Steven Madden Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
July 30, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Negative Sentiment: Steve Madden faced significant Q2 headwinds from new U.S. tariffs, triggering order cancellations, shipment delays and a drop in organic gross margin.
  • Neutral Sentiment: The company is diversifying sourcing, reducing China imports from 71% in 2024 to about 30% for Fall 2025 while leveraging a temporary tariff rollback to shift some production back to China.
  • Negative Sentiment: Excluding the Kurt Geiger acquisition, wholesale revenue declined 12.8% year-over-year, with the greatest shortfall in the mass and off-price channels.
  • Positive Sentiment: Consolidated direct-to-consumer revenue grew 43.3% to $195.5 million, driven partly by the Kurt Geiger deal and despite operational disruptions.
  • Positive Sentiment: The Kurt Geiger integration is proceeding smoothly and is expected to be a major long-term growth engine through expanded retail, international roll-outs and cost synergies.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Steven Madden Q2 2025
00:00 / 00:00

There are 14 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Second Quarter twenty twenty five Steve Madden Limited Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press 11 on your telephone.

Operator

You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw withdraw your question, please press 111 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Danielle McCoy, VP of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Stephen, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our second quarter twenty twenty five earnings call and webcast. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that our remarks that follow, including answers to your questions, contain statements that we believe to be forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward looking statements are subject to risks that could cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These risks include, among others, matters that we have described in our press release issued earlier today and filings that we make with the SEC.

Speaker 1

We disclaim any obligation to update these forward looking statements, which may not be updated until our next quarterly earnings conference call, if at all. The financial results discussed on today's call are on an adjusted basis unless otherwise noted. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and other associated disclosures are contained in our earnings release. Joining

Speaker 2

me

Speaker 1

on the call today is Ed Rosenfeld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Zane Mazuzzi, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Operations. With that, I'll turn the call over to you, Ed. Ed?

Speaker 3

Thanks, Danielle. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to review Steve Madden's second quarter twenty twenty five results. As anticipated, the second quarter was extremely challenging, driven largely by the impact of new tariffs on goods imported into The United States. As we highlighted on the last earnings call, our team moved swiftly to adapt to the changing landscape, sharply diversifying our sourcing out of China, negotiating meaningful discounts with suppliers, and implementing surgical price increases. That said, wholesale customers canceled orders and reduced open to buys.

Speaker 3

Shipment delays led to lost sales and pushed deliveries to later periods. And organic gross margins declined due to the significant increase in our landed costs, resulting in substantial pressure on both revenue and earnings. Since the last call, our team has remained focused on mitigating near term impacts while positioning the company for long term growth. We've continued to move forward with our sourcing diversification efforts, although due to the agreement reached with the Chinese government to temporarily reduce the new tariff on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, we have moved certain production for fall back to China, where we felt it would be difficult to ensure on time delivery, appropriate product quality, and or reasonable pricing in an alternative country. For fall twenty twenty five, we currently expect to

Operator

source approximately 30% of our US imports from China, down from 71% for the full year 2024. '20

Speaker 3

We are also selectively raising prices to wholesale customers and consumers. So far, we've been pleased overall with consumer acceptance of the price increases, particularly on new fashion, but it's still early. We will continue to monitor the elasticity of demand carefully and react accordingly. While these short term mitigating actions are important, our team's primary focus remains on positioning the company for long term growth by executing our strategy to deepen consumer connections through the combination of compelling product and effective marketing. Our design teams are delivering strong assortments, and we're seeing positive consumer response to new fashion offerings, particularly in the dress shoe and boot categories across both DTC and wholesale channels, including very strong performance in the Nordstrom anniversary event.

Speaker 3

We are amplifying these assortments with marketing campaigns and initiatives designed to drive sustained brand heat and cultural relevance. In the flagship brand, we are capitalizing on Steve's appearance on fashion podcast, The Cutting Room Floor, which sparked viral interest on TikTok, by continuing to rebalance our marketing spend across the funnel, increasing our investment in top and mid funnel tactics, and diversify our spend by channel, expanding our investment in YouTube, Pinterest, and Snapchat. And these efforts are driving results, with measurable increases in awareness and consideration for the brand with our key Gen Z and millennial consumers. Another key priority is integrating our new acquisition Kirk Geiger, which closed May 6. The Kirk Geiger London brand continues to have strong momentum, and we are more confident than ever in its potential to be a significant driver of growth for the company in the years ahead.

