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{{Short description|American footwear company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Caleres Inc.
| logo = Caleres (New Logo).jpg
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| traded_as = {{ubl|{{nyse|CAL}}|[[S&P 600]] component}}
| former_name = Brown Shoe Company<br />(1875–2015)
| status =
| foundation = {{start date and age|1875}}
| location = [[Clayton, Missouri]], U.S.
| locations = 1,369 (January 2011)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bigpinecones.com/|title=รองเท้าผู้หญิง 10 ยี่ห้อรองเท้าที่ได้รัความนิยมากที่สุด และทนทานดีที่สุด|website=รองเท้าผู้หญิง อัพเดทรองเท้าใหม่ๆทุกวัน|access-date=3 December 2022}}</ref>
| key_people = Jay Schmidt ([[CEO]])
| industry = [[Retail]], [[wholesale]]
| products = [[Footwear]]
| revenue = {{steady}}$2.968 billion (2022)<ref>{{cite report |date= February 24, 2023 |title= FORM 10-K |url= https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000014707/4a509f85-3340-427f-94e2-587a24bec7ee.pdf |publisher= [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] |page= 54|access-date= November 9, 2023 |quote= Net sales: $2.968 billion}}</ref>
| num_employees = 13,400<ref name="HOOVERS">[http://www.hoovers.com/company/Brown_Shoe_Company_Inc/rftcti-1.html "Brown Shoe Company"], data from [[Hoover's]]</ref>
| homepage = {{URL|caleres.com}}
}}
'''Caleres Inc.''' is an American footwear company that owns and operates a variety of footwear brands. Its headquarters is located in [[Clayton, Missouri]], a suburb of [[St. Louis]].<ref name="Claytonmap">"[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/MapItDrawServlet?geo_id=16000US2914572&_bucket_id=50&tree_id=420&context=saff&_lang=en&_sse=on Clayton city, Missouri] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090906013625/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/MapItDrawServlet?geo_id=16000US2914572&_bucket_id=50&tree_id=420&context=saff&_lang=en&_sse=on |date=2009-09-06 }}." ''[[U.S. Census Bureau]]''. Retrieved on June 13, 2009.</ref><!--Use the address and the map to confirm the true location as Clayton, MO--><ref>"[http://www.brownshoe.com/about/ We're Brown Shoe]." Brown Shoe Company. Retrieved on January 23, 2010.</ref> Founded in 1878 as '''Bryan, Brown & Company''' in St. Louis, it underwent several name changes;<ref name=":0" /> for a time, the '''Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company''' was the largest manufacturer of shoes in America. It went bankrupt in June 1939.<ref name=caleres />
In the 1970s, Brown operated [[Famous Footwear]], Cloth World fabric stores, Bottom Half jeans stores, and [[Meis (department store)|Meis]] department stores.<ref name=missouria /> On May 27, 2015, Brown Shoe changed its name to Caleres.<ref name=ourhistory /> Current brands include [[Famous Footwear]], Sam Edelman, [[Allen Edmonds]], Naturalizer, and Vionic.
