Designer Brands Inc. is an American company that sells

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

and

name brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

shoes A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function, but ...

and

fashion accessories In fashion, an accessory is an item used to contribute, in a secondary manner, to an individual's outfit. Accessories are often chosen to complete an outfit and complement the wearer's look. They have the capacity to further express an individua ...

. It owns the Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) store chain, and operates over 500 stores in the United States and an

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

website. The company also owns private-label footwear brands including Audrey Brooke, Kelly & Katie, Lulu Townsend, and Poppie Jones.

History

The company was founded in 1969 as Shonac Corporation, as the shoe licensee for

Value City Value City Department Stores was an American department store chain with 113 locations. It was founded in 1917 by Ephraim Schottenstein, a travelling salesman in central Ohio. The store was an off-price retailer that sold clothing, jewelry, and ...

. In July 1991, the company opened its first store, which was in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. In 1998, the company was acquired by Value City. By 1999, the company had 48 stores. In December 2004, the company was acquired by

Retail Ventures Retail Ventures was a holding company originally created in 2003 for DSW (NYSE: DSW), Filene's Basement, and Value City Department Stores. The retailer's initial public offering was in 1991 under the Value City name. Value City went on to purcha ...

, an affiliate. In March 2005, the company experienced massive data theft, including customer data from 1.4 million credit card transactions. In June 2005, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. In April 2008, the company launched its

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

. In 2011, the company acquired Retail Ventures, its largest shareholder. In 2014, the company acquired 44% of Town Shoes, a chain of Canadian shoe stores, and entered into a licensing agreement for the DSW name. In February 2016, the company acquired Ebuys for $62.5 million. In July 2016, the company added shoes for children to its inventory. In August 2016, the company entered into a franchising agreement with Apparel Brands to open DSW stores in the Middle East. In March 2017, the company reached a deal with

Under Armour Under Armour, Inc. is an American sportswear company that manufactures footwear and clothing, apparel headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. History 20th century Under Armour was founded on September 25, 1996, by Kevin Plank, a ...

to carry Under Armour shoes in DSW stores. In June 2017, the company opened a store in

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

, its first store in the Middle East. In May 2018, the company acquired the remaining shares of Town Shoes to obtain complete ownership of the company. In February 2019, the company announced an addition of nail salons to 5 stores, after testing the concept in 2 stores in Columbus, Ohio. In March 2019, DSW rebranded their corporate name to Designer Brands. The company also changed its ticker symbol on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

from "DSW" to "DBI" effective April 2, 2019. Entertainer

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

collaborated with the brand to launch the March 2020 line. When the chain closed all its retail stores due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and fashion trends shifted as a result of the increase in

remote work Remote work (also called telecommuting, telework, work from or at home, WFH as an initialism, hybrid work, and other terms) is the practice of work (human activity), working at or from one's home or Third place, another space rather than from ...

, the line was redesigned to include sneakers and comfort shoes.

References

External links

{{Authority control Shoe companies of the United States Online retailers of the United States American companies established in 1969 Clothing companies established in 1969 Retail companies established in 1969 Footwear retailers of the United States Companies based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange 1969 establishments in the United States