Speaker 3

The integration is proceeding smoothly, and our teams are making strong progress on work streams related to revenue synergies, including expanding CurtGyger in international markets through the Steve Madden network and growing Steve Madden in The UK through the CurtGyger platform, as well as cost savings opportunities in areas like freight and logistics. So in sum, our financial performance in the second quarter was not up to our usual standards as we grappled with the impact of tariffs, and we know the path forward will continue to be bumpy in the near term. But as we look out further, we believe our core strengths, powerful brands, a robust balance sheet, and a proven business model, supplemented by a powerful new growth engine in Kurt Geiger, position us well to navigate the current disruption and and deliver sustainable growth over time. And now, I'll turn it over to Zeen to review our second quarter twenty twenty five financial results in more detail.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Ed, and good morning, everyone. In the second quarter, our consolidated revenue was $559,000,000 a 6.8% increase compared to the 2024. Excluding the newly acquired Kurt Geiger, consolidated revenue decreased 10%. Our wholesale revenue was $360,600,000 down 6.4% compared to Q2 twenty twenty four. Excluding Kurt Geiger, our wholesale revenue decreased 12.8%.

Speaker 4

Wholesale footwear revenue was $220,100,000 a 7.1% decrease from the comparable period in 2024, or down 11.7%, excluding Kurt Geiger. Wholesale accessories and apparel revenue was $140,400,000 down 5.3% compared to the second quarter in the prior year or down 14.6%, excluding Kurt Geiger. The majority of the organic decline in wholesale revenue can be attributed to order cancellations, lost orders due to delivery delays or pricing, shipments moved out to the following quarter, and other impacts related to this disruption from tariffs. And our direct to consumer segment revenue increased 43.3% to $195,500,000 Excluding Kurt Geiger, our direct to consumer revenue decreased 3% with declines in both the brick and mortar and e commerce channels. We saw negative impact to DTC revenue in the quarter from canceled and delayed deliveries due to tariff related disruption as well as systems migration we completed in the quarter.

Speaker 4

Looking ahead to the third quarter, we expect a continued impact from tariff related disruption, but the systems implementations are behind us and should not have a further impact. We ended the quarter with three ninety two company operated brick and mortar retail stores, including 98 outlets, as well as seven e commerce websites and 130 company operated concessions in international market. This includes 73 company operated brick and mortar retail stores, including 27 outlets, as well as two e commerce websites and 72 concessions related to Kurt Geiger. Our licensing royalty income was $2,900,000 in the quarter compared to $1,800,000 in the 2024. Consolidated gross margin was 41.9% in the quarter compared to 41.5% in the comparable period of 2024.

Speaker 4

The impact of tariffs, net of supplier discounts resulted in two thirty basis points of pressure to gross margin. This was offset by a significantly greater mix of higher margin DTC business compared to the prior year, due mostly to the acquisition of Kurt Geiger and a mix shift to DTC in the existing business. Wholesale gross margin was 31% compared to 33.1% in the 2024, due primarily to pressure from tariffs. Direct to consumer gross margin was 61.3% compared to 64.3% in the comparable period in 2024, due primarily to the addition of Kurt Geiger, which had lower DTC margin in the quarter than the existing business, driven by the concessions business, as well as pressure from tariffs. Operating expenses were $211,600,000 or 37.9% of revenue in the quarter, compared to $162,800,000 or 31.1% of revenue in the 2024.

Speaker 4

Operating income for the quarter was $22,600,000 or 4% of revenue compared to $54,500,000 or 10.4% of revenue in the comparable period in the prior year. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 25.6% compared to 23.4% in the 2024. Finally, net income attributable to Steve Madden Limited for the quarter was 13,900,000.0 or $0.20 per diluted share compared to $41,200,000 or $0.57 per diluted share in the 2024. Moving to the balance sheet. Our financial foundation remains strong.