== History ==
=== 1886–1900: Brown Shoe Company ===
[[File:Brown Shoe logo.svg|thumb|100px|Previous logo]]
The company was created in St. Louis and was originally named Bryan, Brown & Company after its founders George Warren Brown and Alvin Bryan. The company began business in 1878 and incorporated in 1881 as Bryan-Brown Shoe Company.<ref name=":0" /> Founder George Warren Brown moved from New York to St. Louis in 1873 to work in his older brother’s shoe business, and saw potential for shoe manufacturing in St. Louis. At that point, most shoes were manufactured in New England. After four years in his brother’s wholesale shoe business, Brown had the funds to found Bryan, Brown and Company to make women’s shoes, with Alvin L. Bryan and Jerome Desnoyers also as investors. The company hired five skilled shoemakers from [[Rochester, New York]], to start the factory in St. Louis, and it grew quickly. In 1878, it had sales of $110,000.<ref name=uni />
In 1881, it was incorporated as the Bryan Brown Shoe Company.<ref name=uni /> In 1886, the company became the Brown-Desnoyers Shoe Company, after Mr. Bryan retired. In 1893, Mr. J.B. Desnoyers also retired, and the name was changed to Brown Shoe Company.<ref name=uni /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=St. Louis Up To Date: The Great Industrial Hive of the Mississippi Valley. Richly Endowed by Nature as a Port of Entry, a Manufacturing Centre, and a Place of Residence. A Glance at Her History, a Review of Her Commerce, and a Description of Her Leading Business Enterprises; With Illustrations of Her Public and Commercial Buildings and Places of Interest|publisher=Consolidated Illustrating Co.|year=1895|location=St. Louis, MO}}</ref> In 1895, the Brown Shoe Company factory had about six hundred employees who could make five thousand pairs of shoes and boots a day.<ref name=":0" />  The company competed as Brown shoes were sold throughout the Midwest at prices lower than New England shoes, and by 1900 the company was growing at a rate of $1 million a year.<ref name=":0" /> Four years later the company bought the rights to [[Buster Brown]], a character developed by cartoonist [[Richard F. Outcault]] they would use for marketing.<ref name=uni />
=== 1901 – 1920s: Growth and labor issues ===
As Brown Shoes grew, St. Louis became increasingly known as a center for shoe manufacturing, and competing factories set up in the city.<ref name=uni />
In 1904, a deadly elevator accident occurred at a Brown Shoe factory in St. Louis. It happened on January 13 when a crowd of employees was waiting for the elevator at the factory and someone raised the elevator gate, causing 10 people to fall down the shaft. At least 8 people were killed and the other 2 were described as "fatally injured." It's unclear if they succumbed to their injuries.<ref>{{cite web|title=Brown Shoe Company Elevator Accident |publisher=[[Herald & Review|The Decatur Herald]] |date=13 January 1904 |url=http://www.gendisasters.com/missouri/21399/st-louis-mo-brown-shoe-company-elevator-accident-feb-1904}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Nine Boys and A Man Fall Down Shaft |publisher=Ken Zimmerman Jr. |date=30 January 2014 |url=https://kenzimmermanjr.com/boys-and-man-fall-down-shaft/}}</ref>
By 1902, Brown Shoe had five factories operating in St. Louis, and in 1907, the company set up its first plant out of the city, where labor was cheaper in [[Moberly, Missouri]]. In 1907, the company moved its headquarters to a building in downtown St. Louis. During this time of high competition, Brown Shoes kept profits high by keeping labor costs as low as possible, as the cost of plant equipment and materials were somewhat fixed. As the work became more mechanized, shoe factory jobs required less skill, and in the industry at large, positions were increasingly filled by women and children, who could be paid less. In 1911, a survey of shoe workers in St. Louis found that over half were between the ages of 14 and 19, with an average wage for a girl under 16 less than $10 a week. In response to the poor working conditions at shoe factories in the St. Louis area, including Brown Shoes', workers formed unions; the moderate [[Boot and Shoe Workers Union]] was followed by the more radical [[United Shoe Workers of America]]. The latter was associated with the [[Industrial Workers of the World]]. Strikes led to anti-union activities among workers as well, and the creation of the anti-union propaganda organization Citizens Industrial Association in St. Louis. Partly in response to the union activity, Brown Shoe Company increasingly turned to labor in the small towns in the surrounding area. With management remaining in St. Louis, the company secured tax subsidies from various towns to open factories in rural [[Missouri]] and [[Illinois]].<ref name=uni />
