Wolverine World Wide Inc. will mark the grand opening of its new regional headquarters in Waltham today, which will be home to 400 employees and the Michigan footwear company’s Saucony, Sperry, Keds and Stride Rite brands.
The move after 20 years in Lexington to the leased 245,000-square-foot space follows WWW’s $1.24 billion purchase of the four brands in 2012.
“It’s a great move for us,” said Richie Woodworth, president of Wolverine Boston Group. “We can recruit and obtain talent here. There’s really only two places in the country that support footwear in this way — Portland, Ore., and Boston.”
WWW, which reported ?$2.69 billion in 2015 revenue, also owns the Wolverine, Merrell, Hush Puppies, Sebago, Chaco, Bates, HYTEST and Soft Style brands, and is the global footwear ?licensee for Cat and Harley-Davidson.
WWW reports second-quarter results on Tuesday, and its guidance points to an 8 percent revenue drop. It’s competing amid a difficult global backdrop, one of the warmest winters on record, retailers keeping orders very tight to the vest, and currency headwinds, according to Christopher Svezia, a Susquehanna ?Financial Group analyst.
“There’s a lot of puts and takes on their business, and they’re not immune,” he said. “They’re probably a little out of synch with what’s trending with consumers somewhat — the whole retro athletic trend, the whole casual trend. While Saucony plays into some of that, it’s still a pretty small brand with limited distribution in the U.S. mall-based and sporting goods channels.”
The running brand produces “really great” technical running shoes sold through independent and specialty channels, with a third of sales outside the United States, but the category is somewhat soft compared to fashion running shoes, Svezia said.
But since WWW’s purchase, Saucony has grown from the No. 6- or 7-ranked running shoe brand to No. 3, with about a 16 percent market share, according to Woodworth. “It’s been a great sort of growth spurt … and they’ve done it really on the basis of innovation,” he said.
The 81-year-old Sperry, meanwhile, is transitioning beyond its trademark boat shoes that have fallen out of fashion and ?expanded into rain boots.
WWW is also diversifying its offerings for the 100-year-old Keds, which saw two years of substantial growth under its endorsement deal with country-pop singer Taylor Swift that started in 2012 and runs through this year.