Payless ShoeSource Worldwide, LLC (formerly known as Payless ShoeSource Inc. ), is an American multinational discount footwear chain. Established in 1956 by cousins Louis and Shaol Pozez, Payless was a privately held company owned by Blum Capital , and Golden Gate Capital . In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation , which merged with The May Department Stores Company in 1979. In the 1980s, Payless was widely known in the U.S. for its Pro Wings line of discount sneakers, which often had Velcro straps instead of laces. In 1996, Payless became an independent publicly held company. In 2004, Payless announced it would exit the Parade chain and would close 100 Payless Shoe outlets. On August 17, 2007, the company acquired the Stride Rite Corporation and changed its name to Collective Brands, Inc. As of 2020, Payless is owned by a group of investors led by Alden Global Capital and Axar Capital Management.
26-939: It was announced on May 1, 2012, that the company would be purchased by Wolverine World Wide , Blum Capital , and Golden Gate Capital for US$ 1.32 billion. On December 13, 2016 it was reported that all Payless shoe stores in Australia were to be closed with the loss of 730 jobs. On July 14, 2014, Authentic Brands Group acquired some assets from Payless's division Collective Licensing International, LLC, which included brands such as Airwalk , Hind sports clothing, Vision Street Wear , and Above The Rim. In 2019, North American stores including their e-commerce platform filed for bankruptcy. The filing excluded stores outside of North America, which will continue to operate. Payless emerged from bankruptcy on January 16, 2020, and on August 18, 2020, Payless officially dropped 'ShoeSource' from its name, and launched its e-commerce website. Pay-Less National
52-687: A licensed brand operated by New York City -based Vida Shoes International. The company is based out of corporate offices in Rockford, Michigan and Waltham, Massachusetts . Wolverine World Wide also operates three distribution centers in the United States, one in Canada and one in the Netherlands. As of December 29, 2018, Wolverine World Wide operated 80 retail stores in the U.S. and Canada and 42 consumer-direct eCommerce sites. According to
78-644: A capital investment of $ 2,900. In 1901, they built a plant in Rockford Michigan, just north of Grand Rapids. They purchased and expanded the Rogue River Electric Light and Power Company to power their new plant and the city of Rockford. In 1903, operations began and in 1908, a tannery followed. The company thus processed its own raw materials and manufactured its own shoes sold through the Hirth-Krause Company. In 1921
104-528: A more crowded market. Payless emerged from bankruptcy on January 16, 2020, with plans to re-launch a U.S. e-commerce site. On August 18, 2020, Payless, officially dropping 'ShoeSource' from its name, did relaunch its e-commerce website. It also announced plans to open between 300 and 500 free-standing stores in North America over the next five years and relocated its company headquarters from Topeka, Kansas to Edgewater, Florida. Collective Brands, Inc.
130-548: A private, standalone entity known as Payless Holdings. As part of the transaction, Wolverine World Wide, a Michigan-based boot and shoe manufacturer, acquired Stride Rite Corporation including its Sperry Top-Sider, Keds, Saucony, and other brands from Collective Brands, Inc. The purchase was valued at $ 2 billion, including debt. On July 14, 2014, Authentic Brands Group acquired some assets from Payless's division Collective Licensing International, LLC. Wolverine World Wide Wolverine World Wide, Inc. or Wolverine Worldwide,
156-665: A publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange . Hush Puppies , a casual footwear brand founded by the company in 1958, quickly rose to popularity in the 1960s. In 1994, Wolverine World Wide introduced Cat Footwear, a licensed brand of shoes using the Caterpillar Inc. name. In 1995, the Council of Fashion Designers of America voted Hush Puppies as Fashion Accessory of the Year. In 1996,
182-451: A shoe purchaser for Payless Shoes . After making unbranded shoes for department stores in the 1970s, Items International attempted to produce branded athletic shoes in the early 1980s. It designed technical shoes for jazzercise and step aerobics , but was too slow to gain a foothold in those markets. After talking with his son, Mann realized that there was an untapped market for skateboarding shoes, and that skateboarders did not want to wear
