Caleres
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Formerly called
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Brown Shoe Company (1875–2015) |
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| Public | |
| Traded as | : CAL S&P 600 Component |
| Industry | Retail, Wholesale |
| Founded | 1875 |
| Headquarters | Clayton, Missouri |
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Number of locations
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1,369 (January 2011) |
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Key people
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Diane Sullivan (President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman) |
| Products | Footwear |
| Revenue |
 $2.24 billion (2009) |
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Number of employees
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13,400 |
| Website | caleres |
Caleres Inc. is a global footwear company that owns and operates a variety of footwear brands. Its headquarters is located in Clayton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Founded in 1878 as Bryan, Brown & Company in St. Louis and undergoing several names changes, for a time, the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company was the largest manufacturer of shoes in America. It went bankrupt in June 1939. On May 27, 2015, Brown Shoe changed its name to Caleres.
The company was created in St. Louis and was originally named Bryan, Brown & Company after its founders George Warren Brown and Alvin Bryan. The company began business in 1878 and incorporated in 1881 as Bryan-Brown Shoe Company. In 1886, the company became the Brown-Desnoyers Shoe Company, after Mr. Bryan retired. In 1893, Mr. J.B. Desnoyers also retired, and the name was changed to Brown Shoe Company. In 1895, the Brown Shoe Company factory had about six hundred employees who could make five thousand pairs of shoes and boots a day.
In 1925, Brown's widow endowed the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. For a time, the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company was the largest manufacturer of shoes in America. It went bankrupt in June 1939, after a failure to raise fresh capital for a reorganization. Stock of the company was suspended on the on June 23, 1939. The last transaction saw shares sold for 20 cents each, after a peak when its stock sold for up to $60 a share.
In the 1970s, Brown operated Famous Footwear, Cloth World fabric stores, Bottom Half jeans stores, and Meis department stores. On May 27, 2015, Brown Shoe changed its name to Caleres, retaining the "Brown Shoe" name for a future line of men's footwear.
Caleres, Inc. is a $2.6 billion footwear company with worldwide operations. The company operates the 1,100-store Famous Footwear chain. It also operates 100 specialty retail stores in the United States, Canada and China under the Naturalizer name.
Diane M. Sullivan serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Caleres. She has been president and CEO since May 2011 and took on the additional role of chairman of the board beginning February 2, 2014. She joined the company as president in 2003 and added chief operating officer to her responsibilities in 2006.
Brown Shoe's wholesale divisions own and market leading footwear brands including Naturalizer, LifeStride, Via Spiga, Sam Edelman, Connie and Franco Sarto. The company also owns licensed brands including Dr. Scholl's, Carlos by Carlos Santana, DVF - Diane Von Furstenberg, Fergie Footwear and vince. branded footwear. As of February 2011, American Sporting Goods Corporation operated as a subsidiary of Caleres. Its brands included Avia, Ryka and Nevados. In December 2016 Caleres acquired Allen Edmonds from Brentwood Associates for $255 million.
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Wikipedia