Dolce Vita is expanding its retail footprint once again with the opening of its first-ever mall store in the U.S.

Located inside the Aventura Mall in Miami, Fla., the 802-sq.-ft. store officially opened its doors in November and marks the footwear brand’s debut in Florida. The new shop offers Dolce Vita’s full range of footwear and accessories.

Designed by Aine Naughton, the company noted that the new Aventura store reflects Dolce Vita’s “less is more” approach, with architecture that features organic curves, neutral tones, and layered textures.

“We’re excited to introduce our brand to a vibrant new community in one of the region’s most iconic destinations,” Kerry Norlin, president of Dolce Vita, told FN. “The Aventura store is a natural extension of our retail identity, creating a luxe, curated experience tailored to South Florida’s energy and lifestyle.”

The Steve Madden-owned label added that this opening is a key milestone in Dolce Vita’s national expansion. Last year, the brand unveiled its first flagship store in New York City. Set on the corner of Broadway and Broome St. in NYC’s SoHo neighborhood, the flagship featured an open, single-level space in hues of brown and cream –  similar to the new Aventura location. The moment marked its second retail location in the U.S. at the time, following Dolce Vita’s first store that opened in Los Angeles’ Melrose Place in 2006.

Other openings have since taken place in Austin, Texas and Washington, D.C., as well as in Quebec, Canada.

This new store comes as parent company Steve Madden raised its full-year outlook last month after reporting sales and earnings for the third quarter of 2024. Revenues in the period were $624.7 million, up 13 percent compared to the same quarter in 2023.

Chairman and chief executive officer Edward Rosenfeld said in a statement in November that accessories and apparel sales, including strong performance in Steve Madden handbags, helped drive the solid results in the quarter. Contributions from the newly acquired Almost Famous brand, which Steve Madden snapped up in October for $52 million, continued to bolster the apparel business.

Rosenfeld also cited “robust top line gains in international markets and direct-to-consumer channels.”

Jimmy Choo is finally returning to Madison Avenue with a new flagship that is just a few blocks down from its former location.

The brand’s new spot on 667 Madison Avenue introduces a renewed retail aesthetic, where each Jimmy Choo boutique offers a one-of-a-kind environment and experience. See all the photos from the store below.

Salomon has opened its first store in Italy unveiling a unit in Milan’s Corso Garibaldi, few steps away from the city’s arty Brera district.

Following in the footsteps of recent store openings in New York City, Paris, London, Shanghai and Tokyo, the 968-square-foot space features minimal interiors hinged on metallic and wooden elements and spotlighting the French outdoor brand’s running and hiking gear, including footwear, apparel and bags. 

A full wall of the Amer Sports-owned brand’s Sportstyle footwear is offered to sneakers aficionados, too, along with free services including 2D foot scanning and the Tap2Pay system on smartphones reducing waiting times in completing transactions. Products and colorways not available at the store can additionally be ordered on-site and shipped directly to locations across Italy.

“As a premium partner of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympics Games, [this] marks a defining moment for the Salomon brand as we open our first Salomon store in Milano,” said Paolo Parmeggiani, the brand’s director of countries and managing director Italy. 

“We are extremely proud and focused on offering an amazing experience and service to consumers. Milan is only a couple hours from the mountains and nearby ski resorts, but it’s also the home of the September fashion week, which makes it perfect to showcase Salomon’s modern mountain sports lifestyle, from winter sports equipment to running products to fashion-inspired sneakers,” he added.

To mark the opening, the brand staged an initiative last week involving the local running communities, which the company invited to run a specific 8-mile route shared only on the day of the event. After the run, attendees eventually gathered at the store for an aperitivo, DJ set and to collect some goodies.

The Milan opening is part of a bigger retail rollout strategy that comes after Amer Sports raised $1.37 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year.

As reported last week, Amer Sports raised its guidance for fiscal year 2024 after posting strong Q3 results and announced a new chief executive officer and president for Salomon.

The public Finnish company – which also owns the Arc’Teryx, Wilson, Peak Performance and Atomic brands – reported a 17 percent increase in sales in Q3 to $1.35 billion. Net income increased 257 percent to $56 million, or 11 cents diluted earnings per share. 

The outdoor performance segment, which includes Salomon, saw revenues grow 8 percent to $534 million in Q3. The brand announced that it has elevated chief product officer Guillaume Meyzenq to the role of president and CEO of Salomon, effective Jan 1, 2025. He replaces Franco Fogliato, who stepped down from the role in April for personal reasons after about three years at the helm of the brand.

Inside Salomon’s New NYC Sportstyle Pop-Up Store, PHOTOS

View Gallery 29 Images

Located at 18 Broadwick Street in the city’s Soho neighborhood, the store features an extensive range of Sportstyle footwear and a curated accessory collection, including the latest collaborations with noted designers and fashion labels.