208-460: A trend of retail closures in 2016–2017 known as the retail apocalypse . Payless emerged from bankruptcy court protection in August 2017. The company was the first among a group of retailers going through bankruptcy since 2016 to successfully complete the process of restructuring. On February 14, 2019, Payless filed for bankruptcy again for a second time and this time they closed all 2,100 stores in
234-453: Is a lifestyle brand known for making skateboarding shoes . Originally based in Altoona, Pennsylvania , during its heyday it was cited as one of the world's most influential brands. Originally a subsidiary of Items International , it was later sold to private equity firms. Airwalk was founded by George Yohn, the founder of shoe manufacturers Blair Co. and Items International, and Bill Mann,
260-473: Is a publicly traded American footwear manufacturer based in Rockford, Michigan . The shoemaker is known for its eponymous brand, Wolverine Boots and Shoes, as well as other brands, such as Hush Puppies , Chaco , and Merrell . The company also manufactures licensed footwear for other firms, such as Caterpillar and Harley-Davidson . In 2012, Wolverine World Wide added Saucony , Keds , Stride Rite and Sperry Top-Sider to its list of brands, after acquiring
286-572: The 2000s included the 2003 purchase of Sebago and 2009 purchases of Chaco and the UK-based brand Cushe. The company discontinued the Cushe brand in 2015 and sold Sebago to Italian publicly traded company BasicNet in 2017. In 2006, Wolverine World Wide entered into a global footwear licensing deal with Patagonia . The company stopped production of Patagonia footwear in 2014. Wolverine World Wide nearly doubled in size after its 2012 acquisition of
SECTION 10
#1732801689111312-704: The 2000s, and on August 16, 2007, the company changed its name to Collective Brands, Inc. Payless, operating as Collective Brands, Inc. formed a division called Collective Licensing International, LLC (CLI) in January 2004, which was based in Englewood, Colorado. CLI held and owned various clothing and sport brands, particularly "youth lifestyle brands" and board-sport brands such as Airwalk, Vision Street Wear , Sims , Lamar and LTD, World Snowboarding Championships , Sugarboards, Carve, genetic, Dukes, Rage, Ultra-Wheels, Hind, Spot Bilt and Skate Attack. The primary purpose of
338-547: The Performance Lifestyle Group of Collective Brands in a $ 1.23 billion transaction that also involved the sale of Payless ShoeSource and Collective Licensing International to private equity firms Blum Capital Partners and Golden Gate Capital . Fredrick Hirth and G. A. Krause founded the company in 1883. Hirth and Krause bought a small leather shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan , starting with
364-464: The Performance Lifestyle Group of Collective Brands , which added Saucony , Keds , Stride Rite and Sperry Top-Sider brands to its portfolio. In 2017 the company sold its United States Department of Defense footwear business along with a factory in Big Rapids, Michigan to Tennessee -based footwear manufacturer Original Footwear. In the same year Wolverine World Wide converted Stride Rite to
390-690: The UK wholesale business for Hush Puppies was acquired from Sears plc , who had been selling Hush Puppies in the United Kingdom. Sears' Hush Puppies retail business was sold to Stylo plc at the same time. In 1997, the company continued expanding by purchasing the Merrell brand. In 1998, Wolverine World Wide acquired the global license for footwear from the Harley-Davidson Motor Company . Wolverine World Wide acquisitions in
416-475: The United States by May 2019. On February 19, 2019, it announced would also close 248 stores in Canada. The 790 stores across Latin America and the other stores internationally would not be affected. Texas A&M University marketing professor and interim director Cheryl H. Bridges then surmised that Payless did not heed the changing retail landscape and "reinvent its stores" quickly enough to stay competitive in
442-644: The assistance and aid of the original Hill Brothers in Kansas City. The St. Louis version of "'Hill Brothers Self Service Shoe Store'" went from 3 to 103 stores in the Midwest and South between 1956 and 1971. Volume Shoe originally operated the 103 stores under the "Hill Brothers Self Service" name. Starting in 1972, Volume Shoe began to consolidate stores in proximity and convert others to the "Payless" brand. The St. Louis operation of "'Hill Brothers Self Service'" stores were known for their bare bones minimalism and
