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Steve Madden CEO Edward R. Rosenfeld said footwear grew across the company’s brand portfolio in the third quarter. At the flagship brand, casual shoes led growth, while booties and heels also performed strongly and tall-shaft boots declined. The company reported third-quarter revenue of $772.6 million, up 15.7% year over year.
Steve Madden reported footwear growth across its brand portfolio in the third quarter, with casual shoes driving the flagship brand and booties and heels also performing strongly, CEO Edward R. Rosenfeld told investors. The gains came as sales of tall-shaft boots declined, offering a more specific picture of which fall styles helped support the company’s wholesale and direct-to-consumer business.
Rosenfeld said the Steve Madden flagship brand led the company’s growth, with strength across footwear, accessories and apparel and in both wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels. Within footwear, he described casuals as an area of exceptional growth. Strong sales of booties and heels more than offset the decline in tall-shaft boots, he said. The company did not provide style-by-style sales figures or a breakdown of the footwear growth by channel.
At Dolce Vita, consumers responded to ballet flats, loafers, Mary Janes and wedge mules, according to Rosenfeld. Suede and animal-print materials and seasonal shades including oxblood, jade and chocolate brown also performed well across shoes and handbags. Madden Girl and the company’s men’s footwear line were showing strong growth compared with the prior year, he said. In men’s, Rosenfeld pointed to loafers and updated dress shoes as beneficiaries of a shift by some consumers away from sneakers, while adding that some sneaker styles were still selling well.
The company’s financial results provide the wider business context: for the quarter ended September 30, net income more than doubled to $52.4 million, or 72 cents per diluted share. Total revenue increased 15.7% to $772.6 million; reported net sales also rose 15.7%, to $767.9 million, with the remainder of revenue coming from licensing income. Those companywide figures do not show how much footwear, or any individual style, contributed to the increase.
Which Fall Styles Gained Ground
The results show that fall footwear demand was not uniform across styles. Casual shoes, booties and heels grew at the flagship brand, while tall-shaft boots declined; Dolce Vita’s mix of flats, loafers, Mary Janes and wedge mules added other styles that resonated with customers. That distinction matters to retailers and investors weighing which products may be supporting sales, but the company has not disclosed unit sales or revenue by style.
Rosenfeld also connected the men’s business to changing consumer choices, particularly greater interest in loafers and updated dress shoes. He said increased marketing and product upgrades could make men’s footwear a growth opportunity, framing that as a future possibility rather than a guaranteed result. The company’s total revenue gain suggests broad business momentum, but it cannot be attributed solely to the fall footwear mentioned on the call.
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Brand Results Beyond the Flagship
The earnings call covered several labels, not just Steve Madden. Rosenfeld said Anne Klein and Betsey Johnson were on pace for strong gains for the year. At Kurt Geiger, he discussed a limited-edition Paddington Bear collaboration and new retail locations, including a full-price store in SoHo and a premium outlet in Desert Hills, California. The brand’s handbag and footwear shop-in-shops were operating at Macy’s Herald Square and 13 other locations, with the possibility of reaching 40 or 42 locations by spring 2027, he said.
Rosenfeld said Kurt Geiger continued to perform and make money, while its overall business was slightly down because its concessions business was lower. Separately, Dolce Vita held a month-long October residency in Brooklyn, which the CEO described as a way to connect with customers and better understand them. These brand developments provide portfolio context, but the earnings-call account did not quantify their individual effects on quarterly results.
“Exceptional growth in casuals, along with strong performance in booties and heels [that] more than offset a decline in tall shaft boots.”
— Edward R. Rosenfeld, Steve Madden CEO
Style-Level Sales Still Undisclosed
The company has not published sales figures by footwear style, brand or sales channel in the supplied earnings-call account. It is not clear how much of the overall revenue increase came from footwear, or how the reported style trends compare with the same quarter last year. Rosenfeld’s comments describe performance but do not quantify it.
Costs also remain subject to change. CFO Zine Mazouzi said the company lowered its fourth-quarter tariff assumption for products received to the 12.5% range from 15% in its prior guidance. He expected inbound freight to continue affecting costs and cited an anticipated impact of about 20 basis points for outbound freight to stores or e-commerce customers. The exact effect on margins was not established in the call account.
Fourth-Quarter Costs and Spring Plans
Investors will be watching the company’s fourth-quarter results and updated cost guidance for evidence of how tariff and freight assumptions affect margins. Management said it would have more information on Kurt Geiger’s range of margin targets once it had a clearer understanding of the future tariff regime. Rosenfeld also described a possible expansion of Kurt Geiger shop-in-shops to 40 or 42 locations by spring 2027; that remains a possibility, not a confirmed final store count.
The next results should also indicate whether the fall footwear mix—especially casual shoes, booties, heels and the styles highlighted at Dolce Vita—continues to support growth. The company has not provided a forecast in the supplied material for those individual categories.
Key Questions
Which Steve Madden footwear styles grew in the third quarter?
CEO Edward R. Rosenfeld said casual shoes grew exceptionally at the flagship brand, while booties and heels also performed strongly. Their performance more than offset a decline in tall-shaft boots.
Which Dolce Vita styles did the company say performed well?
Rosenfeld cited ballet flats, loafers, Mary Janes and wedge mules. He also said suede, animal print and seasonal colors including oxblood, jade and chocolate brown resonated with customers.
How much did Steve Madden’s revenue increase?
Total revenue for the quarter ended September 30 rose 15.7% to $772.6 million. Reported net sales were $767.9 million, also up 15.7%; licensing income accounted for the remaining revenue.
Did the company report sales for each footwear style?
No style-level sales figures were provided in the supplied earnings-call report. The CEO described which styles performed well, but the company did not quantify their individual contributions.
What costs could affect the next quarter?
The CFO said the company expected continued inbound freight effects and assumed a 12.5% tariff rate range for products received in the fourth quarter, down from its prior 15% assumption. The final impact on margins was not yet clear.
Source: wwd.com
