Caleres names new Famous Footwear president
Famous Footwear’s chief merchandising officer has been promoted to new role.
Caleres, the brand’s parent company, has announced that Brian Costello has been named division president of Famous Footwear, effective immediately. He will continue to report to Jay Schmidt, president and CEO of Caleres.
Costello joined Caleres in February as chief merchandising officer, where he assumed responsibility for all buying and merchandising, including women’s, men’s and kids’ athletic and fashion footwear and accessories, and for the brand’s U.S. and Canada stores and e-commerce sites.
"Brian has already made a meaningful impact at Famous Footwear,” said Schmidt. “His merchandising and planning expertise, strong market relationships and leadership have been invaluable as we continue to position Famous Footwear for growth as the leader in family footwear.”
Costello joined Famous Footwear from Nordstrom, where he served in several roles over nearly 15 years, including most recently as VP and divisional merchandising manager of footwear & accessories. He also oversaw planning and site merchandising for the launch of nordstromrack.com.
“It is incredible how quickly I felt at home with the Famous team and Caleres and I’m honored to lead this significant part of the Caleres portfolio,” said Costello. “I’m confident that Famous Footwear is well positioned for the future supported by our existing national brand partners, new brand partners we are adding and the power of our engaged teams – from the associates who welcome you in the doors of our stores to our corporate team supporting them.”
[READ MORE: Done Deal: Parent company of Famous Footwear acquires Stuart Weitzman]
Caleres’ brands include Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, Allen Edmonds, Naturalizer, Vionic, and the recently-acquired Stuart Wetizman. It operates nearly 1,000 retail stores in the United States and Canada, more than 830 of which are Famous Footwear locations.
