<HTML>

<HEAD><TITLE>LEXIS®-NEXIS® Academic Universe - Document</TITLE></HEAD>

<H4>Document 45 of 320.</H4>

</CENTER>

a Thomson Corporation Company;

ASAP

Footwear News

</div>

August 17, 1998

</div>

SECTION: No. 33, Vol. 54; Pg. 20; ISSN: 0162-914X

IAC-ACC-NO: 21101408

LENGTH: 1364 words

HEADLINE: IF THEY WANT TO PLAY, BIG BRANDS SAY, IT PAYS TO SELECTIVELY MOVE INTO LARGER

SIZES AND WIDER WIDTHS.

BYLINE: Baber, Bonnie

BODY:

OK, so they're not new players in the special-sizes business by any means. But

while some of the bigger brands, such as Rockport and Easy Spirit, might have

scaled back in recent years on size-and-width runs to grow their businesses and

eliminate costly

inventories, now they're listening to their customers and rethinking ways of

better servicing them.

"We're still heavily committed to the size-and-width business, especially for

our Easy Spirit retail division. It is the heritage of our brand," said Peter Huffine, vice president of Easy Spirit marketing.

"I don't

see [the special-sizes market] getting any less important," said Jeff Cosgrove, executive vice president of marketing for The Rockport

Co., Marlboro, Mass.

"We have even seen our [widths] business grow with department stores that are

now carrying wides, whereas before they only invested in

mediums," said Cosgrove.

"They've seen their [wides] business jump as much as 30-40 percent."

"A lot of retailers say the brands they've supported over the years have walked

away from this business," said Bob Sample, general manager of E.T. Wright, Norwell, Mass.

"Our niche is to be a significant player in [men's] sizes and widths," said Sample, who added that the brand will

modify its size scales to meet retailers' needs, despite the risk involved.

"We're not looking at the business from the amount of SKUs we have to carry."

Dexter's Steven Lunder, too, perceives the size-and-width market as an

opportunity for big brands like his to get back in the ballgame.

"We understand from our

customers that people are cutting backdue to the inability to provide adequate

service and because of longer lead times as they move manufacturing overseas.

That provides Dexter with the opportunity to step in and fill the void," said Lunder, vice president of marketing and brand manager for the company

based in Dexter, Maine.

"We're really

focused on increasing the size of our women's shoes -- there has been more

demand from catalog and independent retailer accounts," he added.

That means increasing sizes selectively.

"As a domestic resource, we have to manage our [sizes and widths] very closely

and go in knowing full well these [styles] are not going to be 30-40 percent of

our

business," said Lunder.

For example, Dexter has fortified its women's offerings, doing five styles from

both its contemporary and sporting-life casuals in select sizes up to a 12,

from AA to EE.

"The program is about extending sizes to drive interest in our women's business." Dexter

offers about 40 to 50 skus per style in both men's and women's, on average, he

said, and as many as five widths in some styles.

Lunder said the reason for adding new size runs is simple:

"Our independents and catalog accounts really have the opportunity to grow their

customer

base if they know they can service their hard-to-fit customers.

"The catalog houses' businesses are steadily growing," he continued.

"A number of catalogs are very hot on the wide issue, and are taking the stance

that if you don't support wide widths, they can't support you."

Florsheim is also perking up its assortments, according to Kirt Mancuso,

director of marketing for Florsheim Group, Chicago.

"For spring '99, we picked key styles to include more extreme sizes and widths.

Internally, our sales director saw a great opportunity underserved by our

competition. We've always had a core size-and-width business. Now,

we're taking it to more fashion looks."

However, most executives agree if you're a manufacturer of extreme sizes, your

business won't be profitable unless you speak to the young consumer. Customers

who usually wears a size 17 or 18 have a younger profile, said Lunder.

"You have to be very

careful about the looks you offer in larger sizes."

