediate feedback is still very much how I think. Overall, I come from the other side of the table, so I understand what a buyer needs from a brand, and the pressures they’re working under. I’m always looking for the place where what works for us and also gives the retailer a chance to succeed. How would you describe Coclico’s overall aesthetic? Reduction but not austerity. Clean lines, proportion, and material do a lot of the work, but Coclico has more personality and humor than the word “minimal” sometimes implies. There’s usually something slightly strange in the mix, an unexpected proportion, a sculptural heel, a traditional shoe pulled a little out of alignment. We also make a broad range of styles, so what holds the collection together isn’t one famous last or signature piece of hardware; it’s the point of view. A Coclico shoe has enough character to be noticed, but still leaves room for the person wearing it. Who is the Coclico woman? She’s curious and has her own visual language. She absorbs aspects from art, architecture, books, food, design, her city, travel, etc. She doesn’t need a brand to tell her exactly who to be. She’s an active curator. Her shoe choices help her communicate something, not finish the sentence for her. For example, wearing Coclico communicates something very different from a red sole or oversized hardware. The recognition is quieter. What’s your distribution strategy? Nice people only! Not the official strategy, but not entirely a joke either. We pulled back substantially on wholesale before the pandemic because some of the economics and operating demands of major accounts increasingly conflicted with how we wanted to run the business. There was something structurally uncomfortable about producing according to those expectations while talking about “want not/waste not.” But now we’re interested in growing distribution again but deliberately, with strong retailers who know their customers, who can give Coclico context, and who can meet us in the reality of an artisanal designer footwear house. What’s Coclico’s biggest challenge? Growing brand awareness as the modern tools used for reach get duller and less financially accessible. The people who know Coclico tend to know it extremely well, and many have been loyal for years. The job now is to become more visible without becoming louder in a way that contradicts our values. We need to improve discovery and put

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How Aetrex is Finding the Perfect Fit Sculptured clogs give off a groovy ’70s vibe. Diana Haber

the product in front of more people who are already predisposed to love it. Where do you envision Coclico in three years? More secure rather than simply bigger. I’d like a healthy direct business, a thoughtful network of independent retailers, strong production relationships, and enough visibility that new customers continue discovering us. The goal is to find the scale where we can protect what makes Coclico special while being a reliable business for our employees, retailers, suppliers, and customers. What’s your first-ever shoe-related memory? I don’t have a firm first one, but I do still wear a pair of Coclico sculptured wood heeled sandals with a high-cut brown leather vamp, laddered cutouts, and a buckled ankle strap from the Spring ’09 collection. A great shoe shouldn’t just survive; it should remain desirable. My long-term relationship with Coclico began not as a career move, but as a fangirl. What’s the best business advice you’ve received? A managing director at Anthropologie said a manager’s job isn’t to make people work the way you work. It’s to understand what allows each person to do their best work. Any designers and brands that you admire? Rachel Comey. She has maintained such a clear point of view while building a serious business without allowing scale to become the definition of success. I’m also interested in independent designers who’ve figured out what size allows them to do their best work and protect it. I respond to companies where you feel the design intelligence without needing a monologue explaining it. Bode is interesting for the way craft, memory, and storytelling are embedded in the product, and Lauren Manoogian has a material restraint and confidence. I’m equally interested in independent, multi-brand retailers with a strong edit. Online discovery can feel both limitless and strangely homogeneous, so there’s real value in someone saying, “Out of everything available, these are the things worth looking at.” I want every neighborhood to have that retailer again. It’s very sweet watching the incoming generation rediscover in-person retail, even if they seem to think they invented it. I thought I invented everything when I was 23, too.

