NEW YORK — Cole Haan is putting its best foot forward with its new store in the Flatiron District.
The heritage and accessories brand on Thursday will open a 1,622-square-foot store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 19th Street. The unit, which sports the company’s new lifestyle-centric design, is the third in New York City. All told, Cole Haan operates more than 500 stores in nearly 100 countries.
“New York has long been a key and successful market for Cole Haan, and we’re excited to open a new store in this vibrant city in the iconic Flatiron District,” said Jack Boys, chief executive officer. “This next step in our brand and retail journey offers a unique opportunity to engage with both longtime and new customers allowing us to share our most innovative products and classic designs in one of the world’s most inspiring neighborhoods.”
Boys said Cole Haan had operated a store in the area for 15 years, and it performed well, but the company wanted more space in order to execute its new lifestyle presentation. “We’ve had a presence on the street for a long time,” he said. “But as these leases roll off, we look for a little bit more space for our new product architecture and our whole lifestyle integration.”
At the same time, the tenant mix in the neighborhood has changed and become more footwear-focused with brands such as Hoka, On, New Balance, Rothy’s and others setting up shop, prompting Cole Haan to up its game. “The area continues to get stronger as a footwear destination so we’re excited to have our new presentation there,” Boys said.
The new store features an open and airy design with floor-to-ceiling windows, herringbone wood floors, mosaic tiles, aged iron chandeliers, custom-built shelves and velvet seating areas. Artwork includes photos of the neighborhood’s iconic Flatiron Building and other architectural shots.
The store sports an open design concept.
Matthew Hillman
“It’s such an amazing space with beautiful windows and just a more-contemporary box for our new lifestyle concept,” he said. “That’s the concept we’ve taken around the world that’s worked so successfully in over 500 doors. We’re just still working on a handful here in the U.S. that have the older format. We’re excited to get the new presentation out there in front of our consumer.”
The new design also allows the company to better highlight the innovation it has been infusing into its product line. The store will open with previews of the brand’s spring collection including, for men, the new OriginalGrand and Energyweave Oxfords that feature Cole Haan’s patented FlowerFlex cushioning system alongside perennial favorites such as the Zerogrand Remastered and GrandPro series and dress classics such as Oxfords and loafers.
For women, new styles include the Georgie Ballet and Graclyn MaryJane Ballet flats that feature molded outsoles for enhanced grip and traction. They’re also flexible and foldable. In handbags, the Carolyn Foldover tote in leather with a braided top handle and a removable crossbody strap is one of the key models for spring.
At the front of the store, the brand’s classics are on display with some of the more-innovative models highlighted in the center. The rear of the store focuses more on sports-related merchandise such as lifestyle sneakers, tennis and golf shoes as well as a raffia bag program. Merchandised throughout are quilted vests, socks, belts, backpacks and suitcases.
Boys said that for most of its history — the brand was founded in 1928 — it was “a traditional men’s and women’s dress shoe company.” But times have changed, consumers have gotten more casual and are looking for footwear that fits their more-active lives. Boys, who headed Converse before joining Cole Haan, said that for many years, the footwear industry would study denim trends to inform its styles, but today, it’s activewear. “That’s a major milestone I didn’t think would ever happen, but outside of investment bankers, no one is wearing suits and ties anymore,” he said. “But they’re still making footwear the same way they made it 150 years ago.”
Cole Haan sought to change that and has invested heavily in injecting innovation into its footwear and other products, offering comfort, cushioning and energy return, among other bells and whistles, into heritage models such as Oxfords and loafers and introducing more hybrid and sport styles.
“It’s just adapting to the lifestyle, how consumers are living,” he said. “They don’t necessarily want to be hauling around three or four pairs of shoes. Our shoes are good for 24/7.”
Boys said Cole Haan now has “the strongest innovation pipeline we’ve ever had since I’ve been with the company, and we’re rolling out new technology every season that our consumers are adopting.”
Because it’s often hard to buy shoes online, Cole Haan is bullish on its direct-to-consumer efforts. But it also has a healthy wholesale business. “Our goal was to be omnichannel and have excellence in all channels, because we want to be where the consumer is shopping today,” Boys said. “We’ve got a wonderful digital business that we’ve grown quite significantly since 2014, but with the exception of the COVID year, our wholesale business has grown every single year. We have consumers that they want their Nordstrom points and we’ve got Amazon zealots. So instead of trying to convert them over to us, we’ll sell them there.”
While footwear still represents more than 80 percent of sales, outerwear, handbags, small leather goods and other accessories, recently brought in-house rather than through a licensing model, are seen as “big opportunities” for growth, Boys said.
Because 70 percent of all footwear is sold outside North America, growing internationally is also a goal for the company, he said. “As we look at the landscape of our international markets, we’re still very under-penetrated,” Boys said. The bulk of the business outside North America is in Japan and the Middle East today and 95 percent of global sales are DTC. The company just signed a new distributorship deal in China and plans are to expand “aggressively” in that market, he said.
“People love local lifestyle brands, especially one that’s as unique as Cole Haan, with modern American classics and 100 years of heritage. So we can easily double that 500 doors across the globe,” he said, without being more specific.
In North America, Boys said he anticipates opening another 30 to 40 stores in the top 18 urban and suburban areas where the brand resonates the best.
The new Cole Haan store on Fifth Avenue and 19th Street.
Matthew Hillman
“We’ve got a pipeline of probably five or six stores that are going to be built this year, and we’re working on another 20 locations,” he said. But Cole Haan is very selective when picking locations. The store needs to be 1,600 to 2,400 square feet, in A malls or strong street locations, “so it might take us a while to get there. But it’s really important for our brand. We want to expose our consumers to touching and feeling the product.”
Boys said that Cole Haan, whose fiscal year ends in May, is on track to have “a very profitable year,” and its parent company has been supportive of the brand’s growth strategies and investments in technology.
Cole Haan has been owned since 2012 by Apax Partners which purchased the brand from Nike for $570 million. In February 2020, at the start of the pandemic, Apax filed for an IPO to take Cole Haan public. At that time, it had revenues of $687 million. But the volatile market at that time caused Apax to abandon those plans.
Boys said: “Our growth agenda is working and we have really strong momentum in a lot of key markets.” Despite some “bumps and bruises” in markets such as the Middle East or closer to home where consumers have been “fairly conservative,” Cole Haan has benefited from its ability to deliver innovation to customers.
“There are a lot of legacy brands out there to take market share from that aren’t performing that well, particularly in the men’s space,” he said. “They’re just brands that have gotten old and tired, and there’s nothing new, just another shade of brown or whatever. We’re really earning some market share, and that feels really good.”
He also feels supported by Apax, which he said has been “a great partner” to the brand. “They have really allowed us to invest the business and they support our vision. They were really helpful working through some of the challenges in the COVID period and some of our early start-ups, but they’re big supporters and continue to invest in the business. My job is run the company as best we can, make as profitable as possible.”