Brown Shoe Company debuted on the [[New York Stock Exchange]] in 1913.<ref name=uni>[http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Brown-Shoe-Company-Inc-Company-History.html "Brown Shoe Company, Inc.,"] Funding Universe, fundinguniverse.com —Extensive and detailed company history</ref>  Starting in 1917, the company secured lucrative military contracts with the [[United States government]]. The company encountered a crisis in 1920, when a rise in hemlines made many of Brown's high-topped shoes unfashionable and overstocked. The company had to go to [[Boston]] to secure credit from a bank, and the company then did well until the [[stock market crash of 1929]].<ref name=uni />
=== 1930s: Great Depression and bankruptcy ===
During the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s the company struggled to keep costs down, and workers' wages dropped, with a government investigation finding that workers at one plant were paid as little as "$2.50 and $3.00 for a 60-hour week." During this time the company also remained fiercely anti-union, even closing a plant in Vincennes, [[Indiana]], in 1933 when the workers there held a strike for recognition. The company also reportedly used physical intimidation against union organizers, hiring a strike-breaking agency and infiltrating the unions themselves.<ref name=uni /> The Illinois Federation of Labor forced a grand-jury investigation into Brown in 1935, after a union representative was almost tarred and feathered. There were no resultant indictments, although the Regional Labor Board in St. Louis did later issue a complaint, where they cited Brown for intimidation of employees using agents and officers, and [[unfair labor practices]]. The subsequent hearing revealed that John A. Bush had hired the A.A. Ahner detective agency in 1934, an agency known for [[strike-breaking]].<ref name=uni /> In 1936, Brown was cited by the [[National Labor Relations Board]] for violating the [[Wagner Act]] over the company dissolving the Salem local union, but Brown would not reinstate workers fired for union activity. The [[Fair Labor Standard Act]] of 1938 mandated that the remaining Brown workers receive higher wages.<ref name=uni />
The company went bankrupt in June 1939, after a failure to raise fresh capital for a reorganization. Stock of the company was suspended on the [[St. Louis Stock Exchange]] on June 23, 1939. The last transaction saw shares sold for 20 cents each, after a peak when its stock sold for up to $60 a share.<ref name=caleres>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=June 23, 1939 |title=Old Shoe Firm Bankrupt; Hamilton-Brown Company of St. Louis Once Biggest Producer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/06/23/archives/old-shoe-firm-bankrupt-hamiltonbrown-company-of-st-louis-once.html | work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City, New York, United States |access-date=September 22, 2017}}</ref>
=== 1940s – 1960s: Push into retail ===
Opening a plant in [[Dyer, Tennessee]], in 1941, Brown began moving production toward the traditionally non-Union south.<ref name=uni /> In the 1940s, Brown's third president, Clark Gamble, began pushing the company into retailing. Becoming president in 1948 after John Bush, Gamble in 1950 initiated a merger with Wohl Shoes, which wholesaled mostly women's shoes in 2,500 stores in North America and Cuba. In 1953, Brown acquired the large retail chain Regal Shoes, and in 1956 it acquired G. R. Kinney Corporation, then the largest operator of family shoe stores. At the time, Brown was the fourth-largest shoe manufacturer in the United States.
