Merrell, which is generating annual revenues just north of $500 million, has lately come off its double-digit streak of top-line growth. In its first quarter, the outdoor brand delivered high single-digit gains. For the full year, Wolverine World Wide, its parent, expects Merrell to grow in only the low single-digit range.

But Don Grimes, Wolverines CFO, told investors last week at the Robert W Baird and Co. Growth Stock Conference that while Wolverine has been focusing on the integration of its newly-acquired PLG business (Sperry Top-Sider, Saucony, Stride Rite and Keds), management continues to believe in the growth opportunity in Merrell.

2012 was somewhat a disappointing year for the legacy business as a whole and for the Merrell brand in particular, admitted Grimes. But you also dont want to forget how strong the two years prior to that were, when Merrell grew at almost 20 percent in 2011 versus 2010, and 2010 was a year of double-digit growth as well.

Merrell last year faced particular challenges in Europe. Overall, Europe was down 12.5 percent across Wolverines portfolio and Merrell felt the brunt of that.

Other issues that have held back Merrell included weather, including a late arrival of fall/winter last year. A long winter with chilly temperatures extending into March and April also helped clear winter inventories but led to a late start to the spring season and light reorders for the second quarter.

Lifestyle products for Merrell also slowed in the latter part of 2012. Grimes indicated that Merrells team took its eye off the ball to a certain extent of the lifestyle product with its strong push into athletic.

On the positive side, Merrell is growing its Outside Athletic business, which represents about 20 percent of the brands revenues, at a double-digit clip, lifted by a strong response to its M-Connect collection. Merrells Performance Outdoor segment, representing 40 percent of sales, is growing at about the rate of the outdoor channel, which Grimes admitted, has not been great the last 12 to 18 months. The Lifestyle segment, which represents the remaining 40 percent, has been seeing declines year over year.

The Lifestyle offering is being corrected and Grimes also expects Europe as well as the U.S. outdoor channel to eventually pickup to prod Merrells back to its former rates.

The brand is clearly not a low-single-digit revenue growth brand, stated Grimes. It is a high-single-digit to low-double-digit revenue growth brand and we think well get back to that level of growth in 2014 and beyond.

Added Grimes, So the future is quite bright for Merrell. It’s still one of the most important growth initiatives in our company.

Among Wolverines other brands, Grimes particularly talked up the growth potential for newly acquired Sperry, noting that the brand had grown 40 percent, 57 percent, and 32 percent in the last three years and it’s poised to grow at a very strong double-digit clip in 2013.

Sperry has benefited from prior managements decision around five or six years ago to voluntarily exit 3,000 points of suboptimal distribution in the U.S. that has helped make it a more coveted brand at accounts like Nordstrom, Dillards, Journeys and Macys. The move helped transform the brand from a somewhat stodgy men’s brown boat shoe brand to a dual-gender boat and non-boat shoe brand.

Going forward, sizeable untapped opportunities exist expanding Sperry internationally as the brand only does about 10 percent of its business outside of North America. Said Grimes, The brand had been growing so strongly in the US, quite frankly, there was a struggle in 2010 and 11 to get their hands on enough inventory to satisfy the demands of the US retailers, let along trying to divert that product to international markets.

He also pointed to significant potential on the apparel side in turning Sperry into a head-to-toe lifestyle brand. Grimes noted, Sperry brand is the second-biggest brand in the portfolio today behind Merrell and it is growing at a clip that, much to the Merrell brand’s chagrin, Sperry may eclipse Merrell as the largest brand in the portfolio in the not-too-distant future.