Speaker 4

As of 06/30/2025, we had $293,500,000 of outstanding debt and $111,900,000 in cash, cash equivalents and short term investments for a net debt of $181,600,000 Inventory was $437,000,000 compared to $241,600,000 in the 2024. Excluding CurtGyger, inventory increased 1% compared to the same period last year. Our CapEx in the second quarter was $7,700,000 And during the second quarter, the company did not repurchase any shares of its common stock in the open market. The company's Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.21 per share. The dividend will be payable on 09/23/2025 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on 09/12/2025.

Speaker 4

Due to the continued uncertainty related to the impact of new tariffs on goods imported into The United States, we will not be providing 2025 financial guidance at this time. Now I would like to turn the call over to the operator for questions. Stephen?

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct the question and answer session. Our first question comes from the line of Paul Lejuez of Citi. Your line is now open.

Speaker 2

Hey, thanks guys. I'm

Speaker 3

curious if

Speaker 2

you can talk about which channels of wholesale, where did you see the significant order cancellations that impacted 2Q? And how has that ordering behavior changed as we've gotten a little bit more clarity on the tariff front? I think you mentioned some shipment timing. So if you can maybe just talk about that a little bit more. And then also on gross margin pressure in the core business in the second quarter that you saw as a result of higher tariffs, Can you frame maybe what you expect in 3Q and 4Q relative to the 2Q pressure?

Speaker 2

Thanks.

Speaker 3

Okay, great. Good morning. So in terms of the channels that saw the pressure from the tariff related disruption, it was really very concentrated in the value price channels. So, specifically the mass channel and the off price channel. And I can tell you actually that nearly if you look at the wholesale revenue shortfall in the organic business versus last year, approximately 95% of that shortfall came from off price and mass.

Speaker 3

So, I think that really illustrates the story there. In terms of how that's looking going forward, I still I think we're going to see continued pressure on those channels going forward. Get better. There was a complete pause for a period there, and both of those channels are now once again taking in goods and placing forward orders. But you will see an impact in Q3 as well.

Speaker 3

In terms of the gross margin pressure from tariffs, again, we articulated that was about two thirty basis points. That's not the gross, that's the net after we got the supplier discounts for Q2. Look, we're not providing guidance going forward, so we're not going to be specific there. But, you know, I think that, you know, you should still see a you're still going to see a significant impact certainly in Q3. Hopefully by Q4, that number will start to get smaller.

Speaker 2

Does 3Q mark the weakest point in terms of the tax impact on gross margin? Is that 3Q?

Speaker 3

Again, I'm not going to try to get specific and there's so many moving parts here. But certainly I don't think it will get better.

Speaker 4

Got

Speaker 5

it. Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Aubrey Tianello of BNP Paribas. Your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Hey, morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Wanted to go back to your comments on and if you could maybe comment a little bit on just the consumer response to price increases, what you're seeing in terms of elasticity maybe by product category. And I think last quarter you mentioned price increases on average about 10%. Is that still the way we should think about it given the change in tariffs?

Speaker 3

Yes, we are still looking at average price increases of 10%. Again, that's not a one size fits all number, where we're looking at this on a style level. But in average, we're looking at prices up about 10%. So far, I think we've been pretty pleased with the consumer acceptance of the price increases that we flowed through. It's been pretty much what we expected that we've seen very little resistance on new fashion items, and particularly in the categories that are really trending like dress shoes and our summer boots that have been performing very well for us.

Speaker 3

And I would say where we think there's less ability to take price was in the sandal category and in fashion sneakers. But, you know, I do want to caution you that it's still early because, you know, we started to layer in these prices in May, but on new deliveries in May. Now that's really at the end of the season and then, you know, so you're and then you go into sort of a markdown period. So we really won't know, I think we'll know a lot more I should say, once we get fully into the fall season. And you've got all the new deliveries in fall at the higher prices.

Speaker 3

And also, you know, you'll have our competitors will have their products out at we believe higher prices, and we'll see what the consumer does then.

Speaker 6

Got it. And then maybe on Kurt Geiger, you've called it out as being on a journey to being a billion dollar brand. Now that you've owned it for a few months, can you talk about some of the things you've learned and how you're thinking about that path to potentially getting to a billion in revenue from Kurt Geiger?

