Osiris clawing back with its new strategy

I headed down to San Diego to meet the Osiris Shoes crew and hear how they are climbing back after getting knocked down by the skinny pant and vulcanized shoe craze.

Previously, Osiris was known more as a technical shoe company and rode high in the puffy shoe, hip hop era. It’s runaway hit was the D3. At its peak in 2001, the company reached $50 million in sales.

Then fashion changed abruptly, and the skinny jeans craze started. Puffy skate shoes didn’t look so good with narrow pant legs, so vulcanized, old school styles of skate shoes took off.

The change caught Osiris off guard.

“We didn’t have the wherewithal to change as fast as fashion did,” said Tony Chen, a founder and vice president of international sales and marketing.

The company cut expenses and plodded along until 2004, when it brought in some new key employees and hired Jay Wilson as a consultant. Jay previously worked at Vans as executive vice president of global marketing and knew the shoe business inside and out.

At Osiris, Jay moved from consultant to executive vice president in charge of daily operations. Then a new strategy was born.

Jay encouraged the team to think like a shoe company rather than a skateboard company. Tony said the company focused again on product and changed its “arrogant” attitude derived from its success with D3, where the mentality was “We’ll make it and they’ll buy it because it’s us.” Designers needed to be more integrated with the sales team and pay attention to what’s happening on the street, he said.

Now, Osiris has segmented its line for different markets. The segments include West Coast, East Coast, hard core skate shoes and upscale styles. The company also launched a girls line.

The company created the new approach in 2006, and executed in 2007. It seems to be working. Osiris is building back its business in the core market and has added hundreds of new accounts, Jay said. Company sales grew from $17 million to $30 million last year. The plan for this year is to refine, refine, refine, Jay said.

PacSun’s decision to exit the shoe business “hurt” Jay said, especially since Osiris was starting to gain some traction there. But, overall, PacSun didn’t carry that many Osiris shoes so the impact wasn’t too big.

Here are some Osiris styles that have taken off.

The West Coast line, right, features collaborations with artists such as Abel and Maxx.

The East Coast “loud and proud,” 1980s styles are being worn by celebrities and having great sell through.

The lime green Bronx model, in the photo at right, had 81 percent sell through at Industrial Ride Shop in Phoenix, Jay said.

A shoe made for Osiris skater Corey Duffel, “a poppy punk dude,” according to Osiris Chief Creative Officer Brian Reid, has zippers and darkish elements inspired by director Tim Burton.

Journey’s picked up The Becky Bones girls line in a big way. Osiris licensed the Becky Bones characters, which promote environmental awareness in a fun, subversive way.

The Becky Bones styles debut for back to school, but Journey’s moved up its buy to spring after a successful internet test, said Krista Poehler, Osiris Girls brand director.