Johnston & Murphy
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Apparel |
| Predecessor | William J. Dudley Shoe Company, The James Johnston Company |
| Founded | Newark, NJ, United States (1850) |
| Founder | William J. Dudley, James Johnston, William A. Murphy |
| Headquarters | Nashville, TN, United States |
|
Number of locations
|
168 |
|
Area served
|
United States & 91 foreign countries |
| Products | Shoes, Apparel, Leather goods, Luggage |
| Revenue |
 US$245,941,000 (Fiscal year ending 2014) |
|
US$17,638,000 (Fiscal year ending 2014) |
|
| Total assets | US$97,532,000 |
| Parent | Genesco (1951–present) |
| Divisions | Retail Operations, Wholesale |
| Website | www |
|
Footnotes / references , |
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Johnston & Murphy is an American footwear and clothing company. A wholly owned subsidiary of Genesco Inc. and based in Nashville, Tennessee, Johnston & Murphy designs, sources, markets and distributes footwear, apparel, leather goods and luggage. The Johnston & Murphy Group is divided into two operating divisions: Retail Operations and Wholesale. The Retail Operations division sells Johnston & Murphy branded products for men and women to customers in the United States and 92 foreign countries via the johnstonmurphy.com website and sells products to customers in the United States via direct mail catalogs and 168 company-owned retail shops located in malls and airports and company-owned factory stores located in outlet malls. The Wholesale division distributes footwear products to more than 2100 department stores and independent specialty shops located in the United States and 15 foreign countries.
Johnston & Murphy traces its roots to the William J. Dudley Shoe Company, founded in 1850 in Newark, New Jersey by William J. Dudley, a European immigrant and master craftsman who had been schooled in the classic tradition of English shoemaking.
The William J. Dudley Shoe Company specialized in quality, highly durable work shoes for men, women and children. During its first 25 years, the company's growth forced five moves to increasingly larger locations. In 1880, Newark businessman James Johnston joined the company as Dudley's partner. Johnston's vision was to expand product lines and distribution channels. The company took the durability of its work shoes and built that into a line of higher-fashion footwear, which quickly became popular. In 1881, founder William Dudley died, and Johnston assumed control of the company under a new name, The James Johnston Company.
In 1884, William A. Murphy, another prominent Newark businessman from a distinguished family was intrigued by the success of Johnston's local shoe company. A partnership was formed, and the company became known as Johnston & Murphy.
In 1895, Murphy sold his interest in the company to Herbert P. Gleason, a former top salesman of the company. Gleason knew the value of a recognized brand name and decided to keep the Johnston & Murphy name as well as establish a national sales and marketing force. In the 1920s, Gleason's son, George Gleason, coined the company's first slogan, "The best shoes anybody can buy." He also developed a series of "handsome lifestyle" advertisements and ran campaigns in high-profile magazines such as Vanity Fair and The Saturday Evening Post. Ads featured the Country Club Series, a line of golf shoes, which became one of Johnston & Murphy's most popular.
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