In 1959, a U.S. District Court in St. Louis deemed Brown guilty of anti-trust violations, and the company was ordered to sell Kinney. The ruling was upheld in 1962, at which point Brown was the number-one manufacturer in the shoe industry. Afterwards, Kinney was sold to [[F. W. Woolworth]].<ref name=uni /> For a time, the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company was the largest manufacturer of shoes in America.<ref name=caleres /> In 1959, the company had acquired Perth Shoe Company in Canada, and in 1965, Brown bought the Samuels Shoe Company.<ref name=uni />
=== 1970s – 1990s: Diversification as Brown Group ===
After doing well in the 1960s, in 1969 Brown's earnings dropped 25% after a 1968 flood of imports into the US shoe industry. W. L. Hadley Griffin became the company's president in 1969 and began diversifying into areas beyond shoes. In 1970 Brown acquired the importer Italia Bootwear, Ltd. After acquiring Eagle Rubber Company, Kent Sporting Goods, and other companies, in 1972 Brown changed its name to the Brown Group, Inc. It continued to acquire companies in children's products and sports and recreation.<ref name=uni />  In the 1970s, Brown operated [[Famous Footwear]], Cloth World fabric stores, Bottom Half jeans stores, and [[Meis (department store)|Meis]] department stores.<ref name=missouria>{{Cite web|url=http://stlcin.missouri.org/history/peopledetail.cfm?Master_ID=1724|title=St. Louis Historic Preservation}}</ref> In February 1979, it was reported that Brown Group, then the largest American producer of namebrand footwear, was petitioning for price relief from the federal government.<ref name=nyt-relief>{{cite news |last=Mcdowell |first=Edwin |date=February 23, 1979 |title=Brown Asks Shoe Price Relief |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/23/archives/brown-asks-shoe-price-relief-request-sent-to-council-brown-requests.html | work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City, New York, United States |access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref>
After closing its St. Louis warehouse in 1980, Brown began adjusting its business strategy to deal with pressure from cheap imports throughout the 1980s. In 1985 the company divested itself of its recreational products operations, leaving its focus largely on shoe retailing and manufacturing, with a quarter of operations in other stores. Around that time, Brown began to move away from manufacturing and toward shoe importing, acquiring Arnold Dunn, Inc., an importer, in 1984, and in 1986, the company acquired Pagoda Trading Company, an importing firm based in Asia. In 1988, Brown began to concentrate marketing on its well-known brands such as Connie, Naturalizer, and Buster Brown, while discontinuing its marginal lines. In 1989 the company sold all of its non-footwear retail operations except for the Cloth World chain.<ref name=uni />
In the early 1990s, Brown closed six of its domestic shoe plants, and in 1993 it began to close its Wohl Leased Shoe Department operation. In 1995, the last Brown Group-owned shoe factory in the United States closed, leaving the company with only two manufacturing plants in Canada. It sold three of its five headquarters buildings and its Cloth World chain. 35 percent of the overall workforce at Brown was fired, eliminating 8,500 jobs. Brown then acquired the Larry Stuart Collection and the [[Le Coq Sportif]] brand in 1995. The following year, Brown signed license agreements to market athletic footwear under the Russell and Penn brand names.<ref name=uni /> After operating from 1972 until 1999 as the Brown Group, it became Brown Shoe again in 1999.<ref name=uni /><ref name=sstoday-change>{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Lisa |date=April 16, 2015 |title=Brown Shoe to rebrand itself as Caleres |url=http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/brown-shoe-to-rebrand-itself-as-caleres/article_b02a5fdc-ac37-5343-8570-42fc973b0b4c.html | work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |location=St. Louis, Illinois, United States |access-date=November 5, 2017 }}</ref>
=== Since 2000: Name changes ===
As part of a restructuring, in 2002 the company closed 100 Naturalizer stores and remodeled 700 Famous Footwear outlets. The company had a loss of $4 million in 2001, and a $45.2 million profit in 2002. In the first half of 2003, Brown's stock value increased nearly 80 percent. At the end of that year, Brown signed a licensing deal to design and market footwear under [[Phillips-Van Heusen]] Corp.'s Bass label.<ref name=uni />
On May 27, 2015, Brown Shoe changed its name to Caleres, retaining the "Brown Shoe" name for a future line of men's footwear.<ref name=ourhistory>{{Cite web|url=http://caleres.com/our-history/|title=Our History|access-date=3 December 2022}}</ref> The name Caleres comes from the Latin word {{lang|la|calēre}} which means to glow with passion or intensity. The *5* that is part of the new logo was taken from a [[wear]] indicator stamp that was on the bottom of all shoes in the late 1800s that represented the company’s promise of comfort and fit. The company paid $5 to the wearer if the stamp wore out.<ref>[https://www.caleres.com/c/about/ About Caleres]</ref>
Caleres purchased [[Allen Edmonds]] for $255 million in December 2016 from [[Brentwood Associates]].<ref name=sstoday-edmonds>{{cite news |last=Liss |first=Samantha |date= December 13, 2016|title=Caleres buys Allen Edmonds, a men's dress shoe company, for $255 million |url=http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/caleres-buys-allen-edmonds-a-men-s-dress-shoe-company/article_b73ee584-2bd2-518a-bf9b-aa03ebe4b529.htmll | work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |location=St. Louis, Illinois, United States |access-date=November 5, 2017 }}</ref> As of November 2018, the company continues to be based in [[Clayton, Missouri]].
