As Tapestry Inc. closed out fiscal 2024, chief executive officer Joanne Crevoiserat drilled down on what the company will focus on going forward at its challenged Stuart Weitzman footwear label.
During the company’s earnings call with analysts on Thursday, Crevoiserat called this year’s results at Stuart Weitzman “challenged” and “significantly impacted” by external pressures in the brand’s two key markets of North America and Greater China. “Despite disappointing financial results, we continue to focus on brand building initiatives to drive awareness, growth and profitability long term,” the executive said.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2025, Crevoiserat noted that the Stuart Weitzman team is prioritizing fueling brand relevancy with emotional storytelling and growing icons in key item platform. The brand also is further expanding its casual segment and accelerating growth in wholesale where there’s clear traction.
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“Overall, we see long-term potential for the brand with an empowered team focused on delivering improved top- and bottom-line performance,” she added.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, Tapestry reported that net sales at Stuart Weitzman declined 19 percent from the same time last year to $50.6 million. For the full fiscal year, net sales at the footwear brand fell 14 percent from fiscal 2023 to $241.5 million.
“During the quarter, we expanded our [Stuart Weitzman] assortment of sophisticated casual styles,” Crevoiserat told analysts. “Additionally, we continued to extend the brand’s reach through gains in new and emerging categories, including men’s and handbags. Importantly, new innovation is driving traction at wholesale with the business growing double digits at points of sale in North America in Q4.”
The CEO added that order bookings at the footwear brand through the spring 2025 season are up over 30 percent when compared to last year. “This will support an improvement in revenue and profitability trends in the year ahead,” she said.
Over at Tapestry’s Coach brand, Crevoiserat said that footwear drove outsized gains at the brand in the fourth quarter driven by the continued success of the Lowline sneaker as well as the a recently launched sandal.
“As we enter a new fiscal year, our priorities are clear,” Crevoiserat noted. “We will continue to deepen our connection with consumers, grow leather goods, fuel gains across lifestyle with a focus on footwear, lead with purpose-led storytelling through high impact and sustained brand-building campaigns and expand retail experiences to bring expressive luxury to life through engaging the five senses. These pillars have driven our success and are the right strategies to take us into the future.”
Looking ahead, Tapestry is expecting net sales for fiscal 2025 to be about flat at $6.7 billion with earnings per share of $4.45 to $4.50 representing mid-single digit growth.
