Birthdays generally is a watershed second — an opportunity to replicate on the previous and set a brand new path for the long run. That’s definitely been the case for Aerosoles. The heritage footwear model kicked off its thirty fifth anniversary in a giant manner in January, when it was acquired for an undisclosed quantity by its licensing associate, American Trade Group (AX Group).
Now, its new house owners inform FN they’ve cast an formidable technique to take Aerosoles into new product classes and reestablish the model’s dominance as a fashion-based consolation participant.
“The post-COVID world actually appears to be tailored for manufacturers like Aerosoles to carry that core DNA of consolation know-how and a way of favor,” mentioned Steve Velasquez, chief technique officer at AX Group.
Aerosoles was established in 1987 as a standalone model after a gaggle of buyers led by Jules Schneider purchased it from Kenneth Cole. Over the following three a long time, it grew to be a worldwide phenomenon, promoting in its personal shops in addition to 1000’s of division and specialty shops. However after altering possession in 2014, the corporate fell sufferer to the decline of malls and filed for chapter in 2017. It was saved from liquidation in early 2018, when New York-based hedge fund Alden Golden Capital LLC acquired the model’s belongings for $26.2 million.
AX Group first linked up with Aerosoles in July 2021, when it signed a deal to develop a girls’s assortment for the model focused to the mass and off-price channels. The New York-based firm specializes within the manufacture and distribution of footwear, watches, luggage and different style equipment, each underneath non-public label and for companions resembling Adrienne Vittadini, Alexis Bendel, Marc Ecko and Mudd.
When the chance arose to purchase Aerosoles, AX Group acknowledged the potential to develop the model — and its personal enterprise.
“This acquisition marks an thrilling new chapter within the evolution of American Trade Group,” mentioned CEO Alen Mamrout on the time of the sale. “We look ahead to supporting the long run progress of this model and are excited to welcome Aerosoles into our model portfolio.”
AX Group’s technique for Aerosoles hinges on aggressively increasing its product assortment, beginning with launching women’ sneakers this winter, and males’s and boys’ collections are slated to launch in early 2023. For the vacation season, it created a line of girls’s cold-weather equipment in-house, and it has inked licensing offers for males’s slippers and socks, girls’s flip-flops, and curler skates for males, girls and youth.
Aerosoles will launch women’ sneakers in winter 2022. CREDIT: Courtesy of Aerosoles
Cynthia Nixon, VP of licensing and model growth at AX Group, believes that is solely the start for Aerosoles. “I’m in dialog with a number of different firms with experience in an unlimited array of product classes, from dwelling to journey to sleepwear and naturally attire,” she mentioned. “We’re actually seeking to broaden, however in a logical considerate course of.”
Velasquez believes a broader assortment will assist Aerosoles compete in a fashion-comfort footwear market that has change into much more crowded because of in the present day’s more-casual hybrid work life. The corporate additionally goals to leverage its worth proposition (most girls’s kinds are underneath $200) and activate its loyal clients to function advocates for the model.
Aerosoles fall 2022 sneakers and equipment. CREDIT: Courtesy of Aerosoles
However Aerosoles’ success in the end is determined by its core girls’s enterprise, and AX Group has been laborious at work honing its path. It tapped business veteran Fabiana Rigamonti as head of design. Her background contains stints at International Manufacturers Group, Highline United and Schwartz & Benjamin. The spring ’23 Aerosoles line will function a few of her affect, with fall ’23 as her first full assortment for the model.
Velasquez mentioned, “It was vital that [Fabiana] not solely understood however was very aligned with our strategic imaginative and prescient of paying homage to the heritage of the model and bringing it ahead, and recognizing that Aerosoles just isn’t a style model — it’s a consolation model with a style tilt to it, and that’s a vital distinction.”
Aerosoles fall 2022 sneakers and equipment. CREDIT: Courtesy of Aerosoles
As for its distribution plans, AX Group will proceed to spend money on the Aerosoles direct-to-consumer e-commerce website, which represents greater than half to the enterprise. Its wholesale technique, in the meantime, is targeted on malls, mid-tier and worth channels.
Velasquez mentioned there are not any plans to revive the model’s earlier brick-and-mortar shops, which had been shuttered amid the chapter. Nonetheless, he famous {that a} 2019 pop-up at Grand Central Terminal in New York was extremely profitable and might be a template for future activations.
“The retail panorama has modified a lot that you must be extra artistic, extra revolutionary, to actually appeal to the patron,” he mentioned. “We’re enthusiastic about seeing the place that performs out.”