== Business operations ==
Caleres operates 900 Famous Footwear stores in the United States.<ref>{{cite report |date= February 24, 2023 |title= FORM 10-K |url= https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000014707/4a509f85-3340-427f-94e2-587a24bec7ee.pdf |publisher= [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] |page= 4|access-date= November 9, 2023 |quote= Famous Footwear employs an omni-channel approach to reach consumers wherever they want to shop, including our e-commerce channel through famousfootwear.com and famousfootwear.ca, as well as nearly 900 Famous Footwear retail store locations.}}</ref> The company also distributes brands through retailers, and licensing [[Dr. Scholl's]] and [[Disney]] brand footwear.<ref name=hoovers>{{Citation  |title=Caleres, Inc. Revenue and Financial Data |publisher=Hoovers |url=http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/revenue-financial.caleres_inc.59e9669aec35ab42.html }}</ref>
=== Executives ===
Diane M. Sullivan served as president and CEO of Caleres from May 2011 until January 2023, after joining as president in 2003. She also became chairwoman of the board beginning February 2, 2014.<ref>{{cite news|title=Diane Sullivan Now CEO, President and Chairman of the Board for Brown Shoe Company|url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140203006138/en/Diane-Sullivan-CEO-President-Chairman-Board-Brown|date=February 3, 2014|publisher=BusinessWire}}</ref> In January 2023, Jay Schmidt took over the role of CEO and Sullivan moved into a position of Executive Chairman.<ref>{{cite news|last=Abel |first=Katie |date= July 25, 2022 |title= In Major Move at Caleres, Jay Schmidt to Take CEO Reins, Diane Sullivan Will Become Executive Chairman |url= https://footwearnews.com/business/executive-moves/diane-sullivan-jay-schmidt-caleres-moves-1203316614/ |publisher= [[Footwear News]] |access-date= November 9, 2023 |quote= Diane Sullivan, who has spent more than a decade dramatically evolving Caleres Inc., is taking on a new role at the company. The chairman and CEO, one of the highest-ranking women in the industry, will become executive chairman on Jan. 15, 2023 as Jay Schmidt takes the reins as CEO. The move is the culmination of a planned succession process.}}</ref>
Mike Edwards serves as president of Famous Footwear.<ref>{{cite news |last= Abel |first= Katie |date= November 11, 2020 |title= Caleres Shuffles Top Leadership at Famous Footwear |url= https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/caleres-shuffles-top-leadership-famous-215424711.html |publisher= [[Yahoo! News]] |access-date= November 9, 2023 |quote= Caleres Inc. today named a new leader for Famous Footwear, its biggest business. The St. Louis-based company tapped insider Michael Edwards as its president. Molly Adams, who has been in the role since 2018, is exiting for another opportunity.}}</ref> Sam Edelman is division president of the eponymous Sam Edelman brand. Dan Friedman is division president of the company’s global supply chain,<ref name=bb-officers>{{Citation |title=Officers |publisher=brownshoe.com |url=http://investor.brownshoe.com/corporate-governance/officers |access-date=November 6, 2017 }}</ref> and Jack Calandra serves as CFO.<ref>{{cite news |last= Douglass |first= Rachel |date= August 30, 2022 |title= Caleres names Jack Calandra as senior vice president and CFO |url= https://fashionunited.uk/news/business/caleres-names-jack-calandra-as-senior-vice-president-and-cfo/2022083064877 |publisher= [[FashionUnited]] |access-date= November 9, 2023 |quote= Footwear conglomerate Caleres has announced the appointment of Jack Calandra as its senior vice president and chief financial officer, effective September 12.}}</ref>
== Shoe brands ==
