The Saucony brand is the new darling at its parent company in Grand Rapids, MI, delivering revenue growth of 29.6 percent (+31.1 percent cc) year-over-year to $129.8 million in the first quarter, with broad-based contributions from all regions and channels, led by strong double-digit growth in North America and more than doubling its Asia-Pacific business. In addition, the brand improved gross margin by nearly 400 basis points compared to the prior year, continuing to drive a healthier full-price business.
“Saucony translated its brand heat and product innovation and a significantly higher average selling prices throughout the quarter in the U.S., coupled with strong market share gains in the important and highly competitive run specialty channel,” said Chris Hufnagel, president and CEO, Wolverine Worldwide, Inc., parent of the Saucony brand.
MS (China) Sports Company Limited (Group), a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of Xtep International Holdings Limited (Group) that operates under licensing and royalty agreements for the Merrell and Saucony brands and subsidiaries in China, reported three-month and full-year 2024 retail trends for the Saucony brand in China.
The prior joint ventures between Xtep and Wolverine Worldwide were terminated at the end of 2023 and began operating under the new licensing and royalty agreements at the beginning of 2024.
The Group said the Saucony brand posted over 40 percent year-over-year growth for China’s offline and online channels in the first quarter. The sales trend for the quarter was down sequentially from the ~60 percent growth in the 2024 fourth quarter.
Turning back to the Wolverine-owned business, Hufnagel said Saucony’s core four franchises, the Ride, Guide, Triumph, and Hurricane, along with the Pinnacle and Endorphin collection, continue to fuel the brand’s growth in the Performance Running category. He said the company launched new Ride and Guide models in the first couple of months of 2025, and both franchises delivered solid double-digit revenue growth at U.S. Retail.
In March, Saucony launched the Endorphin Elite 2, incorporating next-gen and Incredirun foam and a full-length slotted carbon fiber plate. “This super shoe helped drive growth for the Endorphin Elite franchise of over 30 percent versus last year at U.S. retail,” Hufnagel noted.
Hufnagel also shared that three of the brand’s styles placed in the Top 10 most worn shoes by runners at the Boston Marathon last month, more than any other brand, a metric he said was another proof point of Saucony’s reinvigorated product innovation pipeline.
On the Lifestyle side, Hufnagel said the brand continued to draw on its deep product archive and partner with leading pacemakers to deliver trend-right styles to the marketplace.
“Saucony’s strategic positioning at the intersection of culture and authentic running heritage has propelled the brand in key franchises like the ProGrid Omni 9, Ride Millennium, and others around the world,” Hufnagel noted.
Building on the roughly 900 door expansion in Lifestyle-led specialty this spring, the brand reportedly expects to add over 400 more doors in the back half of 2025 due to positive sell-through trends.
During the call’s Q&A session, Hufnagel was asked about the potential consequence of the additional 400 doors for Lifestyle to the current 900 doors.
“Saucony is a century-old brand, [and] benefits from a great product archive,” the CEO responded. “And we found this in resetting the brand over the past few years and developing a new strategy with the new team. There’s an amazing opportunity [in] this intersection of run heritage and Lifestyle and being part of the cultural conversation.”
The CEO continued by saying that the Lifestyle side is a meaningful part of the business. The brand has had a franchise in the lifestyle side of the business for years, if not decades, with the Saucony Jazz.
“We’re showing up in new distribution doors like Foot Locker and Journeys and Snipe, we’re seeing the branch up there in meaningful ways,” he noted. “And we’ve tested that product in those doors. And so the expansion that you’re seeing is test-based, saying there is demand for the brand and brand heat, and we’re going to open that up.”
Hufnagel said the company opened that aperture.
“The business continues to perform well, men’s, women’s, and kids, and we’re encouraged by the reception,” he said. “And it helps balance and complement that Performance Running piece, which is where the brand certainly is known for and cuts its teeth. And that’s why I think the prospects for the brand are so bright.”
Hufnagel said, “explaining that the brand continues to take a methodical approach to strategically growing distribution with the right partners. We’re also investing meaningfully to drive brand awareness and affinity,” he said.
He noted that Saucony sponsored a London 10K in 2024 with a holistic set of activations around the event.
“This sponsorship drove strong results, including record brand search interest in the U.K. and accelerated e-commerce growth,” he said. He said they plan to repeat the sponsorship of this event and expand the brand’s investment to other runs as part of the company’s key city strategy.
Huufnagel also reported that Saucony opened a flagship store in HaraJuku, Tokyo, this past quarter and anticipates opening a second in London’s Covent Garden in just a few weeks, with plans to open a host of new stores across Asia Pacific with their partners.
“At U.S. retail, the brand is ramping up activations and retail marketing to drive sell-through,” Hufnagel suggested. “We anticipate 2025 will be the single biggest investment year in Saucony since we acquired the brand nearly 13 years ago. I believe Saucony has tremendous potential in both Performance and Lifestyle and possesses the ability to blur the lines in a compelling way. I continue to maintain that the brand is on the path to something very special. Leveraging a unique synergy between superior performance product innovation and cultural relevance on a global scale.”
Image courtesy Wolverine Worldwide/Saucony
