New Sanuk styles, pop up stores, more

At Outdoor Retailer I talked to Sanuk Founder and Creative Director Jeff Kelley and former COO John Vance about what’s new with the brand since the Deckers acquisition, Sanuk’s new popup store in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, future retail plans, and new key Sanuk footwear styles.

Cardiff/Hansen’s Sanuk store 

Before the show, I was in the Cardiff Town Shopping center in Cardiff-by-the Sea, and saw a Sanuk-branded popup shop next to Seaside Market.

The store was fairly small -- about 12 x 30 feet -- and I thought it might be a permanent showroom since Jeff Kelley lives in the area. Inside, the girl working said the store was actually a partnership with Hansen’s Surf Shop in Encinitas.

Jeff said the owner of the town shopping center came up with the idea first, and then Jeff approached Josh Hansen who runs Hansen’s.

Hansen’s controls the inventory, manpower and POS system, and Sanuk contributed to the artwork, look and feel of the store.

Jeff said it’s only a temporary shop that will remain for four months until a Starbuck’s takes over the lease, but that it’s been successful so far.

While that particular shop will come down in a few months, Jeff said if the right opportunity presents itself, he would be open to launching more partner popup stores with other retailers in the future.

Retail, Deckers update

Since Deckers acquired the brand, I asked Jeff if retail is going to be a big push for the brand.

He said there are definitely plans to roll out more Sanuk stores soon, both domestically and internationally, though growth will be organic.

Besides more stores, I wanted to know if they were going to add apparel or any line extensions any time soon. They said the brand will continue to focus on footwear for now, and that Sanuk does not like the idea of brand extensions.

One of the biggest reasons Sanuk choose Deckers as its buyer is that the company is focused on footwear, and is not an apparel company, Jeff and John said.

See Page 2 for more about Deckers, new Sanuk styles