This store is the third Sportstyle store to open this year alongside Paris and New York City, launching as a part of Salomon’s new global retail concept. The interior pays homage to the brand’s French heritage, with authentic elements from the mountains near Annecy, including wooden benches, old furniture from old farms, and vegetation, infusing the store with the spirit of the Alps. See all the photos from the new London store below.

Puma opened the doors to its second North American flagship store in Las Vegas this week to coincide with Sin City’s Formula One weekend.

Located on the Vegas Strip at the BLVD Las Vegas retail development, the new 25,000-sq.-ft. store spans three stories and features a range of Puma products from its sportstyle, basketball, motorsport, golf, running, training, soccer and kids’ assortments, as well as collections designed by select brand ambassadors and athletes.

Unique to this location, Puma Las Vegas includes a professional F1 racing simulator that takes customers on a virtual race down the Vegas Strip; an interactive arcade that features run, golf and soccer experiences; and the Puma x You customization studio where customers can personalize apparel and footwear.

Tara McRae, who recently rejoined Puma North America as senior vice president of marketing and brand strategy, told FN in an interview that the choice of Las Vegas for Puma’s second U.S. flagship just makes sense.

“Besides the millions and millions of visitors that come through Vegas each year, this city has truly become a global hub of entertainment and fashion,” McRae said. “And what’s even more exciting for us is it’s now an amazing sports town. It’s exciting to see that Vegas has the Raiders, the Aces or even the Las Vegas Grand Prix. It’s become this amazing global hub. And you see the investment that the city is making into sports. So, for us, it’s an exciting spot.”

Arne Freundt, chief executive officer of Puma, agrees. In a statement issued on Friday, Freundt signaled that the opening of the “state-of-the-art flagship store” in Las Vegas was a part of the brand’s elevation strategy.

“I believe that our new Las Vegas flagship is essential for conveying the true character of our Puma brand and for creating an immersive, interactive shopping experience as it will redefine in-person shopping by seamlessly merging sports performance, latest fashion trends, and technology,” Freundt said.

To celebrate the official grand opening of the brand’s Las Vegas flagship store, Puma executives were joined by Puma golfer Rickie Fowler and Puma football athlete Xavi Simons for a ceremonial ribbon cutting on Thursday afternoon.

Along with this new flagship opening, Puma will be hosting a robust schedule of events during the F1 race weekend.

This weekend, Puma will once again host a dedicated and immersive space at the Paddock Suite, as well as unveil new colorways of its recently relaunched Speedcat sneaker. The OG Speedcat was named the third overall hottest product as well as the hottest sneaker in Lyst’s third-quarter rankings last month.

In addition to the Speedcat, Puma has been rolling out official F1 merchandise. This includes the just launched Neon Energy collection with long-time Formula 1 partners the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, Scuderia Ferrari HP and BMW. Plus, Puma and Scuderia Ferrari HP will also be rleasing their newest lifestyle and replica racewear collections this weekend.

Puma has a long history in motorsport since the mid-1980s with the brand developing high-performance race gear for F1 drivers as well as teamwear, fanwear and lifestyle collections for some of the sport’s most successful teams.

Puma will be honored with the Collaboration of the Year award for its F1-inspired tie-up with A$AP Rocky at the 38th annual FN Achievement Awards on Dec. 4 in New York City.

Puma opened the doors to its second North American flagship store in Las Vegas this week to coincide with Sin City’s Formula One celebrations.

Located on the Vegas Strip at the BLVD Las Vegas retail development, the new 25,000-sq.-ft. store spans three stories and features a range of Puma products from its sportstyle, basketball, motorsport, golf, running, training, soccer and kids’ assortments, as well as collections designed by select brand ambassadors and athletes. See all the photos of the store below.

Sweaty Betty has expanded its retail footprint in the U.S. with the opening of two new stores in the region.

The Wolverine Worldwide-owned women’s activewear brand has opened the doors to new locations in Chicago’s Southport neighborhood and Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown area.

The Chicago store is located at 3530 N Southport Avenue and the Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown store is located at 3251 M St NW. Both feature Sweaty Betty’s collection of premium activewear.

“We are thrilled to open these new locations in Chicago and D.C., which mark an exciting opportunity to connect with new communities and deepen our presence in key markets,” Melissa Mullen, global brand president of Sweaty Betty, said in a statement. “We look forward to being part of these vibrant cities, supporting our consumers’ active lifestyles, and continuing to grow our global sisterhood.”

In addition to the two new U.S. locations, the London-based brand is also expanding in the United Kingdom with a new store in Cardiff, Wales’s capital city, and in Westfield London, as part of its growing presence across the country, where it now operates a total of 85 stores.

This news comes as Sweaty Betty said it relocated to new offices this summer following renovations to the company’s King’s Place office in London. Along with this office, Wolverine Worldwide also opened new office space in Zhuhai, China, two months after opening a new workspace in Hong Kong. 

Plus, earlier this month, the company announced it opened a new 11,000-sq.-ft. Innovation Hub in Boston that houses employees from the company’s design and product teams, including Saucony product team members in design, development, product management and merchandising.