Current brands include [[Famous Footwear]], Naturalizer, [[Dr. Scholl’s Shoes]], [[LifeStride]], Bzees, Blowfish Malibu, Circus by Sam Edelman, [[Rykä]], Sam Edelman,<ref name=c-brands>{{Citation  |title=Our Portfolio of Brands |publisher=Caleres   |url=https://caleres.com/our-brands/ |access-date=November 5, 2017 }}</ref> [[Allen Edmonds]],<ref name=c-brands /><ref name=sstoday-edmonds /> Franco Sarto, Vince, Vionic Shoes, Life Stride, Zodiac, and Veronica Beard.<ref name=c-brands /> Caleres also formerly managed Via Spiga and Carlos by [[Carlos Santana]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=McDonald |first1=Samantha |title=Via Spiga’s Website Is Down — Here’s Why |url=https://footwearnews.com/business/retail/via-spiga-website-down-1203041930/ |website=Footwear News |access-date=17 November 2023 |date=14 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Bell |first1=Jennie |title=Music Legend Carlos Santana Revives His Fashion Footwear Brand |url=https://footwearnews.com/shoes/womens-footwear/carlos-santana-relaunches-womens-shoe-brand-1203361432/ |website=Footwear News |date=26 October 2022}}</ref>
As of February 2011, American Sporting Goods Corporation operated as a subsidiary of Caleres. Its brands included [[Avia (shoes)|Avia]], Ryka and Nevados.<ref name=reuters>{{cite press release| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/17/idUS249822+17-Feb-2011+PRN20110217| title=Brown Shoe Acquires American Sporting Goods Corporation| publisher=[[Reuters]]| date=February 17, 2011| access-date=2014-02-18| archive-date=2014-02-25| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225094056/http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/17/idUS249822+17-Feb-2011+PRN20110217| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="BLOOMBERG">[https://web.archive.org/web/20090830215508/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=759469 "Textiles, Apparel and Luxury Goods: American Sporting Goods Corporation"], ''[[Bloomberg Businessweek]]''</ref> In December 2016 Caleres acquired Allen Edmonds, a men's shoe company.<ref name=sstoday-edmonds />
== Company mascots ==
Since 1904, Caleres (Brown Shoe Company) [[mascots]] have been [[cartoon character]]s [[Buster Brown]] and his dog Tige. Both appear on the company's [[television commercial]]s. In the 1940s and '50s, they became stars of ''Buster Brown Comics'' when the company made a brief foray into the comic book publishing industry.  The characters appeared on the covers of the comic books, and each contained an adventure, such as [[Robin Hood]]. The characters were revived with an updated, more contemporary look for a brief advertising campaign in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmC8uVhGlHQ|title=Buster Browns Shoe {{sic|nolink=y|reason=error in source|Commerical}}|access-date=3 December 2022|via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>
== See also ==
{{Portal|United States|Companies}}
* [[Brown Shoe Company Factory]]
* [[Brown Shoe Company's Homes-Take Factory]]
* [[Boot and Shoe Workers' Union]]
* [[Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company Building]]
* [[Hamilton-Brown Shoe Factory (Columbia, Missouri)]]
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://caleres.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.comics.org/publisher_details.lasso?id=24 Database and Cover Gallery of comic books published by the Brown Shoe Company], Grand Comics Database
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Caleres|*]]
[[Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange]]
[[Category:Comic book publishing companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Companies based in St. Louis County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Shoe companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Shoe brands]]
[[Category:Footwear retailers of the United States]]
[[Category:Retail companies established in 1875]]
[[Category:1875 establishments in Missouri]]