OFF THE CUFF

What are you reading? I just finished The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It’s incredible how relevant his story is even today.

What was the last movie you saw? The new Indiana Jones flick with my family, which definitely didn’t disappoint.

What might people be surprised to know about you? That I was a professional musician before I got into business. I played stand-up bass in jazz and rock groups in New York, and I also taught music. It was a lot of grinding and DIY, playing with a lot of different people.

Exactly how did a musician cross over into the business world? Well, after earning my bachelor’s degree in music studies from William Patterson

University, followed by doing the music thing in New York during my early twenties and working various day jobs to get by, I thought about becoming an accountant, which my mom was. I had a knack for numbers and eventually went back to school, attending San Francisco State University, where I earned my master’s in accounting and then got my CPA license. That was my segue into the business world, because I didn’t want to stay just in accounting.

What is the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received? To make mistakes often and fast.

Who is your most coveted dinner guest? Continuing on my music background, Miles Davis.

What is inspiring you right now? My two kids, who are seven and 11 years old.

What was your first-ever paying job? I was 14 and I was a busboy in a Chinese restaurant in St. Louis, where I grew up.

What was your first concert and best concert? First was Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. The best was Radiohead on its OK Computer tour when I was in high school.

What do you want to be remembered for most? Being a kind, honest, and inspiring person.

What is your motto? I don’t have a personal one, but our company motto is “making friends one pair at a time.” growth is definitely on the women’s side. With men’s, it’s just continuing to make sure that we’re filling all aspects of his wardrobe. A lot of brands, including us, went really casual during and post-Covid, but now we’re seeing a resurgence of dress and hybrid dress-comfort shoes. So we’re going to continue to make sure we are fulfilling every need in his closet. Retail distribution is going to be key for us to growing the brand over the next few years, as well. For starters, not everybody wants to buy shoes online. I do not believe stores will dry up entirely. We’re going through a massive reorganization—more of an evolution, really—of what retail will look like, so we must continue to be a part of that evolution and make sure that we’re meeting all of our customers, wherever they’re shopping, be that at local mom and pop shops, Zappos, Nordstrom, or on our site. We’ve got to make sure that we’re in all those key places and that our brand experience is congruent throughout all those channels. It’s a big challenge, but it’s also a big opportunity.

What is your favorite hometown memory? Catching fireflies in my backyard.

You noted an emphasis on reestablishing as well as opening new wholesale accounts. Does that mark a shift from the company’s more recent focus on DTC?

First, I don’t think we ever intentionally turned our backs on our wholesale business, but I do think we lacked a consistent strategy over the years. Secondly, I think that for our brand, just like many other brands, the DTC business can be very deceptive. On the one hand, the margins are big and you’re dealing with customers directly, so there has been this notion that some wholesale channels are competing with our DTC. But that is just the most incorrect way to think about it. Our new approach is to not see them as separate channels. It’s all about growing our brand in these channels together. So we’re now approaching these wholesale partnerships as the opposite of competing with our DTC channel. We view our retail partnerships moving forward as helping to strengthen all the channels. At the end of the day, we need to get shoes on people’s feet, and we want to spread awareness of our brand and keep our customers happy. As long as we’re partnering with retailers who share that philosophy and want to work with us to present the brand in the right way and offer the right customer service, then that’s going to help all our businesses grow.

Most retailers are resigned to brands’ DTC efforts, but having to compete on price and, worse, potentially coming across like the bad guy with their customers is what really—and rightfully—ticks them off. They can lose a customer forever over such a scenario.

A lot of it comes down to communication, and that’s what we’re working really hard on now. For example, if we put anything on our site on closeout or a markdown, we let our retailers know in advance. We’ll also offer margin assistance on their remaining stock and will work with them to make sure that they sell through their inventory. It’s about making sure we’re being fair and extra-communicative with anything that can impact our retailers. On that note, we believe there’s a huge opportunity for us to compete for shelf space, not just in regard to having better product but also on the service that we offer our retail partners. And that includes being fair and honest, paying attention to their needs, making sure that they have good margins, maintaining MAP, making sure our product is up to date, creating marketing programs that drive customers into their stores…just making sure we’re doing everything in our power to help them succeed. That we’re going above and beyond to make sure that we are all succeeding. approach overall. Right now, we’re trying to find who our women’s customer is. Some of that involves experimentation and releasing a range of styles. So over the next couple of seasons, we’ll be trying different things to see what gains traction. That said, overall, she’s going to be very similar to our men’s customer, which is a 35-plus person who lives an active lifestyle and is looking for superior quality and comfort.

Even Nike has seemed to pull back on its DTC focus of late. Perhaps brands aren’t better off trying to go it entirely alone.

Exactly. I think a lot of brands are realizing that. In hindsight, it was foolish for them to turn their back on brick-and-mortar partners. I don’t know what they were thinking. That, in three years, 90 percent of consumers would be buying shoes strictly online? It’s not happening. But now it’s about who’s going to actually walk the walk. Are they going to actually implement the right policies and philosophies to actually partner with retailers in the way that’s needed to be successful? Also, will they stand by them? I guess we’ll find out.

Still, numerous retailers have been receiving Dear John letters of late from brands announcing the end of their partnership without much explanation other than the decision to move in another direction.

That’s insanity! It’s also a great example of not meeting all your customers where they’re shopping. In addition, it’s continuing this fallacy that the business will come straight to your DTC if you cut out other channels. That’s really, really rare. Even DTC brands that started online have been opening stores.

How is the new women’s collection different than previous efforts by Samuel Hubbard?

You basically described what 30 other comfort brands would have. I know! (Laughs) We’re just going to have to do it better—just like we’ve done in men’s. We’ve proven to those loyal customers that our shoes are simply better. They’re more comfortable, supportive, longer-lasting, and better crafted. Now we’ve got to prove that to our future women’s customers. The difference there, though, is we have to be slightly more on-trend. While we’re going to stay rooted in classics, we’ve got to push a little bit more on making sure we’re on-trend in colors, materials, etc. And just like with the men’s closet, we need to make sure we’re meeting all her wardrobe needs, whether is just a versatile dress-up/dress-down clog, like we’re working on for early next spring, or classic boots made in the Hubbard fashion of being super lightweight, comfortable, and supportive.

Might the brand have more receptiveness to women because it’s largely unknown among that demographic?

It could be an advantage. We’ll see. I know Steve and I are super-excited to show the collection this month in Atlanta. The feedback, so far, has been really >46