RG Barry Brands (RGB) has a long-term vision that goes beyond just slippers.
According to RG Barry chief executive officer Bob Mullaney, it all started when he was thinking about the business model and how slippers has a very busy season starting in November for holiday gift-giving, but then a relatively even-paced business throughout the rest of the year. He was also thinking about how to leverage RGB’s expertise in footwear, one that could also help the firm elevate what the CEO calls RGB’s “price architecture.”
One thought led to another and then came the acquisition of Jacobson Group and Green Market Services Co. Inc. Jacobson, acquired by RGB parent Marubeni Corp. in January, was integrated into the Marubeni lifestyle platform that includes RGB. The company disclosed in November that it was acquiring Green Market.
“Jacobson was definitely the signal that we’re going to go beyond slippers,” Mullaney said in a telephone interview. “We needed to go global. We’re really strong in the States in the slipper category, but we needed the ability to take our brands — Dearfoams and handbag brand Baggallini, and now the global rights of Clarks slippers with Green Market — and setting up and doing it on our own in Europe and the U.K.” Green Market also gave RGB the rights to Timberland’s slipper collection.
For RGB, acquiring Jacobson was a no-brainer. “Jacobson allowed us to immediately have a European headquarters, and obviously expertise in the market and [between] operating systems and warehouses, an operating base,” he said.
What’s key now is the Gola sneaker brand RGB acquired through Jacobson.
“Gola is a global brand,” he said, noting that the exciting part about the deal is that it brought RGB to the heart of the sports lifestyle sneaker business, a category that he doesn’t see going away anytime soon given current fashion trends and consumer preferences.
“Slippers is a very, very small percentage of the footwear industry, whereas the athletic or sports lifestyle sneaker Shoe Industry News is much more substantial in the U.S. and globally,” Mullaney said. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to compete against the Nikes of the world, but there is plenty of room to be very intentional about who our consumer is and how we manage the brand appropriately to serve our market segments.”
The CEO said the main consumers are millennial females, Gen Z females and Gen Z males, and within sneakers, one of the key segments is the trainer, or low-profile running shoe. Gola sneakers are currently priced at between $110 and $125, and are produced in Southeast Asia, primarily in Indonesia, Vietnam and China.
“We think that the female millennial consumer is going buy four to six styles a year. Hopefully, our price point is elevated, but accessible,” he said, adding that the brand will soon have a good, better and best strategy on pricing. The starting point will be premium pricing, with elevation at better and best via collaborations and partnerships. The pricing structure will be available in fall 2027, with hints of that in spring 2027.
“This consumer is affluent,” Mullaney said, noting that while she can afford the price increase, the key is really getting the customer what she wants in the shoe. Quality is key, and so long as “there’s perceived value, she will be willing to pay for it,” he said. “That’s why we believe strongly that we’re going to be able to go up to over $200 with brand partnerships and collaborations.”
While there are sales of Gola in the U.S., being a U.K. firm, the brand is really strong in Europe across the U.K., Germany, France and Spain. Mullaney said RGB is keeping distribution tight, to help maintain the allure of scarcity. In the U.S., the brand is sold at specialty doors such as Anthropologie, and at select retailers such as Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, as well as at independent boutiques.
Now that Mullaney has built an early framework for a platform aimed at expansion, he has only one thing to say about future acquisitions: “We’re definitely not done.”
As for criteria, he said all future acquisitions will need to be “complementary” and which brands that will eventually be onboarded will depend on how RGB can leverage its strengths. “And then, where does the acquired business bring capabilities that elevate the platform? So they have to bring something to the table,” he explained. “We’re not just looking for additional revenue. We’re looking for brand strengths, geography strengths.”
The deal with Green Market also accomplishes RGB’s criteria set, as both Clark’s and Timberland sell at higher price points. Those businesses also enable the company to learn new techniques, while the global licenses help move RGB from what was primarily a focus in the North American market for Dearfoams into the international arena. The Green Market deal wasn’t about a cost-efficiency play, but about “acceleration and elevation,” Mullaney emphasized.
As he thinks about future deals, acquisitions are the preference for expansion, given the ability to have a “clear influence over the brand, the strategy, the consumer strategy, the product direction and the long-term brand equity,” Mullaney said.
But he’s not stopping at sneakers either.
“Sandals should be in our future,” the RGB CEO said, noting that there’s been a “melding of the outdoor comfort shoe and a slipper.” He sees the sandal category as a “more significant way to balance out spring to fall,” given the slipper concentration over the holiday season. And because it already owns the Baggallini brand, a bigger foray into the bag category can’t be ruled out down the road.
Luckily for RGB, the sale of the firm by Blackstone and Mill Road Capital in June 2024 to Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp. gives it some heft to its expansion plans.
“Marubeni is a consumer platform [and] they have a real global mindset…. The Japanese culture is always thinking for the long term, which is great,” Mullaney said. “What we’re building here and what we love about our partners at Marubeni is that this is long term.”
Looks from Clarks slippers and Gola sneakers.
Courtesy of RG Barry