468-472: The company changed its name to Wolverine Shoe and Tanning Corporation. During the period 1916-1923 its earnings increased 700%. In 1941, during World War II , the Wolverine Shoe and Tanning Company began to work for the U.S. Navy, developing pigskin gloves and inventing what later became known as pigskin suede. In 1964, the company changed its name to Wolverine World Wide, Inc. and in 1965 became
494-1048: The company's 2018 annual report, "substantially all of the units sourced by the Company are procured from numerous third-party manufacturers in the Asia Pacific region. The Company maintains offices in the Asia Pacific region to develop and facilitate sourcing strategies." Wolverine World Wide operated various PFAS dumpsites throughout Belmont and Rockford that contaminated the drinking water of hundreds of residents. The chemicals involved have been linked to various negative health effects, including several cancers . In February 2020 Wolverine settled Grand Rapids federal court action by agreeing to pay $ 69.5 million to provide town-supplied drinking water to affected residents. In 2019, Wolverine World Wide reorganized into two operating segments: The company acquired British athleisure retailer Sweaty Betty in 2021 and divested its Keds and Sperry brands in 2023–24. Airwalk Airwalk
520-407: The company, struggling with the migration of retail shopping to e-commerce, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed 673 stores nationwide. Prior to the bankruptcy, heavily loaded with debt due to a private equity buy out, the company's credit rating was downgraded by Moody's . It has $ 100 million in loans that will come due in the next five years. The company's bankruptcy announcement was part of
546-408: The division was to develop brands and provide them with marketing and branding guidance in various markets. In 2010, CLI acquired Above The Rim from Reebok International for an undisclosed amount. On October 9, 2012, Collective Brands, Inc. announced its acquisition by Golden Gate Capital and Blum Capital was completed. As a result, Payless ShoeSource and Collective Licensing International operate as
SECTION 20
#1732801689111572-569: The sales floor inside Shopko discount stores, replacing J. Baker. As part of a major restructuring, Payless announced in 2004 that it will close down the Parade chain and hundreds of Payless outlets. On June 27, 2006, Payless announced that it was launching a new logo created to represent a more stylish, upscale and contemporary company. In 2018, the company advertised under a stunt premium banner, Palessi Shoes , to demonstrate that its products could pass for high-end designer brands. In April 2017,
598-400: The same shoes "[their] mom wore to her aerobics class". He learned that skateboarding wore out shoes differently than other sports and designed accordingly. Airwalk launched as a subsidiary of Items International in 1986. The brand gained widespread popularity for its most popular shoe – "The One" – in the mid 1990s. In his 2000 book The Tipping Point , Malcolm Gladwell cited Airwalk as
624-540: The slogan "two for five – man alive!", that is, women and children's shoes were two pair for five dollars. In 1979, Volume Shoe was acquired by The May Department Stores Company . Payless bought Picway Shoes from the Kobacker department store chain in 1994. In 1996, May spun off Payless to shareholders, making it once again an independent, publicly traded firm. Payless acquired the mid-priced shoe chain Parade of Shoes from J. Baker, Inc. in 1997. It opened locations on
650-532: Was an American holding company that owned Payless ShoeSource, Robeez, and Airwalk . The company was purchased by Wolverine World Wide , Blum Capital , and Golden Gate Capital in 2012. Stride Rite Corporation purchased the Sperry Top-Sider and Keds brand names from Uniroyal in 1979. During 2005, Stride Rite completed its acquisition of Saucony . In 2006, Stride Rite purchased footwear brand Robeez. Payless purchased many of these companies during
676-621: Was founded in 1956 in Topeka, Kansas, by two cousins, Louis and Shaol Pozez, to open self-service stores selling budget footwear. Circa 1962–1963, Volume Shoe company purchased the original Hill Brothers Shoe Company based in Kansas City, Missouri and converted all 25 of their stores to the "Payless" name. In 1971, Volume Shoe obtained the second Hill Brothers Shoe Store chain that was started in St. Louis, Mo in 1956 by Al Melnick and Sol Nathanson with
#110889