Speaker 3

Yeah, look, I mean, I think that we feel better than ever after having spent more time really digging into the business here, working with the team, it's a very strong team and we just believe that the brand has tremendous runway. The US business has been such an incredible growth story for them over the last several years, but it's just scratching the surface of what it can be. Frankly, there's still relatively low brand awareness. So one of the things that we really have to do in coming years in The United States is to build that brand awareness. I think that retail stores will be an important part of that.

Speaker 3

They've opened six retail stores in The US that are performing very well. So I think that'll and they're beautiful stores and really communicate it's really the best expression of what the brand is about, and I think communicates to the consumer what the Kurt Geiger lifestyle is about. So that'll be a part of the story. Obviously, there'll be some marketing investment. I think we'll focus on full price stores initially, but clearly I think there's an outlet store opportunity that should be big and profitable over time.

Speaker 3

You know, they've got a very good wholesale business in The United States with limited partners, and they've built a big business with just a handful of partners, and so I think there's some nice opportunity to grow that as well. And then of course, the digital business is, I probably should have said that first because that's extremely important and has extremely strong momentum. And so we're going to continue to fuel that. So that's The US story, think, but there's also a huge opportunity around the world, because obviously they've got a very strong business in their home market of The UK, but relatively, you know, early stages of their growth in the rest of the world. And we've talked about Europe as being a huge opportunity for them.

Speaker 3

They're positioned in the key distribution points, image accounts in most of the key European markets, and the brand has seen very strong demand, so we know it resonates. But there's a big opportunity now to expand the distribution thoughtfully, of course, and really start to build that business. And then, you know, we've talked about they've having a lot of success in Mexico, for instance, but there's tremendous opportunity in, the rest of Central And South America, I should say. And then, you know, Asia is really untapped. So, tons of runway really all over the world with the spread.

Speaker 6

Great. Thanks so much.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Marni Shapiro of The Retail Tracker. Your line is now open.

Speaker 7

Hey, guys. Thanks, and thanks for all the information. Ed, I was wondering if you could just talk about a couple of quick things. The apparel business, have I know it's a smaller part of the business, but you have an improving footprint in several stores and the product flow has been consistent and very good. So I'm curious if you could talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 7

And then also just touching back on the boot business, you had a strong boot business in spring. I was curious if it held through summer and as we sort of turn the corner to back to school, what are you seeing as far as boots versus sneakers and just your instinct as to where the business is going for back to school?

Speaker 3

Sure. Yeah, no, I appreciate your comments about Steve Madden apparel because we're proud of the progress that we're making there. That was one of the few businesses that up for us in the quarter. So, even in this tough environment, we had a nice revenue growth in Steve Madden apparel. As you pointed out, we've been slowly expanding the distribution there and keeping it in premium distribution, the regular price distribution, but expanding the footprint there, expanding our assortments within existing doors, and most importantly, the product is selling through and the team is doing a great job.

Speaker 3

So excited about the path that we're on there. And then you asked about boots, and yeah, that was really a highlight for us has been a highlight for us this spring and summer is the performance of boots. You know, it's really not such a seasonal category anymore. Know, girls are wearing a lot of boots, you know, with dresses and shorts and skirts at this time of year, and you know, I think we really nailed that. It's a bigger play for us in our DTC channels than in wholesale, because some of the wholesale partners aren't haven't fully gotten on board with the way consumers are shopping right now.

Speaker 3

But it's been very successful for us. These are primarily tall shop boots, you know, western, moto, etcetera, have been very good for us. And so we feel good about boots going forward. And to your point, you know, we've seen more energy in that category. That's been on the upswing, whereas the fashion sneaker category has softened a bit.

Speaker 7

That makes sense. And then could you just follow-up? I think you said it was them off price and the mass business that was slowing. And I think you mentioned very briefly, one of you guys mentioned briefly some cancellations. Were the cancellations coming out of the mass area?

Speaker 7

And is something is it their customer? Or is it just their caution or price increases that they can take? I'm curious they're saying and seeing versus what the department stores are seeing.

Speaker 3

I would say there were cancellations across channels, although again, you know, the biggest issues were in mass and off price. Particularly in Q2, I just want to point out with the mass channel, because we do that a lot of the business that we do in those channels on an FOB basis where wholesale where our customers are bringing the goods in and they are the important record and therefore they are responsible for the tariff. Certainly when we were looking at 145% tariffs out of China, they were canceling a lot of merchandise. So that was a lot of what you're seeing there.

