Reef Girls moves into hanging footwear

Reef Girls has launched a hanging footwear line for Spring 2012. I got a chance to sit down with Reef’s Girls Footwear Director, Kelley Bruemmer, to find out the details.

When and why did you decide to start a hanging footwear line for girls?

We started brainstorming the concept of Bella Costas about a year and a half ago. We had a healthy sandal line and felt it was the right time to take elements from our sandals to create a compelling hanging footwear program.

The goal was to create a line that embodied the Reef DNA. We wanted it to be beach exotic, while also being ridiculously comfortable.

How many SKUs in the line? What’s the retail price range?

The line consists of 19 SKUs and average in price between $50 to $54. It hits all of the key spring silhouettes, including a ballet flat, espadrille, and boat shoe.

They have a quilted foam footbed drafted from our best-selling Reef Dreams sandal, providing instant comfort. The styling of the collection represents Reef’s laid back beach vibe. The uppers are soft, cotton canvas that varies in bright prints and neutral solids.

The Reef Tropic, one of our key styles, is constructed with textiles that are hand woven from women in Guatemala, and is one of many styles throughout Reef’s entire footwear line that is part of our ‘We Heart Collection.’

Our head girls’ designer Brianna Marks pioneered the We Heart collection, first with the Ugandal sandal, and we wanted to make sure we carried the “We Heart” story into the Bella Costas hanging footwear.

What types of stores will carry the product?

It will be offered to our key core accounts, along with select lifestyle and specialty accounts. We have a complete marketing campaign that includes print advertising and instore POP.

What’s the reaction been so far?

The reaction so far has been very positive. We pre-lined some prototypes with our key retailers at tradeshows, and then officially launched them most recently at our Reef Open House this past Thursday.

We had over 60 retailers attend our Open House and they got a first look at the Bella Costas program. Most importantly, all the retailers who have seen the product say, “It’s very Reef.”

To me, that’s a success, because that’s exactly what we set out to do: to create a unique line that exuded our Reef heritage.