For an industry built around fit, footwear still relies on a surprising amount of guesswork. Aetrex’s AI and 3D foot data is taking those imperfections out of the equation. A SHOE IS THREE-DIMENSIONAL. So is the foot it is designed to fit. Yet footwear fit decisions are still largely based on historical specifications, limited samples, manual 2D measurements, and subjective wear-test feedback. It all adds up to a lot of guesswork and, worse, far too many ill-fitting shoes for consumers. Fortunately, that paradigm is shifting, thanks to Aetrex’s proprietary AI and 3D foot data used across the shoe lifecycle. This includes the footwear design and development process, capturing consumers’ 3D foot measurements, and using AI to match each unique foot shape with the ideal shoe shape for the best possible fit. DESIGNING FOR REAL FEET The opportunity begins at product development. Footwear developers make decisions about last shape, sizing, and fit using historical data, manual measurements, and physical testing. That becomes even more challenging when designing for different genders, regions, sizes, and foot shapes. Enter Aetrex’s Foot.com data platform, which provides participating footwear designers and developers access to insights from a global database of more than 10 million 3D foot scans including underfoot pressure data. The data can be filtered by gender, region, size, and other characteristics, helping developers better understand the specific populations they are designing for and helping them evolve from designing around assumptions to actual feet. FINDING THE RIGHT WEAR TESTERS The same data-driven approach helps solve another longstanding challenge: selecting representative wear testers. Aetrex’s Wear Tester software uses AI to compare 3D scans of potential candidates against millions of foot profiles in its global database. Candidates receive a score indicating how closely their feet represent the desired target population, helping developers select wear testers who more accurately reflect the consumer they are designing for. For example, it’s now actually possible to find the perfect women’s size 7.

MEASURING THE 3D FOOT The fit challenge is most acute when consumers enter stores to purchase shoes. Traditional in-store measurement tools typically focus on length and width—two dimensions attempting to describe a three-dimensional foot. Not good enough. Worse, because fit varies between brands and styles, consumers likely need multiple try-ons to find a shoe that fits best. That’s time-consuming, annoying, and still not precise. Online, that challenge is far greater. Enter Aetrex’s Albert Pro and Zoe Pro 3D scanners that capture 16 key foot measurements, including length, width, instep height, arch height, girth, and underfoot pressure data. The system’s AI Assistant also guide shoppers through the scanning process and provides product recommendations based on their unique feet. The result: the most precise in-store fit process. Period. MATCHING THE RIGHT FEET WITH THE RIGHT SHOES Measuring the foot in 3D is the first step to achieving the best fit. Aetrex’s FitAI technology then connects the consumer’s 3D foot profile to the measurements of the 3D shoe itself. And through its SmartLast database, the technology compares foot measurements with the internal 3D geometry of individual shoes to generate personalized recommendations based on brand, style, and size. New AI voice prompts take the experience further, allowing shoppers to filter the data and ask questions such as, “Find me the best running shoe for my feet under $200,” and use their individual foot data to narrow the choices. That equals time saved, an optimal fit, and fewer returns. A win-win-win. SAY GOODBYE TO GUESSWORK By connecting Aetrex’s AI and 3D foot data across the entire shoe lifecycle, the industry can move beyond guesswork toward a more personalized, data-driven approach to fit. The result is better-informed footwear design, more accurate recommendations, and, ultimately, better-fitting shoes for every consumer. To learn more about partnering with Aetrex on finding the perfect fit visit aetrexb2b.com or contact Jason Israel at jisrael@aetrex.com.

