Designer Brands

Designer Brands Inc.

Company type	Public
Industry	Retail
Founded	1969
Headquarters	Columbus, Ohio , United States
Area served	United States, Canada, Middle East
Products	Footwear, fashion accessories, private-label shoe brands (Audrey Brooke, Kelly & Katie, Lulu Townsend, Poppie Jones)
Website	www.dsw.com

Designer Brands Inc. is a U.S.-based retailer that focuses on designer and well-known brand footwear and fashion accessories. The company owns the Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) chain, which includes more than 500 locations nationwide along with an online shopping platform. Additionally, it offers private-label shoe brands including Audrey Brooke, Kelly & Katie, Lulu Townsend, and Poppie Jones.

History

Originally established in 1969 under the name Shonac Corporation, the firm began as the shoe license holder for Value City. Its inaugural store was launched in Dublin, Ohio, in 1991. By 1998, Value City had acquired the company, which had grown to 48 stores by the following year.

In December 2004, Retail Ventures took ownership of the company. Following a major security breach in March 2005 that compromised 1.4 million credit card transactions, the company went public through an initial public offering in June 2005. The introduction of its e-commerce site occurred in April 2008.

Designer Brands purchased Retail Ventures, its largest shareholder, in 2011. The company expanded into the Canadian market by acquiring a 44% interest in Town Shoes in 2014 and later secured full control in 2018. In February 2016, Designer Brands acquired Ebuys for $62.5 million and incorporated children's footwear into its product lineup by July of that year. The company also entered the Middle Eastern market via a franchise agreement with Apparel Brands in August 2016 and inaugurated its first Middle East location in Oman in June 2017.

Among its strategic collaborations is a 2017 agreement with Under Armour to retail their footwear within DSW stores. In early 2019, Designer Brands piloted the addition of nail salons in select stores targeting millennial shoppers. That same year marked the rebranding from DSW Inc. to Designer Brands and a change of its NYSE ticker symbol from "DSW" to "DBI."

Partnering with entertainer Jennifer Lopez, Designer Brands introduced a footwear collection in March 2020 designed to meet pandemic-related consumer preferences by emphasizing sneakers and comfort-oriented shoes during widespread store closures and increased remote work arrangements.