Payless ShoeSource History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of Payless ShoeSource, kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
In February 2019, their company made the difficult decision to shut down their stores and their e-commerce operations in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. They decided to continue selling product on Amazon and in international stores. That dated statement heads this page as the governing fact: everything below it is headed 'for historical purposes', because a famous retailer(?:'|')s record is best kept whole, with its ending stated as plainly as its founding. Payless ShoeSource is dedicated to democratizing fashion and design in footwear and accessories to the world and inspiring fun fashion possibilities for the family, providing the style customers want at a great price through nearly 4,500 store locations.
Designer Collections, Formats and the 2006 Logo
The House of Brands strategy expanded the portfolio through licensing and acquisitions - Airwalk, American Eagle, Champion, Spalding, Tailwind, Dexter, Hannah Montana, the Shaquille O'Neal-endorsed Dunkman line, and a co-branded dance line with American Ballet Theatre called ABT for Spotlights. The designer collections were the strategy's public face: Abaete for Payless by Laura Poretzky, Lela Rose for Payless, alice + olivia for Payless by Stacey Bendet, and Patricia Field for Payless by the Oscar-nominated stylist - collections unveiled on the runway at New York Fashion Week and later offered in select stores and on Payless.com, among the most broadly distributed designer footwear lines in the U.S. A New York design team, headed by Robert Mingione with women's design under Bernard Figueroa, developed the retailer's own seasonal product.
In July 2006 Payless launched the Fashion Lab and Hot Zone store formats: Fashion Lab reinvented self-select shopping by letting shoppers shop by product and trend story rather than the traditional racked-by-size format, helping Payless secure locations in high-fashion malls and premier centers; Hot Zone married Fashion Lab's opened-up front of store with traditional racking. Payless launched a new logo in June 2006 - the first redesign in about 20 years - communicating a contemporary, fun, friendly and stylish brand. The company(?:'|')s own site is in the References, and the two news routes - Lela Rose for Payless at New York Fashion Week (February 2011) and Payless Giving Free Shoes to Charity (November 2008) - are in this page(?:'|')s links. Children's and family ranges throughout are described in product terms only.
Photos
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