INTERVIEW BELLEVILLE. 1777 SRP £107
30 years ago the ART brand was created in Northern Spain, designing shoes for young, carefree customers with a quirky sense of style. Today, that sense of individuality still remains – as does the brand’s passion for innovation. Footwear Today chats to Jorge Hernandez, ART’s Global Sales Director…
T
he ART company has enjoyed impressive growth in the past year with many new customers embracing the quirky commercial styles which allow them to offer something slightly different from their more usual brands.
The company offers very low minimums to buyers so they can order the higher volume/ commercial styles in larger size runs, but they might also see a vibrant colourway which they can buy one pair of to brighten up their in-store presentation or window display. This is something the boutique fashion stores can take advantage of, where footwear is sold as an accessory product.
24 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2024
ART emphasises its core values of strength, quality, innovation and… humour! And while the past few years have been difficult across the industry the family-owned brand continues to innovate to remain relevant in an ever- increasingly competitive marketplace. Even during the pandemic the company was doing all it could to support its retail partners…
“We knew it would be a tough time for everyone so we gave many of our retailers 200 pairs of shoes and asked them to pay for them after they sold them,” Jorge Hernandez, ART’s Global Sales Director, explains to Footwear Today. “Then, we returned their unsold stock and replaced them with new season’s stock which
they had selected; we called it HELP (our High Engagement Long-term Plan).
“It is a challenging time right now, but I feel that this also throws different opportunities our way as well. Buyers are looking forward to a good Winter season with actual Winter weather which will really help them sell boots and shoes. As we all know, Winter 2023 was so warm and Spring 2024 was so wet, and this led to many independents ending up with too many boots and sandals. “So now retailers are looking for higher sales figures on less stock. The repeats for Winter 2024 have started very strong; we have some really lovely knee-high boots that are performing really well with repeats.”
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