Footwear Insight

and outdoor footwear. As we navigate the ongoing supply chain and delivery challenges, we remain dedicated to a regular cadence of open and concise communications with our suppliers and retail partners. is effort has been met with appreciation from our partners that outweighs their expected frustration levels. Focusing on what we can control is a skill we've certainly mastered in the past 20 or so months." - Karen McSorley, brand manager, Kodiak "Despite the challenges we have faced since March 2020, the fact that we had three manufacturing plants in North America helped us get ahead of the curve. Our domestic manufacturing also contributes to our sustainability efforts, with a zero-waste target in our plants and overall reducing our carbon footprint." - Taline Djourian, brand manager, Kamik "Market challenges include cost increases, factory supply chain issues, transportation logistics issues, access to production capacity, as well as HR and labor availability at the factory level due to COVID-19. Overall, Asian supply chain issues are significantly worse when compared to related European supply chain concerns. 80% of our product offering is sourced through one of our three company-owned and operated manufacturing factories located in Europe. While we are facing inflation across our raw material sourcing, we have been able to hold our consumer pricing levels to date." - Canice Harte, VP, sales and marketing, AKU Outdoor, USA "Our products are in demand, a demand that has far superseded our ability to supply the marketplace. I believe the future of footwear manufacturing will be impacted long term, with factories and brands focused more on reducing complexity, time on the line, and constructions. Our 2023 lines are being developed now and we are very bullish about what those seasons hold and the ability for the supply chain to recover and keep up with demand." - Chris Hufnagel, global brand president, Merrell "Our approach throughout the pandemic has been transparency and working as closely with our partners as possible, and that will drive us into 2022. We've tried to keep them as in stock as we can while focusing on our top selling styles and keeping new product launches relatively condensed. We've asked our partners to navigate these challenges with us in an effort to continue serving our customers." - Mike Roundhouse, VP and GM, Rocky Brands "Our team is working hard to secure enough inventory in the face of unprecedented disruptions and delays. We are adding production capacity as quickly as possible, and feel very optimistic about the outlook for 2022." - Beth Cross, co-founder and CEO, Ariat "We have encountered shipping delays and supply chain impacts. We've been working tirelessly to ensure this has minimal impact on our customers. We are utilizing consumer insights to prioritize collections to inject into the market early to meet both retailer and consumer needs. Being agile and nimble has become the norm to keep ahead of the challenging environment." - Steven Holt, brand president, Rockport "We had a tremendous grow th spurt in 2021 despite the worldwide shipping crisis. 2022 looks to be an even bigger opportunity for growth. We have worked with our suppliers and factories and challenged them to move up timelines, production schedules and shipping schedules. We have asked our customers to place orders sooner than they have in the past. We expect the shipping crisis to continue well into 2022, so moving up our timelines should help us meet our customers' needs with regards to inventory." – Craig Hahn, senior partner, Dryshod West footwearinsight.com January / February 2022 ~ Footwear Insight • 39

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