Latest Headlines – Page 5
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Birkenstock seeks copyright protection as applied art for signature sandals
Birkenstock is seeking copyright protection for its signature cork-soled sandals as “works of applied art”. The German company, based in Linz am Rhein in the Rhineland-Palatinate region, filed three separate lawsuits for copyright infringement with Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (BGH), the country’s highest court for civil matters, against alleged ...
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Stella’s revenues slip in the fourth quarter
In the final quarter of 2024, Stella International’s revenues declined by 0.7 percent to $377.7 million from $380.3 million a year earlier. Shipment volume rose by 3.0 percent to 13.6 million pairs, but the average selling price (ASP) dipped by 3.1 percent to $27.90. In the full year, revenues increased ...
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European footwear consumption seen anemic in 2025
Europe is expected to lag all other continents in terms of footwear consumption this year, according to a survey of experts published in the latest Business Condition Survey of World Footwear. On average, global footwear consumption, in volume, is forecast to rise by 8.4 percent in 2025 compared with 2024, ...
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Next lifts prices to cover wage, tax costs and warns of slower growth
Next is increasing prices to offset higher wage and tax costs while anticipating slower growth but still managed to lift full-year guidance again after better-than-expected December sales. Like-for-like prices will rise by 1 percent, raising £13 million (€15.7m), in response to the £73 million (€88m) in extra wage and national ...
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Italian footwear manufacturers revenues estimated down by over 9% in 2024
In the third quarter of 2024, revenues of Italian footwear manufacturers fell by an estimated 10.9 percent year-on-year, a slight acceleration compared with the first half of the year, when turnover fell by 9.1 percent. Over the first nine months of 2024, the industry’s revenues are estimated to have fallen ...
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Lloyd unveils its new brand identity
After changing names from Lloyd Shoes to Lloyd Lifestyle GmbH following its acquisition last year by the Swiss sports and lifestyle firm Arklyz, the German shoemaker unveiled its new brand identify, which includes the new claim “Own the Moments”. “This rebrand is all about embracing change and moving forward to ...
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Geox plans to raise €60m to finance its business plan
Geox announced a refinancing program that includes €60 million in fresh capital to finance its business plan spanning from 2025 to 2029. The Italian footwear company reached an agreement with a pool of banks – including Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, Banco BPM, BPER Banca, ...
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How Murcia’s shoemakers are exiting the 2024 jubilee year and preparing for 2025
After celebrating in 2024 the jubilee of Caravaca de la Cruz, the fifth holiest city of Catholic Christianity with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Camaleño, Calzia, a consortium of shoemakers located in Spain’s southeastern region of Murcia, is focusing on its next challenges. These include managing a slowdown in ...
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Emerging designer: Sustainability is Sneark’s signature style
Acutely aware that every year some 15 billion pairs of sneakers are produced and that a mere twelve months later the vast majority end up in landfills or are incinerated along with other household waste, Lello Romano, an architect and designer with a particular penchant for footwear based in Agrigento, ...
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Surveys paint a bleak picture of Germany’s holiday season sales
The shopping period leading up to the holiday season has brought more disappointment than cheer for both Germany’s online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores. The grim picture was painted by two surveys: the report of the German retail association, HDE, on brick-and-mortar sales in the week leading up to Dec. 15, ...
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Boohoo’s shareholders reject Mike Ashley’s bid for board seat
Boohoo’s shareholders have thwarted a bid by major shareholder and Frasers Group founder Mike Ashley to take a seat on the board of the struggling British online fashion retailer after they voted against the move in a special meeting. In a statement, Boohoo said that 64 percent of votes cast ...
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Equita Smart Capital expands its footwear manufacturing hub
The Italian fund Equita Smart Capital-Eltif, has acquired GT Emme, a producer of insoles and stripes for luxury women’s shoes located in Santa Maria a Monte, near the Tuscan town of Pisa. GT Emme posted sales of more than €5 million in 2023 and has a staff of 33 people. ...
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Shoe Zone sees full-year profits halved as sales fall on weak consumer confidence, weather
Shoe Zone has halved earnings forecasts in another profit warning and claimed that recent tax and wage measures in the recent British government’s budget would force it to close an unspecified number of stores. The low-cost UK footwear retailer said it had experienced “very challenging trading conditions” between the start ...
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Birkenstock posts higher-than-expected Q4 results
Birkenstock reported revenues of €456 million in its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30, up by 22 percent on the year earlier on both a reported and constant currency basis. Financial analysts were expecting a top line of €440 million. The sandal maker posted strong double-digit revenue growth across all segments, ...
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Hong Fu breaks ground on its Tamil Nadu factory
On Dec. 16, MK Stalin, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, laid the foundation stone for a manufacturing unit of the Taiwanese footwear firm Hong Fu Industrial Group at the SIPCOT Park Industrial Estate at Panapakkam in the Ranipet district. The 1,500 crore rupee (€168 million) ...
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Designer Brands continues to ‘de-weatherize‘ business as Q3 boot sales slump 27%
Designer Brands said it would continue to take steps to reduce its reliance on seasonal footwear after sales of boots slumped 27 percent in the third quarter ended Nov. 2, nearly double the 15 percent decline it had forecast. Slumping boot sales came amid unseasonably warm weather in September and ...
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Swiss online retail sales set to hit a new record high
Online retail in Switzerland is set to hit a record high this year, with significant changes in consumer behavior, while Chinese e-commerce players are steadily on the rise. Footwear is following the same trend, according to a survey conducted by the University of St. Gallen among 1,334 people in the ...
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Zalando to take over About You
As part of its plans to create a pan-European e-commerce platform, German online retailer Zalando is acquiring the fashion group About You for €1.1 billion. Volker Bosse, a financial analyst at Baader Helvea Equity Research, noted that from ”a market perspective, it is a bold consolidation step in the ...
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Online spending up sharply among young Germans
Young German consumers are spending significantly more online, with influencers shaping their choices more and more, and social shopping likely to remain a key driver of online retail growth, according to a survey conducted by Postbank among 1,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 18. In the ...
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Ecco has a new CEO
Ecco’s CEO, Panos Mytaros, has stepped down and been replaced by the group’s Chief Commercial Officer, Thomas Gøgsig. No explanation was given regarding the change at the helm. However, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the Danish footwear group has been criticized by the country’s Prime Minister, ...