"Absolutely," said Bernie Richfield, national sales director for Laurevan Shoe Corp. Over

the last five to seven years,

"the younger generation's feet have exploded. Watch how kids wear their

sneakers, loose and unlaced. This allows their

feet to expand to a size or so bigger." By the year 2003, he forecasted that the shoe size of the average young woman

will go from an 81/2 to a 10.

"If you want your business to grow, said Richfield, you have to recognize where

[sizes] are going. They're veering upward." In the

next few years, Laurevan will offer patterns in all three of its women's lines

up to size 43.

In the late '70s, according to E.T. Wright's Sample, the company got inundated

with requests for unusual sizes. Since retailers can't carry large inventories,

our

business evolved into a large direct-mail catalog business, so sizes and widths

became more significant. Still, said Sample, most retailers are more willing to

get into the size, rather than width, market.

"Retailers who don't stock huge inventory use us for

special orders." Minimums aren't required, he said, and

"we encourage retailers to special- order because many can't afford to carry all

the larger sizes for select customers."

Encouraging special-ordering is crucial because

"a lot of retailers are fitting customers with the sizes and widths they offer,

not the size the customer

wears," he said.

Any way you take it, the point, say these vendors, is that all roads lead to

the business getting bigger and wider. According to Lunder, a lot of female

consumers aren't looking for sizes 5 to 10 B anymore. They are wanting

extensive sizes up to a

12 and extra-wide widths.

"The whole scale has shifted over time for us," said Sample, whose firm has been around since 1876.

"Our narrows business is significant, but not growing. As more retailers move

into wides, we want to stay ahead of the curve."

A key portion of our retail

accounts say 80 percent of their customers wear sizes, so they are more willing

to invest heavily in those," he added.

"Our best-selling style, No. 209, has over 100 SKUs in a range of AAA to EEE up

to a size 14, while certain styles are selectively

offered in size 16." Recently, he said, the firm has ventured into 4E and 5E in the last two years.

Many of the brand's key retail accounts have dropped B widths altogether, he

said.

Meanwhile, Richfield said his company offers a few patterns in larger European

sizes up to 43 and,

"we've talked about additional patterns because there is growth in that area," he said.

"The core of our business is with better independents, and their large-size

needs are increasing. We listen to our retailers. We're on the phone all the

time with them," continued Richfield, who said independents account for 75

percent of Laurevan's business.

Other brands are fine-tuning their sizes and widths regionally. That is the

wave of the future, according to Mark DeZao, vice president of retail stores,

Easy Spirit division of Nine West Group, White Plains, N.Y. To that end,

controlling costs, not cutting back, is the goal. The

brand now offers most of its core styles in sizes 5 to 12.

"As a line evolves with seasonal product, you have to be more responsible in how

you offer it," said DeZao. A regional approach lets the brand monitor certain patterns, and

work from those, in order to better

control costs, he said. Regional customization of sizes means more wide widths

in the Northeast and more narrows in Texas.

"It's not a conscious decision to pull back. It's a way of managing our product

inventory," he said.

"We have data that monitors size needs demographically,

so we continue to oversee and adjust our assortments accordingly.

"We've seen a shift from an average size of 7-71/2 to 8-81/2," added DeZao.

"Now, 91/2, 10 and 11 have become even more important."

Rockport, too, has begun to add 14s and 15s to its

men's styles, while a couple of top women's SKUs address size 12.

"We had pulled sizes in too tight," said Cosgrove.

"So we started pushing the line the other way."

Likewise, as international business grows, he said,

"our shorter sizes are growing," especially in Asian countries.

"We

get a lot of business in small sizes there, and wider sizes throughout Europe.

"Paying attention to special interest groups is paramount of conducting a

streamlined sizes-and-widths business."

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

IAC-CREATE-DATE: October 16, 1998

LOAD-DATE: October 17, 1998

</CENTER>

</CENTER>

1998 LEXIS®-NEXIS®, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

</BODY>

</HTML>