Dive Brief:
- A week and a half after announcing a CEO succession plan, footwear company Deckers on Monday named a new president for Hoka. Robin Green will take on the role, effective immediately, reporting to outgoing CEO Dave Powers, according to a press release.
- Green, who has “an extensive track record of leading and operating complex global businesses,” joins the running brand from Nike, where she served as global vice president of Men’s Running and Fitness.
- She will join the executive leadership team at Deckers and will be tasked with driving Hoka’s growth and accelerating product innovation.
Dive Insight:
Hoka is turning to an experienced footwear executive as its next leader. Green spent more than 17 years at Nike, according to her LinkedIn, in roles spanning both men’s and women’s footwear and several focused on the running category.
"Robin is a strong leader with a demonstrated ability to develop and execute on multi-year strategic, growth-driving initiatives for global performance businesses, and I am eager for her to leverage that expertise as part of Deckers," Powers said in a statement, noting that the Hoka brand is the strongest it’s ever been. "Together, we will focus on continuing to expand consumer awareness of Hoka, maximizing and scaling our product offerings and accessibility, and eclipsing the exceptional revenue milestones hit over the last year."
Deckers’ sales surged 16% in Q3, and the strength of Hoka was a notable part of that: The running brand reported sales grew 21.9% to $429.3 million in the quarter. For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Hoka’s brand revenues were up 25% year over year, thanks to a nearly 50% increase in DTC, per a Seeking Alpha transcript of the company’s latest earnings call.
“We believe Hoka is still in the early stages of expansion internationally, as we continue to build brand awareness in key markets to establish Hoka as a major worldwide player in the performance space,” Powers said on the call.
Hoka has expanded significantly in the last few years, opening its first stores in 2021 and launching its first global campaign in 2022 as it looks to broaden its customer base. In May last year, Powers said the $1.4-billion brand was set to cross the $2 billion mark “pretty soon” and in July, the brand hit a quarterly sales record of $420 million. Hoka’s past year has been marked by consecutive quarters of more than 20% sales growth.
The brand has increased marketing efforts as it vies for market share against powerhouses like Nike and Adidas, as well as younger rivals like On. In bringing on Green, the retailer is turning to an executive with longtime experience at a powerful competitor. DTC activewear brand Sweaty Betty likewise recently hired a Nike veteran to fill out its C-suite, and Timberland last year turned to a longtime Nike exec for a chief merchant role.