2019 MEDIA PLANNER FOOTWEAR INSIGHT For Retailers of Active Lifestyle Footwear MEDIA PLANNER 2020 ® FOOTWEAR INSIGHT ® FOOTWEAR INSIGHT MEDIA PLANNER 2020 It All Starts Here. We believe in the foundation and success of independent specialty brick-and-mortar stores. Shopping is not just about commerce. There’s something called the in-store experience. The touching and feeling of product. The sit-and-fit process. The curated assortment and exciting impulse purchases. The trusted service after the purchase. And, the customer’s immediate gratification. footwearinsight.com ® FOOTWEAR INSIGHT MEDIA PLANNER 2020 News, trends and analysis of key markets that are most profitable to retailers. Trends, perspecTive & AnAlysis • JUly/AUGUsT 2019 Trends, perspecTive & AnAlysis • JUly/AUGUsT 2018 TAKE COVER CASUAL COOL CLOSED-UP SANDALS ARE SPRING’S BREAKOUT TREND WORKING FOX FILES: DANSKO’S CEO ON TARIFFS, TRYING NEW THINGS AND TAKING OVER FITNESS FOOTWEAR CHASES “THE ONE” BOOT BOOK: KILLER NEW STYLES FOR EVERY NEED comfort ENESLOW AT 110 Espadrille Styles from Vionic and Patrizia by Spring Step Inside This Issue: Urban Hiking Style The Casualization of Fashion How to Sell Socks Top Trends at Specialty Retail The Sneaker + Boot Fusion Inside: The Greatest Kids Market Report Shoe Dogs of All Time FOOTWEARINSIGHT.COM • A FORMULA4 MEDIA PUBLICATION A FOrMUlA4 MediA pUBlicATiOn FOOTWEARINSIGHT.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 TRENDS, PERSPECTIVE & ANALYSIS • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 TRENDS, PERSPECTIVE & ANALYSIS • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 FFANY FIRST LOOK CAN BASKETBALL REBOUND? STRIDE RITE AT 100 BOOT UP Comfort Athletic STRONGER, LIGHTER, FASTER Work FOR FALL ’19 Insoles DRESS DEFYING Hosiery Boots Kids Sandals Heritage brands like Allen Edmonds WE DIVE DEEP INTO WORK / RUNNING INDUSTRY OUTLOOK and Bostonian are HOSIERY: ESSENTIAL PERFORMERS / BECK’S & LUCKY CELEBRATE MILESTONES looking to woo a new generation. FOOTWEARINSIGHT.COM • A FORMULA4 MEDIA PUBLICATION A FORMULA4 MEDIA PUBLICATION Casual footwearinsight.com ® FOOTWEAR INSIGHT MEDIA PLANNER 2020 Editorial Features No fluff, celebrity coverage or party pictures. Just useful information retailers can use to make buying decisions and better run their businesses in today’s competitive, dynamic market. RETAIL BOOT ENESLOW AT 110 Legendary New York City retail shoe and pedorthic/orthotic center is looking ahead. By Nancy A. Ruhling neslow, New York’s iconic retail shoe and THE ENESLOW DNA “The reimbursements were 50 percent of our busi- pedorthic/orthotic center, is celebrating its ness,” he says. BOOK Eneslow, which is 110th birthday in a grand way: It’s opening pronounced N-S-LOW, He didn’t open another store until 2003, and it was another retail store. was founded in 1909 in Little Neck, Queens, not in Manhattan. by Edward and Nellie The new store, at 1319 Third Ave. in Stone Low. The name is Schwartz says that what sets Eneslow apart — and Manhattan, is the fourth in the family-run busi- her initials, N. S., plus what keeps it alive — is its people and their commit- WALKING THE ness enterprise. their last name, Low. ment to the company mantra of “comfort is always “We’re hopeful this location is a sweet spot,” says in fashion at Eneslow.” E The company’s iconic STYLE Robert S. Schwartz, the president and CEO of Eneslow logo and core to its “We will not compromise that,” he says. “The other THE PERFECT PAIR Pedorthic Enterprises, which runs the company. “The mission is based on difference is their training. Skilled pedorthic profes- the four perfectly FASHION FUNCTION neighborhood, in this, a walking city, fits our demographic sionals offer real solutions to help people live pain-free proportioned bare feet like a custom shoe. Our customers are professionals of Leonardo da Vinci’s lives. Our ability to accomplish this is through the and baby boomers; 80 percent are women.” Vitruvian Man, an ink- use of our pedorthic specialization. We can make any on-paper drawing that The two-floor, 4,200-square-foot store offers the same shoe more comfortable. We will only sell a shoe that RUNWAY dates to 1490. The selection of men’s and women’s comfort footwear and drawing includes text is designed to provide that benefit.” foot-care products as the company’s other stores. notes based on the He adds that Eneslow is the “go-to” source for work of the architect “The stock is curated by Eneslow from factories all Vitruvius. Together, footwear for any foot problem. over the world, with a heavy emphasis on Euro brands,” they often are referred “We frequently gets customer referrals from other Schwartz says. “Custom orthotics, footwear and repair to as the Canon of New York City shoe retailers and especially health-care Proportions or the As the boot continues its evolution into a one- services also are offered in each store.” Proportions of Man. The professionals,” he says. “Eneslow