What Happened to Cole Haan?
How a great American shoe brand traded swagger for foam soles.
There was a time when Cole Haan was cool.
Not Gucci cool. Not Ferragamo expensive. Cole Haan was American-successful-guy cool. Great loafers, handsome wingtips, beautiful leather and just enough polish to tell people you had graduated from whatever square-toed disaster you wore in your first job.
Cole Haan once had a point of view, but today, walk into a Cole Haan store and try to figure out what the hell the brand stands for.
Sneakers. Knit shoes. Puffy soles. Hybrid loafers. Hybrid wingtips. Hybrid everything. Shoes apparently designed for a man who desperately wants to wear a dress shoe but fears he may be required to run a 5K immediately after lunch.
What happened here?
Nike bought Cole Haan in 1988 for $90M and eventually introduced athletic technology into traditional footwear. At first, it was brilliant. Putting Nike Air cushioning into a legitimate-looking dress shoe felt revolutionary. Comfort without surrendering style. Then, Nike sold Cole Haan to private-equity firm Apax Partners in 2012 for $570 million. Looking at Nike today, you might say that was the best business move since Air Jordan. After that, Nike has been stuck on the bench.
Under this new ownership, instead of making dress shoes more comfortable, Cole Haan started making comfortable shoes vaguely resemble dress shoes.
That's a very different proposition.
Enter ZerøGrand, ØriginalGrand, GrandPrø and enough creative uses of the word “Grand” to make you wonder whether anyone in the marketing department owns a thesaurus. To be fair, the strategy worked commercially. Cole Haan expanded internationally, moved aggressively into sneakers and lifestyle products, and today says it operates more than 500 stores globally.
But bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. And in Cole Haan’s case all it did was make it more forgettable.
There is seemingly always a sale. Another promotion. Another 30% off. Another lightweight wingtip sitting on a giant marshmallow sole. Constant discounting may move merchandise, but it also teaches customers one important lesson: Never pay full price.
That's dangerous territory for any brand pretending to be premium.
So what does Cole Haan do now to right the ship? How about pushing “Comfortable Anywhere” as it approaches its 100th anniversary.
Comfortable anywhere? That's the big idea?
Crocs are comfortable. Skechers are comfortable. My bedroom slippers are extremely comfortable but none of them makes me want to put on a navy suit and order a martini.
Cole Haan needs to stop acting terrified that men's feet might experience an actual leather sole. Bring back killer loafers. Proper wingtips. Rich calfskin. Shoes with some weight, attitude and sex appeal. Keep the comfortable stuff sure, but stop allowing it to swallow the brand.
Cole Haan has gotten just plain boring.
And for a fashion brand, boring can be a much slower death than bankruptcy.
Stay tune.
Comments