Footwear Insight

8 • Footwear Insight ~ November/December 2018 footwearinsight.com THE FOOTWEAR EYE H ari Mari has had a busy year. The Dallas-based flip-flop brand has tripled its kids business, added styles and received a design patent for its memory foam toe post. But the brand is planning its biggest step into new territory yet: in January, it will launch its first closed-toe men's shoes with a three-style collection designed to carry the relaxed style of their sandals into footwear. "We wanted to be really methodical and do it the right way," Hari Mari founder Lila Stewart says, adding that plans for this extension have been in the works for the past three years. "We didn't want to pivot too far, so [the question was] how do you keep the spirit of where we started as a flip-flop company?" The debut line features three styles: the $120 Desert Boot, the $85 Dos Santos Retro Runner and the $140 CanyonTrek Chukka. Features across the line include memory foam on tongues and collars, propri- etary patterns on the interiors and dual-density EVA midsoles and suedes and canvases. The soft launch will deliver to select retailers in the brand's 1500 accounts this January, with a full rollout ready for Fall '19. And Stewart says women aren't being left out. "We're more than doubling our women's assortment for 2019," she says, with new colors and lines to broaden their appeal to new customers. The new styles, Stewart says, will give the brand the direction it needs for a closed-toe launch in women's in 2020. — Jennifer Ernst Beaudry V F Corp.-owned Vans is targeting $5 billion in revenues by 2023. The objective represents a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10-12 percent. In Q2, Vans' revenues rose 26 percent with "strong growth" across regions, channels and product categories. Vans' direct- to-consumer sales were up 29 percent in the period and VF is forecasting 18-19 percent revenue growth for Vans this fiscal year. "Common sense would tell you that it [topline growth[ might moderate," VFC presi- dent and CEO Steve Rendle told analysts. "But I'd tell you, at this point, we just haven't had evidence of that." Vans' Q2 Americas' growth of 34 percent included a strong increase in heritage foot- wear and a doubling of volume for the brand's UltraRange footwear. Wholesale revenues across the region were 40 percent higher with DTC gaining 31 percent. A potential pitfall for Vans going forward may be its reliance on China as a sourcing base, particularly if new tariffs from the Trump Administration affect footwear and apparel imports from that country. Recent research from Coresight, citing company reports, Wedbush Securities and the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), shows that Vans, with 73 percent of all production housed in China, is second only to Steve Madden (93 percent) in percentage of footwear sourced from China. — Bob McGee Hari Mari Launches Closed-Toe Footwear Can Vans Stay Red Hot? PRODUCT LAUNCH FORECAST Hari Mari CanyonTrek Chukka Vans UltraRange footwear

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