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W H AT ’S SELLI N G

Comfort Specialty

Daniels Shoes Oklahoma City, OK

HAD BROWN AND his wife Anna have picked up right where his parents, Dan and Linda, left off running Daniels Shoes. Founded in 1975, the Oklahoma City sit-and-fit institution hasn’t missed a beat since the changing of the guard, which is to help kids to adults find the perfect-fitting shoes. “Our customer service, by far, is the biggest factor behind our staying power,” says Brown. “We greet you at the door and measure feet the old-fashioned way. We get to know your footwear needs and offer several solutions.” He adds that customers are sometimes surprised when staff puts the shoes on their feet and tie the laces, but that’s all part of the Daniels Shoes difference. “We spend time getting to know your individual foot needs and help you choose the perfect pair.” Brown, who joined the family business in 1990, learned from the best: his parents. In fact, on their 50th anniversary in retail they received a Citation of Congratulations from the Oklahoma House of Representatives in recognition of providing the Oklahoma City community with excellent customer service for decades. “My father always said to follow the Golden Rule and treat customers how you want to be treated,” Brown says. —Kiernan McCormick Top-selling brands? New Balance, Aetrex, Vaneli, Naot, Birkenstock, and Bos. & Co. Best new brands added recently? Fidelio and Suave are selling well. I like the comfort and quality of shoes made in Portugal. Top-selling accessories? Brighton jewelry, handbags, and smartwatch bands. Wide Open socks, made in Vermont, also sell well. Anything unique about the Oklahoma City customer? We wear a lot of denim, so navy shoes do well. How’s business? Good. The record 45-day heat streak this summer didn’t help. However, our sales are up for the year, and Q4is looking good. How’s the economy impacting your business? Our prices are up, but our customers are adjusting well.

We haven’t seen any real objections. We supplement high prices with superior quality products. We tell customers the price gets you quality that lasts, so you won’t have to replace your shoes as often.

All in the Brown family: (from left) Sara, Anna, Chad, Linda, and Dan.

Which is more difficult: high inflation or brands’ DTC sites? Both are difficult, but I’d say DTC sites. It’s especially upsetting when vendors withhold inventory, like a specific size. We lose that sale. I believe brands need to support local brick-andmortar stores to showcase their best products. We’re in the trenches fitting feet and explaining the quality of each brand. You’ll never beat someone knowledgeable fitting feet properly. What’s the biggest challenge facing your business? Managing cash flow. To overcome it, we’re adjusting our buy. We must focus on our top-selling styles and cut some of those that don’t perform as well. Who is your fastest-growing customer segment? Women and families with young children.

What are you most proud of regarding Daniels Shoes? Our reputation as the go-to store for excellent customer service and hard-to-find widths. Any advice for fellow independents? Dress for success. If you dress sloppy your work will reflect it. Also, always go the extra mile. Find out customers’ needs and fulfill them by finding the perfect shoe.

What’s the most effective way to market to customers? Historically, word of mouth is the best. Lately, though, we’ve had amazing success with Google reviews. We ask every customer for a review. The good ones come up during searches, and we’re listed as a top-rated family shoe store. It’s helped people in search of old-fashioned customer service find us. It’s the best decision we’ve made in the past year. My wife also sends out weekly emails featuring new arrivals, and we have a lot of special events in the store, like trunk shows.

What’s the best way to retain employees? The Golden Rule. We’re flexible, and work around the schedules of our part-time employees in college. We also offer a competitive hourly salary, plus commission to help motivate great salesmanship.

What are some of your leading community outreach efforts? We host several donation events in support of local charities, handbag trade-in events, and shoe donations. We sent 300 pairs of children’s shoes to Niger this year.

What do you love most about being an independent retailer? I love working for myself. You get back what you put into your job. I’m also proud to carry on the over 50-year legacy my parents created. I’ve helped customers as children and now I’m helping their children. Seeing children excited to get a new pair of shoes as well as helping customers overcome foot pain never gets old. It’s an honor to make someone happy by finding them the perfect shoes.

What are your top goals for 2027? To increase sales and to take care of some housekeeping projects, like updating our building’s AC and parking lot.

Where do you envision Daniels Shoes in three years? God willing, we’ll still be offering the best customer service, have acquired new customers, and retained our current ones. There’s a slight possibility of adding a second location.

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Q&A

Up Close

(continued from page 13) products. We’ve just got to give them

a reason to buy ours.

