Steve Madden revenue up in Q2, thanks to its latest acquisition

By Pune Media On Aug 2, 2025

Shoe retailer Steve Madden reported a mixed bag for its Q2 results.

The footwear giant reported earnings that jumped 6.8% to $559.0 million from $523.6 million during the same period last year. However, the company had to navigate obstacles to get there as it moved forward with its Kurt Geiger acquisition.

“The second quarter was extremely challenging, driven largely by the impact of new tariffs on goods imported into the United States,” said Ed Rosenfeld, the CEO and chairman at Steve Madden, during an earnings call with investors. Rosenfeld predicted more tariff turbulence in Q3.

He said the company has been diversifying its supplier base beyond China to ease the pain induced by tariffs. Nevertheless, the efforts have still not been enough to stave off a cascading litany of problems.

“Wholesale customers canceled orders and reduced open-to-buys, shipment delays led to lost sales and pushed deliveries to later periods, and organic gross margins declined due to the significant increase in our landed costs, resulting in substantial pressure on both revenue and earnings,” Rosenfield explained.

Steve Madden is No. 241 in the Top 2000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s leading online retailers by annual ecommerce sales. There, Steve Madden falls under the Apparel & Accessories category. Digital Commerce 360 projects Steve Madden’s 2025 online sales will reach $372.64 million.

Kurt Geiger offers bright spot for Steve Madden revenue

Steve Madden officials said the integration of the recently purchased European footwear specialist, Kurt Geiger, is proceeding “smoothly.” The company announced in February that it would acquire Kurt Geiger from a group led by international private equity firm Cinven for close to $365 million (£289 million) in cash.

In addition to Kurt Geiger London, the Steve Madden acquisition includes Kurt Geiger’s other portfolio brands, KG Kurt Geiger and Carvela. The deal closed in May.

While not breaking out figures, Rosenfeld said the company’s digital sales outperformed the physical stores. Much of that was attributed to Geiger’s strong direct-to-consumer (DTC) business.

“Ecommerce was quite a bit better than stores,” Rosenfeld said.

The numbers underscored Kurt Geiger’s importance, with Steven Madden’s direct-to-consumer revenue up 43.3% year over year to $195.5 million for the quarter. Still, excluding Kurt Geiger, overall direct-to-consumer revenue was down 3.0% over the same period. Ultimately, both brick-and-mortar and ecommerce channels exhibited declines from Q2 2024.

Help from boot sales

Steve Madden’s results also spotlighted a surprise hit of the year: boots. They aren’t just for winter anymore.

“That was really a highlight for us — has been a highlight for us this spring and summer is the performance of boots,” said Rosenfield. “It’s really not such a seasonal category anymore.”

He stated that girls are wearing a lot of boots with dresses, shorts, and skirts at this time of year. In addition, he noted that boots were performing exceptionally well in DTC channels.

Meanwhile, Zine Mazouzi, chief financial officer at Steve Madden, said that if not for revenue from Geiger, the outlook would have been worse.

“Excluding the newly acquired Kurt Geiger, consolidated revenue decreased 10%,” Mazouzi explained.

Rosenfeld pointed to Geiger’s digital presence as one of the prime growth engines that Steve Madden expects to see in the United States from the acquisition.

“That’s extremely important and has powerful momentum,” Rosenfeld stated. “And so we’re going to continue to fuel that.”

Making the merger a long-term success

One industry expert said that even with the smooth Kurt Geiger merger, there are still potential perilous paths to navigate for Steve Madden.

“Post-merge, one of the trickiest moves is harmonizing loyalty programs across regions and brands without disrupting customer engagement,” said Wesley Almeida, an omnichannel retail expert who has worked on ecommerce sites for prominent retailers and is based in Toronto.

Almeida noted that Steve Madden’s U.S.-centric loyalty base will need to be thoughtfully aligned with Kurt Geiger’s UK/EU customer expectations.

“Smart mergers treat loyalty not as an afterthought but as an early integration layer to keep high-value customers from drifting,” Almeida said.

He added that there are specific indicators to watch post-merger to indicate how the marriage is faring.

“In M&A scenarios, I typically look at indicators like cross-sell campaign performance, loyalty re-enrollment rates, app retention (if both brands have mobile), and shipping reliability as early markers of successful integration,” Almeida explained.

Steve Madden officials said in the earnings call that they ended the quarter with 392 company-operated brick-and-mortar retail stores, including 98 outlets, as well as seven ecommerce websites and 130 company-operated concessions in the international market. This includes 73 company-operated brick-and-mortar retail stores, including 27 outlets, as well as two ecommerce websites and 72 concessions related to Kurt Geiger.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports.

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