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On September 9, Caleres (NYSE:CAL) held its second-quarter earnings call, and the numbers told two very different stories under one roof. Net sales rose 5.6% to $695.5 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per share jumped to $0.47 from $0.35 a year earlier. The company also raised the low end of its full-year guidance. Yet Famous Footwear, the chain that made Caleres a household name, kept losing ground while the newer brand portfolio did the heavy lifting.
The brand portfolio, which houses names like Sam Edelman, Allen Edmonds, Naturalizer, Vionic and Stuart Weitzman, brought in $340.6 million in sales, up 23.6% on the strength of the Weitzman integration and 8.2% organic growth. Margins expanded even faster than sales, with the segment's adjusted gross margin climbing 880 basis points to 49.1% as markdowns eased and tariff mitigation work paid off. Sam Edelman sales grew in the mid-teens, with double-digit growth at key department store accounts and higher average unit retails, while the brand added a men's line in August that CEO Jay Schmidt said drew "positive reactions from all key accounts."
Allen Edmonds revenue grew in the low-teens, led by wholesale strength and a doubling of its premium reserve collection, and its 18 Port Washington studio stores posted 15% growth, outpacing the rest of the fleet by 800 basis points. Naturalizer sales rose in the high single digits, and Vionic's walking category grew more than 50% year over year, now 13% of the brand's total sales. International sales climbed 57% overall, with Schmidt pointing to a "rapid resurgence" for Stuart Weitzman in China as the company's single biggest growth vector.
Famous Footwear told the opposite story. Sales fell 6.3% to $374.4 million as consumers pulled back from lifestyle athletic shoes, and gross margin slipped 100 basis points to 42.7% as the chain leaned on promotions and clearance to move inventory. Schmidt noted that back-to-school arrived later than usual this year "due to the shift in Labor Day timing and several shifts in tax-free events," which weighed on the quarter. CFO Daniel Karpel warned of "continuing softness in certain categories of our Famous business and related promotional activity as we adjust our inventories through the balance of the year."