‘Difficult’ quarter for Steve Madden
The second quarter was described as ‘difficult’ by the CEO of footwear group Steve Madden, which saw sales decline to $295.7 million from $297.6 million last year.
CEO Edward Rosenfeld, who also revised down the outlook for 2014, said: “We continued to face a challenging retail environment, weak mall traffic, and a women’s footwear market with few significant fashion trends.”
“In our wholesale segment, our branded footwear business grew sales in the mid-single digits range, while our private label footwear business experienced a sales decrease, as expected, due primarily to a temporary reduction in sales with one customer during the quarter.
“On the retail side, the absence of fashion drivers and continued weak traffic negatively impacted our full-price stores, while our outlet stores had a modest comparable store sales increase."
However, the company saw “solid growth” in its international business.
The group designs, sources and markets footwear for brands including Madden Girl, Betsey Johnson and Brian Atwood.
