Lowa Boots 100TH ANNIVERSARY
THE HEIGHTS Marking its 100th anniversary, Lowa Boots General Manager Peter Sachs reflects on the brand’s many high points and sets his sights on the rising trail ahead. By Greg Dutter
WHEN IT COMES to Lowa Boots, no one is a more dedicated student of the brand—and the market it serves—than General Manager Peter Sachs. That’s because Sachs has spent his entire 47-year career working in the outdoor sports industry and the past 27 years at the helm of Lowa Boots. In fact, he is employee No. 1 of the German brand’s Greenwich, CT-based U.S. outpost and largely responsible for guiding Lowa on its path to becoming a specialty market leader here. It’s been a steady climb, one that has enabled Lowa to get acclimated at each new level before ascending to the next. Sachs has always held the brand’s long-term health top of mind. There have been no detours off the trail with misguided category extensions or chasing shortterm sales bumps at the expense of more stable, longer-term growth. Indeed, the key to Lowa’s longevity is consistency in its product, people, and passion for the outdoors.
“The people who’ve owned and managed the brand have always had a very consistent business plan,” Sachs says, praising the founding Wagner family followed in 1993 by the Zanata family for their even-keel approach. “That plan has always been: Let’s make our product in Europe, using the best-quality materials and state-of-the-art constructions, and sell consistently at full price and not be discounting every day.” The consistency, Sachs says, has enabled Lowa to capitalize on great years and weather downturns, avoiding huge roller coaster rides. “Even in 2020 when everybody took a hit, it wasn’t a big hit for us because of our consistent business plan,” he says, noting that the following two years saw healthy growth. “We had about a 30 percent increase in sales in 2021 and maintained it in 2022, and if we can get our inventory under control, we’ll end up with an increase in the mid- to high-single digits this year.” Looking out five years, Sachs says the goal is to grow the business by at least 50 percent. He’s quite “bullish” on reaching that number, thanks to a growing overall outdoor category, market share gains, and new product introductions. These include the brand’s entry into the trail running category and its new tactical boot, the Zephyr MK2, this year, followed by the latest update to its No. 1-selling Renegade boot next year. “Having a really stable business gives us the platform to keep bringing new products to market, and that gives us opportunities to open some doors as well as to sell more pairs within existing shelf space, all of which adds up,” he says.
Sachs knows full well that another owner could have charted a far different path for Lowa. “A venture capital firm or public company could have set expectations that might have been achievable one year, but then the economy could have gone south, or there would have been an interruption, like the pandemic or a war like in Ukraine, and it would no longer have been sustainable,” he explains. “Suddenly, the business plan would have been put on the shelf and we’d have needed to make those numbers, so maybe we’d have cut prices so we could sell X amount more units…and then it becomes a roller coaster. We work hard to avoid those ups and downs, which I think is rare in this business.” Another rarity is sticking to select retail channels and, more notably, standing by individual accounts, regardless of their order sizes. “We haven’t cut off that specialty dealer who may only buy 40 to 50 pairs a year,” Sachs says. “We’ve stayed true to those dealers through good years and bad years.” Outdoor Sports Center in Wilton, CT, is one such longtime Lowa dealer. Arlo Tarr, footwear buyer for the past 11 years, says the relationship stretches back well before his time. “I’m guessing it’s 30 years or maybe longer,” he says. “And I worked at Diamond Brand Outdoors in North Carolina prior, and it was the same there.” Tarr credits Lowa’s “phenomenal” quality for its longevity. “Their boots break in the easiest,” he says, citing the Renegade as its bestseller for years. “Renegades are never returned for warranty or fit issues, and Lowa makes them in narrows and widths and doesn’t change them often, which customers love. They come back and say, ‘Hey Arlo, I’m ready for another size 10’ and
20 footwearplusmagazine.com • july 2023
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