What the Future Holds for Rockport Under Its New Parent, Authentic Brands

Rockport now has a big new family, and potentially the resources it needs to stage a turnaround.

As was widely anticipated, Authentic Brands Group — the New York-based parent company of more than 40 fashion, footwear and lifestyle brands — announced this morning that it has scooped up the heritage shoe brand out of bankruptcy, with the goal to “unlock its full potential” and explore category expansion in apparel, accessories, outerwear, travel and more.

Authentic’s founder, chairman and CEO, Jamie Salter, said in a statement, “There is a significant addressable market, presenting opportunities for the brand to evolve into a full lifestyle offering with a focus on innovation and comfort.”

Investments in innovation will be important to revitalize the brand, said Bob Schwartz, owner of the Eneslow Shoes & Orthotics stores in New York. “Rockport was built on great product,” he said, referencing how founders Saul and Bruce Katz disrupted the market by putting cushioned orthotic elements and athletic technology into traditional footwear.

But in recent years, the brand had fallen behind the rest of the industry, losing share in both the athletic and dress markets, as sneaker players emerged with new technologies and its brown shoe competitors beat it on pricing and margins.

“They’ve not been involved at all in the running revolution that Hoka and On created,” Schwartz said last month. “And it’s not about brown shoe versus athletic. It’s about innovation versus, you know, the lack thereof.”

Retail partners told FN the company also has faced sourcing and distribution challenges throughout COVID — all of which culminated in Rockport Group filing on June 15 for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a U.S. District Court in Delaware, in order to “review and restructure” its assets. Coinciding with the move, CEO Greg Ribbatt resigned his post, and Joseph Marchese of PKF Clear Thinking was appointed chief restructuring officer.

The company also declared at the time that it was putting itself up for sale, and within days, FN sister publication WWD reported that Authentic Brands Group was the stalking horse bidder.

Authentic has been behind many of the fashion industry’s biggest deals in recent years. Some of its latest footwear acquisitions have included Hunter Boots, Vince, Ted Baker and Reebok. And in March, it made a binding offer to buy Boardriders, the parent company of Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, DC Shoes and others. Both the Boardriders and Rockport deals are expected to close next month, at which time the company said its annual revenue will total $29 billion worldwide.

In order to rebuild the Rockport brand, Authentic has tapped Marc Fisher Footwear (MFF) as its U.S. partner to handle the brand’s footwear design, wholesale and e-commerce operations in the territory. MFF also has the shoe license for Authentic’s Nine West, Hunter Boots and Bandolino labels, as well as other notable fashion names including Calvin Klein, Guess, Tommy Hilfiger and more.

Matt Powell, an advisor at Spurwink River and senior advisor at BCE Consulting, said MFF will be a good steward for Rockport, though as a leader in women’s contemporary footwear, it might lack some key expertise in the brand’s core men’s market. “Marc Fisher may need to add some personnel who are more men’s focused,” he said.

Rockport’s business is heavily weighted toward men’s, despite its best efforts. “They never learned how to be a women’s shoe company,” said Schwartz.

That makes this new pairing particularly interesting — and mutually beneficial.

MFF has been taking steps to bolster its men’s offerings this year by adding the category to its in-house Marc Fisher LTD and Easy Spirit brands, and it already produces men’s styles for Tommy Hilfiger and Guess. The addition of Rockport could fuel further investment into that side of the business.

Meanwhile, MFF might finally be able to help Rockport unlock a strong formula for its women’s collections (as it has done for Easy Spirit). And it has the capabilities to untangle any lingering sourcing and logistics issues for the brand.

In the statement today, CEO Marc Fisher said, “Rockport’s strong connection to its core consumer presents compelling growth opportunities within the men’s footwear market, and we look forward to continuing to build upon its foundation with Authentic.”

As for other plans, Authentic said that it will announce additional partners for Rockport in the coming months and leverage its existing network to expand across new categories and territories.

It noted that Rockport is currently found in a variety of retail channels in more than 60 countries worldwide. While the new parent gave no indication of whether that distribution strategy might change, Powell had his own prediction: “I expect Authentic will use Rockport as an exclusive brand for a large retailer.”

Several independent stores told FN their business with the brand has dwindled recently, but they have high hopes it will bounce back under new ownership.

“I don’t think it’s anything where they’d have to reinvent the wheel,” Matt Lucas, men’s buyer at Karavel Shoes in Austin, Texas, told FN last month. “Rockport has a lot of name recognition. Just get back to basics and do the things that have worked in the past.”