trains them through Eneslow’s 16,000-square-foot, three-level Park Avenue originals are in Italy. continuing-education classes at the Eneslow Pedorthic flagship store includes a 1,000-square-foot custom Institute. We handle the worst cases. These cases Eneslow aims to be workshop where shoes and orthotics are made to order, more than just a require time to solve. The shoe industry traditionally style-does-all footwear solution, it has put its modified and repaired. It houses the Eneslow Pedorthic commercial enterprise. is moderately low margin, and if we were just selling Institute, a pedorthic education and training center. It has as its mission shoes, we would not be around now.” “to improve the qual- Eneslow’s pedorthists are trained at the institute and ity of people’s lives.” He points out that 70 percent to 80 percent of the COMFORT credentialed by the American Board for Certification company’s shoe sales include an already built-in fashionable foot forward. From heel to toe, it in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics. Eneslow provides free functioning orthotic device. shoes for the needy. The new Third Avenue store is twice as big as its It has sent more than “We add on these value-added internal and As the casualization of fashion takes over Second Avenue sibling, which was opened on Eneslow’s 100,000 pairs of shoes external modifications and adjustments,” he says. has been rebooted as a hard-working acces- 100th anniversary in 2009. to organizations, includ- “Approximately 15 percent of our revenue comes ing the international “Adding a store with double the space will allow us charitable footwear from footwear customization.” in the workplace and beyond, footwear to grow the business,” Schwartz says. “We’ll be able to foundation Soles4Souls, Eneslow has managed to survive for more than a add more fashionable styles that appeal to the Third the Council of century because it has evolved with the times. sory worthy of the catwalk. Regardless of their Concerned Medical Avenue shopper. The Third Avenue shopper does not Professionals, Tender “We pride ourselves on customer service,” Schwartz brands are responding with a tried and true shop on Second Avenue.” Care Human Services says. “But with the advent of things like Yelp reviews, Eneslow’s bold move comes at a time when some and the International the high level of service that we offered even five years Rescue Committee primary function – outdoor, work/safety, tacti- 50 percent of shoe purchases in the country are being ago is not enough to keep us in business. If someone combination — style plus comfort. Brands are made online, and brick-and-mortar stores are shuttering Eneslow makes house writes a critical review, we use it as an opportunity their doors at an alarming rate. calls for those who to keep improving.” cannot get to the “It’s a strategic decision,” Schwartz says. “With limited stores. It’s from $0 More than 10 years ago, when the economy took a serving up options that look good, feel good cal or rain – what’s most noticeable about the time left on my two other Manhattan leases, this store to $250 per visit. nose-dive and New York City was hard hit by the shut- is a hedge against the possibility that those leases will tering of Lehmann Brothers and the real estate bust, Consumers who have not be renewed.” questions about their Eneslow started searching for higher- margin products and add up to a “casual fashion” homerun. Schwartz knows well what it is like to lose stores. In the feet can ask Eneslow to counteract the reduction in traffic and transactions. Fall 2018 styles is how good they look. Here’s mid-1980s, he had transformed Eneslow into a regional at eneslow.com/ Eneslow’s solution was to stock a variety of European ask-eneslow.html. chain with eight stores, but was forced to close all but brands, including Solidus, Christian Dietz, Hassia, the flagship when New York State slashed Medicaid Berkemann and Hartjes, that were not distributed in a runway preview for the new year. reimbursements for medical shoes and orthotics. the United States. footwearinsight.com July/August 2018 ~ Footwear Insight • 29 footwearinsight.com July/August 2019 ~ Footwear Insight • 67 Comfort Boots Retail Profiles HOSIERY • HOW TO SELL • RETAIL STRATEGY IT WAS BORN IN THE FAST- food industry, but the 2012 launch of the Fight for $15 campaign has come to have Rethink Account Q&A ramifications for employers across the board in the Salaries for the United States. While the federal minimum has been Upstream Hidden Costs fixed at $7.25 per hour for 2 1 RETAILERS WHO HAVE RAISED WAGES SAY IT’S NOT JUST EVEN IF NO EMPLOYEES IN YOUR SHOP ARE DIRECTLY IMPACTED FOXFILES Minimum almost a decade (higher by a minimum wage hike, salaries that once sat comfortably THE hourly employee outlay that needs to be accounted for: wages can be mandated above minimum wage may no longer look so attractive It’s all the costs that go with it.