Forward March

Twisted X Global Brands is expanding its Built in the USA Collection. THEY SAY YOU CAN’T go home again. Well, tell that to Twisted X Global Brands (TXGB). The Decatur, TX-based company’s Built in the USA collection (globally sourced materials assembled in the U.S.) that debuted in July has met with resounding success. The response to the nine work and mud boot styles has been so strong that the company has already added seven more work styles to deliver this December and plans to expand into casual silhouettes next year. “The response from retailers has been excellent,” confirms Jud Taylor, vice president of sales, noting that sales are over 25 percent above expectations. “The first release is selling through, which validates retailers’ confidence in the collection. And our second release features square-toe products, which fit well within the western market. They garnered a great response at WESA, Atlanta Shoe Market, and regional shows.” TXGB CEO Prasad Reddy never intended Built in the USA to be a one-off. The exec, who possesses 50 years of footwear sourcing experience, says the initiative will be an important piece to the company’s overall manufacturing strategy going forward. For example, a diversified base of sourcing partners around the world provides greater flexibility and protection from unforeseen disruptions—like trade wars. The target audience of Americans working in demanding environments also appreciates the U.S.A. tie-in. “We’re proud to showcase our pride and respect for the hardworking individuals who shape this country by meeting their footwear needs,” Reddy says. On that note, the seven new styles offer purpose-driven protection and performance features, including nano toe options, waterproof construction, electrical hazard protection, and puncture- and slip-resistant outsoles. Select styles also feature Quick Draw laces, designed for a secure fit and easy on/off wear. The current collection retails from $94.95 to $259.95. Even if footwear tariffs disappear, Taylor says TXGB will remain committed to this effort. “Built in the USA is very important to us,” he says. “We just think it’s the right thing to do, and it fits well with our demographic. So we’re going to keep building the momentum with this next assortment and add more stories to it moving forward.” Taylor is confident Built in the USA will join other great product innovations that TXGB has introduced over its 20-plus years history. Examples include CellStretch EVA midsoles that customize weight distribution and support; Blend 85 recycled foam footbeds; and the Zero-X glue-free construction. “We’re always looking for opportunities that are going to strengthen and improve our company,” he says, noting that there were hurdles that needed to be overcome to source in the States. “There was a time when making products here was something we didn’t think was possible, but we worked hard and made it happen. Now we’re building on those efforts and growing the collection substantially to make Built in the USA an increasingly important part of our business. It’s exciting.” Taylor encourages other companies to source in the U.S. The more the merrier, essentially. “More footwear manufactured in the U.S. is positive for the industry and consumers,” he says. “We hope our efforts encourage additional investment in U.S. footwear production across the industry.” —Greg Dutter

Are you eying more acquisitions soon? That’s absolutely part of our strategy, but we don’t have an acquisition quota. That’s how you make bad deals. We’re looking for strong brands, consumer equity, product credibility, good economics, cultural fit, and a reason RGB should be the owner. What capabilities can we bring that makes that business better? What does that business bring that makes RGB better? If we can’t answer both questions convincingly, we probably shouldn’t own it. What are your top goals for 2027? Next year needs to increasingly build platform potential and attain quality growth. Strengthen Dearfoams. Accelerate Baggallini. Build Gola thoughtfully. Scale Timberland and Clarks slippers. Capture the international capabilities that came with Jacobson. Build a roadmap to tap into the potential of the Lotus brand into the U.S. And, most importantly, continue bringing these organizations together so we’re leveraging one RGB platform rather than operating as a collection of separate companies. It’s also our 80th anniversary. There’s something wonderful about that, which is preserve the core and stimulate progress. We should celebrate the 80 years but spend even more time building the next 80. Where do you envision RGB in three years? I see a meaningfully larger, more global, and more diversified RGB. But size isn’t how I define the ambition. I want us to become one of the best homes in the consumer industry for great brands and great people. A place where an entrepreneur says, “If I’m going to entrust my brand to somebody, RGB can take it somewhere I can’t take it myself.” Where a licensor says, “Those people will care for my brand like it’s their own.” Where retailers say, “RGB makes us better.” And where talented people say, “That’s a place where I can build something and have a great career.” If we accomplish all that, we’ll certainly be much larger. We’ll probably have added more brands and be much more international. But the greatest thing we’ll have built is RGB itself. If I say RG Barry Brands, what words comes to mind first? Consumer-driven. Data-driven. Entrepreneurial. Ambitious. Global. What do you love most about your job, and has it changed over the years? I love building, and what’s changed is what I’m building. Earlier in my career, I thought building meant creating great products, brands, and businesses, and I still love all of that. But as my career progressed, I’ve realized the bigger opportunity is building people, teams, culture, and, ultimately, an organization capable of doing extraordinary things. That’s the biggest evolution in how I think about my contribution. A great product can have an incredible season. A great brand can have an incredible decade. But if you build a truly great organization, it can keep creating those things generation after generation. That’s what makes this stage at RGB so exciting. • 2026 october/november • footwearplusmagazine.com 37

