The Merrell brand celebrates its 45th anniversary in 2026, and parent Wolverine Worldwide (WWW) expects it to be a milestone year for the brand.

WWW President and CEO Chris Hufnagel shared the anniversary news and a full breakdown of parent company financials, along with a deep-dive into the Merrell brand during a conference call with analysts on Thursday morning. The marketing spiel was that “Merrell remains focused on modernizing the outside,” and doing so by developing more athletic, style-led, versatile performance and lifestyle footwear while “elevating the brand around the world.”

This isn’t a new idea in the outdoor footwear space – or for Merrell. The mid sole is just a bit thicker, it has more street appeal outside the mountain community cities and college towns, and the tech is far better that earlier iterations. In fact, they first moved in this direction 10 to 20 years – and some say 40 years – ago.

AI search results suggest that the Merrell Eagle Boot, released in 1985, was considered Merrell’s “first significant move into lighter, more athletic outdoor footwear,” according to the 40-year anniversary page at Merrell South Africa. But then again the same search said the brand introduced the Jungle Runner in their effort to expand into the trail running market, followed by the iconic Jungle Moc in 1998, which is hardly a trail running shoe.

Today’s Agility Peak 6 is as close as the brand has gotten to a road product – at least in the upper – and looks to have the right appeal to tap consumer lifestyle footwear dollars at the register in the year ahead.

Fourth Quarter 2025 Summary
WWW CFO Taryn Miller joined Hufnagel on the call, adding the hard numbers for the presentation, noting that Merrell brand revenue increased 5.9 percent to $173.1 million in the fourth quarter, or growth of 4.6 percent in constant-currency (cc) terms. She said the increase for the period was “driven by strong wholesale performance in EMEA and in the U.S., supported by continued market share gains and its key city strategy.” She also said the direct-to-consumer (DTC) business returned to growth in the period, both in the U.S. and internationally, following a successful holiday season.

Brand growth for the second half of the year moderated sharply to mid-single-digit gains in Q3 and Q4, roughly half the 10.1 percent growth trend seen in the second quarter.

“Our biggest brands are growing around the world, direct-to-consumer continues to improve, earnings per share increased meaningfully year-over-year, and I believe we’re finding our footing where we’ve underperformed,” Hufnagel summarized. “I’m pleased with our progress in transforming the company and encouraged by the momentum we’ve carried into 2026. We’re focused squarely on executing our brand-building model with pace and distinction—building awesome products, telling amazing stories, and driving the business each day.”

Hufnagel said DTC inflected the growth with revenue up mid-single digits, even as the brand presented itself less promotionally in stores and online.

“The [Merrell] brand once again took market share in the U.S. hike category,” stated the CEO. “Underpinning these results, we saw increases across key brand health metrics to finish the year, a positive indicator for the work we are doing to build better brands.”

Outlining key product, Hufnagel called out Merrell’s key performance franchise, the Moab Speed 2, indicating that the franchise nearly doubled sell-through year-over-year at U.S. retail in the quarter. He said the Moab 3 also continued to deliver solid growth for the period while the Agility Peak 5 contributed good growth in trail running.

“Similar to key performance franchises, the brand’s latest expression of versatile lifestyle footwear, the Wrapt collection, continued to grow rapidly, with the iconic Jungle Moc also delivering solid growth.” Hufnagel continued.

Full Year 2025 Summary
The Merrell brand delivered $648.9 million in revenue for the full year, posting an increase of 8.4 percent (+7.6 percent cc) year-over-year.

Merrell 2026 Outlook
“In 2026, Merrell plans to deliver newness across its key performance and lifestyle franchises, including fresh colors and materials, seasonal energy drops, and new styles to bolster the collections,” Hufnagel said. “Just a few weeks ago, the brand launched the new Agility Peak 6, delivering better fit, stability, and traction within the trail run category.”

He said early sales of the AP6 are tracking very well relative to internal expectations. They should, given they are now traveling down the same now-crowded road (or trail) dominated by Hoka, Saucony, Nike and many others.

Merrell also expects to introduce the new SpeedARC Peak later this summer, leveraging the brand’s highly innovative and visually disruptive SpeedARC technology to further strengthen its trail run offerings.

“With positive momentum and a strong product pipeline, Merrell is entering the new year with an enhanced marketing strategy and demand creation plan for record investment to further elevate the brand,” he considered. He said that next week, the Merrell team anticipates launching a new global platform, unifying its storytelling under one umbrella and advancing the brand’s powerful purpose: to share the simple power of the outside with everyone.

In marketing, he said shared that Merrell has secured title sponsorships of the Skyrunner World Series and Skyrunner National Series in the U.S., encompassing more than 20 of the most elite trail running races globally. In addition, the brand plans to build on its key city strategy in Tokyo and Paris, adding London and New York, with a focused blend of integrated events, activations, and retail presentations. Hufnagel noted that this type of engagement is designed to entrench the brand’s role in outdoor performance footwear.

Bringing the hard numbers again, Miller said that Merrell revenue is expected to increase in mid-single digits for 2026, supported by new product launches, including the Agility Peak 6, refreshes across core franchises in modern colorways and materials, and disciplined marketing investments. We also expect improved DTC performance, with the momentum generated in the fourth quarter carrying into the new year on a healthier foundation.

Images courtesy Merrell brand/Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. and Holabird Sports

See article links below for additional in-depth SGB Executive coverage of the fiscal fourth quarter and full-year results and the 2026 outlook at Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. and its Saucony, Sweaty Betty and Wolverine brands.

Wolverine Worldwide Q4 Growth Led by Strong DD Gain at Saucony