Nick Wooster has worn a lot of hats over the course of his 30-plus year career in fashion. He started out as a buyer and over the years has worked at companies as varied as Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, Thom Browne and JCPenney.
But despite his long tenure in the industry, he’s been focused almost exclusively on men’s apparel — until now.
Allen Edmonds, the Wisconsin-based heritage men’s shoe brand whose history dates to 1922, has brought Wooster on board as creative consultant.
In his new role Wooster will collaborate closely with the Allen Edmonds team to provide creative direction, insights on product design, and perspective on emerging trends, the company said.
In an interview from Tokyo, where he was attending that city’s fashion week, Wooster said he worked with Allen Edmonds about 1 ½ years ago on a social media program and stayed in touch with the team, including Jay Schmidt, chief executive officer of Caleres, Allen Edmonds’ parent. So when they reached out about him taking on a larger role with the brand, he was quick to sign on.
“I have such respect for heritage brands in general, and American heritage brands in particular,” Wooster said. “And I haven’t worked with a U.S. brand for a while.”
He pointed to the fact that Allen Edmonds has a factory in Wisconsin, a merchandising team in St. Louis and a base in New York as advantages.
Wooster said he has worked “tangentially” with some shoe brands over the years and during the height of the pandemic, he did some programs with the British shoe brand Grenson and the Italian shoe company Scarosso. But this new position with Allen Edmonds will allow him to delve more deeply into the footwear arena.
By immersing himself in the shoe side of the business, Wooster said he’ll work with Allen Edmonds on products and storytelling and will draw on “all the skills I’ve had the good fortune to amass over the past 37 years,” to apply his distinct point of view, taste level and understanding of the market to this new role. “I go to Tokyo and Europe twice a year and go to stores constantly. I continue to love stores,” he said. “I hope to bring that point of view to Allen Edmonds.”
He’s already doing his homework. Wooster said he recently walked Micam, one of the industry’s leading shoe shows in Milan, and was impressed. “I’d never been to it before and I couldn’t believe how huge it was,” he said.
Wooster also plans to apply his expertise in men’s fashion to Allen Edmonds. He said that much like men’s apparel, comfort is paramount to today’s footwear customer. Although he doesn’t expect guys to stop wearing sneakers, “I believe in the power of boots, sandals and loafers,” he said.
Wooster added that much like jeans remain a staple of men’s wardrobes, “people won’t stop wearing sneakers. That’s the thing we associate with comfort, but shoes are just as viable a category. I’ve been off sneakers for the past five years and I love shoes and boots.”
He said the comfort technology that brands such as Allen Edmonds have infused into their products, particularly their soles, should help boost business.
Boots in particular are expected to be popular this fall, Wooster said, and there are opportunities for Allen Edmonds to complement “all the things happening in ready-to-wear,” including a trend toward wider and more oversize pants.
“People need things that do triple duty,” he said. “Except for formal occasions, there are very few single-use shoes.”
Wooster also pointed to the 50-plus Allen Edmonds stores as opportunities for the company. “In addition to footwear, the network of Allen Edmonds stores has a range of non-shoe product: outerwear, knitwear, bags, small leather goods, socks and belts — both third party and AE branded. So there is an entire universe of dressing a man from head to toe. This is a great way to utilize my experience from the past too.”
Although Allen Edmonds has a long history offering comfort technology in dress shoes, in recent years the brand has also partnered with trend-setting apparel brands such as Willy Chavarria to further its reach. For fall, it created the Jalisco, a split-toe derby oxford with a 54 mm Cuban heel intended to complement the more-tailored pieces in Chavarria’s collection. Allen Edmonds also released an elevated, hand-crafted offering called the Reserve Collection retailing for up to $3,000.
Caleres will release its fourth quarter and year-end 2024 earnings on Thursday, but in January, the company updated its outlook, saying that due to soft sales overall in the holiday period and weather-related closures at its Famous Footwear division, the corporation is now expecting sales to decline 3 percent to 3.5 percent and earnings per share of between $3.10 to $3.20. It did not provide details on Allen Edmonds specifically.
However in the third-quarter earnings, released in December, Caleres reported new sneakers and dress loafers were among the best performers for Allen Edmonds while boots underperformed.