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Footwear Plus (USPS 00069750) Published 10 times/year by Wainscot Media, 1 Maynard Drive, Suite 1202, Park Ridge, NJ 07656. Publisher; Noelle Heffernan, Wainscot Media, 1 Maynard Drive, Suite 1202, Park Ridge, NJ 07656, Editor; Greg Dutter, Wainscot Media, 1 Maynard Drive, Suite 1202, Park Ridge, NJ 07656. Subscription Price: $48.00 US. Filing Date: 9/15/26; Owner: Carroll V. Dowden, 13 Cameron Road, Saddle River, NJ 07458; Mark Dowden, 180 Washington Valley Rd., Morristown, NJ 07960; Lebhar Friedman, Inc., 241 Central Park West, New York, NY, 10024. Known Bondholders, Mortgages, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages, or Other Securities: None. Issue Date for Circulation Data: September 2026. Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months: Total # of copies: 8,065; Outside County paid/requested mail subscriptions: 4,347; In- County paid/ requested mail subscriptions: 0; Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales, and other paid or requested distribution outside USPS: 0; Requested copies distributed by other mail classes through the USPS : Total paid and/or requested circulation: 4,347; Outside County nonrequested copies: 3,597; In- County nonrequested copies: 0; Nonrequested copies distributed through the USPS by other classes of mail: 0; Nonrequested copies distributed outside the mail: 0. Total nonrequested distribution: 3,597; Total distribution: 7,944; Copies not distributed: 121; Total: 8,065; Percent paid and/ or requested circulation: 54.7%; Electronic copy distribution: a. requested and paid electronic copies: 511; Total requested and paid print copies + requested/paid electronic copies: 4,858; Total requested copy distribution + requested/paid electronic copies: 8,455; Percent paid and/or requested circulation (both print & electronic copies): 57.5%. No. Copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: Total # of copies: 8,103; Outside County paid/requested mail subscriptions: 4,570; In-County paid/requested mail subscriptions: 0; Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales, and other paid or requested distribution outside USPS: 0; Requested copies distributed by other mail classes through the USPS: 0; Total paid and/ or requested circulation: 4,570; Outside County nonrequested copies: 3,430; In-County nonrequested copies: 0; Nonrequested copies distributed through the USPS by other classes of mail: 0; Nonrequested copies distributed outside the mail: 0. Total nonrequested distribution: 3,430; Total distribution: 8,000; Copies not distributed: 103 Total: 8,103; Percent paid and/or requested circulation: 57.1%. Electronic copy distribution: requested and paid electronic copies: 605; Total requested and paid print copies + requested/paid electronic copies: 5,175; Total requested copy distribution + requested/paid electronic copies: 8,605; Percent paid and/or requested circulation (both print & electronic copies): 60.1% I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions and/or civil sanctions. Mark V. Dowden, Owner, 9/15/26

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L A S T SHO T

Window Shopping

Steve Madden André Assous

Azura

Pelle Moda Vaneli

Total Transparency

On catwalks and celebrities, see-through vinyl is a clear trend for Spring/Summer ’27. 40 footwearplusmagazine.com • october/november 2026

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In an AI-Driven World, Your Customers Expect More. Meet the next generation of 3D foot scanning technology, combining precision scanning with AI-powered shoe recommendations and hands-free voice guidance. In seconds, shoppers receive personalized fit recommendations built around their unique feet, helping retailers deliver better fits, fewer returns, and a more confident customer experience.

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