Renovations to Wolverine’s global headquarters in Michigan are currently underway.

In the third-quarter, Merrell and Sweaty Betty led the way at Wolverine Worldwide in terms of growth in the period. At Merrell, net sales in the period were $159.2 million, a 1.4 percent increase from $157.0 million the prior year. At Sweaty Betty, net sales were $46.3 million, a 3.0 percent increase from $45.0 million just a year ago.

Looking ahead, the company raised its guidance slightly and now expects total revenue from its ongoing business to be approximately $1.730 billion to $1.745 billion for the full fiscal year 2024.

Frēda Salvador is back in New York. Like many independent companies, the California footwear and accessories brand shut down its three stores — one in New York and two in its home state — during the pandemic in 2020. Now, co-founders Cristina Palomo Nelson and Megan Papay are focused on brick and mortar with its new Manhattan location, located on Mercer Street in SoHo, launching last week.

This is their second location, which was designed to be an extension to their flagship store at 2011 Fillmore in San Francisco. That outpost opened last year. In April, Frēda Salvador will land in Los Angeles with another new store.

“Our thing is building community,” said Papay. “We just want to see people in real life and get to know them. Retail was always a component of the brand, and our customers here are just growing so quickly that it seemed like the right time to open.”

Inside the New York location, customers will find handcrafted footwear, made in Spain and El Salvador, along with handbags, belts, and a specially chosen assortment of vintage, home, and goods from artisans and designers both Nelson and Papay admire most.

The store is designed with an open plan with white walls and vintage bohemian rugs, which is reminiscent of the coastal aesthetic brought from Frēda Salvador’s corporate headquarters in Sausalito, Calif. There is custom millwork shelving, rounded doorways, custom woodwork to display a rotating selection of pre-loved t-shirts, denim and their iconic upcycled chore coats done in collaboration with Born to Roam Vintage, as well a zellige tile cashier stand and stair display.

Standout styles include the brand’s take on a Wallabee, loafers, Western boots and ballet flats. “Wovens are so big for us,” Papay added, noting a range of silhouettes offered in the material.

Leather and suede water-resistant boots are also included in the offering as well as metallic Mary Janes for holiday.

Outside of direct-to-consumer, Frēda Salvador is finding success with its wholesale accounts, including Goop, Revolve and Moda Operandi.

Freda Salvador’s NYC store is located at 83 Mercer Street.

Birkenstock has opened its seventh company-owned retail store in the U.S. in Boston, Mass.

Located at 205 Newbury Street in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, Birkenstock’s new location offers the 250-year-old German footwear brand’s growing range of products for men, women and kids including sandals, clogs, sneakers, shoes, boots and socks. The store also features the new Birkenstock Care Essentials collection, marking an expansion into foot care with premium balms, oils, and other products for foot health.

Along with services like BOPIS (buy online pick up in store) and BORIS (buy online return in store), the new shop will also present “The Boston In Boston” – a special community campaign captured by local photographer Steph Larsen. The company said that the campaign “celebrates the pride of Bostonians and their unique style in the iconic Birkenstock Boston clog.”

“Opening our seventh retail store in the namesake city of our iconic Boston clog is a particularly special moment for the brand,” David Kahan, president of Birkenstock Americas, said in a statement. “Boston’s rich history and contemporary energy perfectly align with Birkenstock’s values of tradition and innovation.”

As part of the opening celebrations, Birkenstock noted that it has collaborated with artist Kevin Mirsky to create exclusive artwork commemorating the distinctive character of Boston and Newbury Street. The artwork will be featured on limited-edition tote bags and stickers available as special gifts. On Thursday, Nov. 21, Birkenstock said it will welcome the public with a special reception featuring local bites, drinks, and exclusive gifts while supplies last.

Birkenstock’s new Boston store joins the footwear label’s other company-owned locations in Austin, Texas; Miami, Fla.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; SoHo, N.Y.; Venice Beach, Calif. and Larkspur, Calif.

In an interview with FN in April, Kahan expressed the importance of owned retail for the company.  “Our physical stores have been incredibly important. They’re great laboratories to learn from,” Kahan said at the time. “Our history is in true sit-and-fit environments. Having the ability to interact with our brand fans and share the energy of the product is incredible.”

In August, Birkenstock narrowly missed third-quarter sales and earnings expectations. Revenue for the footwear company increased 19 percent in Q3 to 565 million euros, up from 473 million in the same time last year. Net income was 74.6 million euros, or 40 cents a share, for the quarter, up from 63.1 million euros, or 35 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Analyst had expected revenues of 566 million euros, and earnings of 51 cents per share.

Nordstrom and Ugg are taking their relationship to the next level with a new limited-time pop-up shop for this holiday season.

According to the department store chain, Ugg has taken over The Corner shop space at its New York City flagship from now through Jan. 12. Dubbed, “Ugg at The Corner,” the shop will feature a curated selection of styles across women, men’s and kids including signature Ugg footwear, outerwear, sportswear, socks, robes and cold-weather accessories. See all the photos below.