Dive Brief:
- Designer Brands’ fourth quarter consolidated net sales were about flat year over year at $713.6 million, according to a Thursday press release.
- The retailer’s total comparable sales decreased by 1.9% and its net loss improved from about $38 million the year before to $19 million this quarter.
- For the full fiscal year 2025, net sales dropped 3.9% to $2.9 billion and comps decreased 4.3%. The retailer expects fiscal year 2026 net sales to range from a 1% drop to an increase of 1%.
Dive Insight:
Designer Brands, owner of Designer Shoe Warehouse, in Q4 brought together its U.S. and Canadian retail businesses under a “streamlined reporting structure” to enable better collaboration, CEO Doug Howe told analysts on a Thursday call.
The executive noted that this change resulted in the rightsizing of its shared services organization. Designer Brands confirmed in February that it recently enacted layoffs, though it did not provide specific details on the number of impacted employees.
“We took actions to simplify our organizational structure, reduce complexity, and improve speed and accountability,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Retail Dive at the time.
The move also means the company’s financial reporting no longer breaks down earnings results between the U.S. and Canadian retail businesses, but instead reports them as a combined segment.
The company’s latest earnings call was the first held since it appointed Sheamus Toal as its new CFO in February. Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer Jared Poff announced his departure from Designer Brands in October, with Controller and Principal Accounting Officer Mark Haley serving as interim principal financial officer until a permanent successor was identified.
Broader headwinds that retailers and consumers are facing remain a focus for Designer Brands as the year continues to unfold.
“We are currently operating in a volatile macro environment that includes evolving tariffs dynamics and conflict in the Middle East, the latter of which may introduce increased inflationary pressure moving forward,” Howe added on the Thursday call. “We will continue to monitor these situations closely and remain nimble and adaptable as the year progresses.”
