“We’re going to put our toe in the water next year,” CEO Andrew Rees said Thursday (Nov. 3) when asked on an earnings call about an international expansion for the Hey Dude brand.
He said this would begin in the United Kingdom and Germany with brick-and-mortar wholesalers. Rees also took a question about a Hey Dude store in the southern part of the United States.
There are two small clearance stores set up to relieve an overflow of inventory in warehouses. However, Rees said these locations are “not a precursor for a store strategy.”
The company plans to expand its distribution of the line, Rees added, promising “a lot greater shelf presence” next year.
Crocs saw revenues during the third quarter of $985.1 million, up 57.4% from the same quarter in 2021, or 63% on a constant currency basis, according to a press release. The shoemaker saw direct-to-consumer (D2C) growth of 45.8%, while wholesale grew 80.5% compared to last year.
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Crocs acquired Hey Dude in 2021 in a $2.5 billion deal. As PYMNTS noted at the time, one major advantage Crocs has that Hey Dude could potentially tap into is the ability for consumers to customize their Crocs.
“Yes, consumers can now buy customized Hey Dude shoes through third parties on Etsy or eBay, but with a little planning those customization-seeking customers can now be kept in-house,” according to the report.
Asked by an investor about personalization efforts for the brand Thursday, Rees said that it would happen, to a point.
“I think personalization with Hey Dude is more about short-run special products for wholesale customers,” he said, adding that the company will “definitely make products and market it to discrete segments.”
Rees noted that the company could also do this via collaborations, saying there are “a lot of opportunities” for that avenue.
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