Speaker 7

All right. Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thank

Operator

you. Our next question comes from the line of Sam Poser of Williams Trading. Your line is now open.

Speaker 5

Hey, everybody. Thank you for taking my question. Good morning. I just want to follow-up on that last question. You talked about the with 95% of the downdraft was from those channels.

Speaker 5

Were there channels that were up in the quarter? And if so, what within wholesale or brands that were up? Like Steve Madden, the core Steve Madden business or Dolce and so on?

Speaker 3

Think pretty Betsy Johnson was up in the quarter. They were really outperforming there. The team's doing a great job with the product there. Other than that, I think the key brands and channels were down in the quarter.

Speaker 5

And moving on to the sourcing, what's go you were moving product to you were moving some product to Brazil, and now Brazil looks like an absolute headache. So how, you know, how are you thinking about, the shifting of sourcing? Because I thought Brazil and Mexico were going to become a much larger part, but now it looks like a 50% tariff might put a kibosh on some of that in Brazil. I was wondering where you're going with that.

Speaker 3

Yeah, to your point, we were focused on moving a lot of product to Brazil. We're going to have to wait and see what happens. I think that that really goes not just for Brazil, but for a lot of the countries that we work with. So, we've tried to create a more diversified sourcing footprint,

Speaker 5

but there's obviously a lot

Speaker 3

of uncertainty still about where the ultimate tariff rates will land by country, and so we're going to have to wait and see what happens and then react accordingly. That's all we can do.

Speaker 5

When we I know you're not guiding, but when we look, it sounds to me like from a wholesale perspective, excluding Kirk Geiger, it looks like Q I mean, it looks like the back half of the year, Q3 will look similar to Q2 and Q, you know, maybe slightly less worse. And then and then there could be I mean, mean, how are you sort of thinking about it? I mean, I know you don't want give us guidance, but how are you sort of thinking about the responses that you're seeing and so on right now from a more on the wholesale side?

Speaker 3

Well, we're not giving guidance, but I think you should assume that there will be continued impact from the tariff related disruption. I think that's all as much as we're going to say about that.

Speaker 5

And have you seen it hit the consumers yet, or is this more like nervousness from your wholesale partners ahead of what they're nervous about with consumers? That makes sense.

Speaker 3

Yeah, overall, I think the consumer is basically hanging in there. I would say it's not the most robust consumer spending environment for fashion I've ever seen, it's okay.

Speaker 5

And then lastly, within your DTC business ex Kurt Geiger, can you talk about maybe a variance between what the store comps were and your e commerce comps were in the DTC business? Were stored to the stores outperform e commerce? Or did e commerce a year over year outperform?

Speaker 3

E commerce was quite a bit better than stores.

Speaker 5

For the core Steve Madden, excluding Kirk Geiger?

Speaker 4

Correct.

Speaker 5

Thank you very much.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Sam.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Cory Tarlow of Jefferies. Your line is now open.

Speaker 8

Great. Thanks and good morning. Just had a question for you on inventory. Is there any way to dimensionalize what was AUR versus units and the Kirk Geiger acquisition just so we can have a bit of a more color and dimensionalization of what that up significantly number, what that number kind of dissects into? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yeah. So, look, if you back out Kurt Geiger, the inventory was only up 1% year over versus the Q2 of last year. And keep in mind, there's a couple of things impacting that. One is the tariffs that we pay. Those inflate the inventory value or increase the inventory value.

Speaker 3

And then also, there's an impact in transit from longer transit times. And there's really two pieces to that. One is as we diversify, the transit times for our sourcing, the transit times from Cambodia, for instance, are longer than the transit times from China. And then also, just because of the overall disruption, there's sort of apples to apples increase in transit time. So, to China is a little bit about three days longer, and so does Cambodia than it was a year ago.

Speaker 3

So those are really the the two reasons. If you back those out, our inventory year over year, excluding Kirk Geiger, is really right in line with with with the revenue decline.

Speaker 8

Okay, that's really helpful. I was wondering, could we also just run through a similar exercise with the OpEx as well? Because that was also up quite substantially, and it would be good to get a bit more color as to kind of what drove that?

Speaker 3

Yeah, excluding Kirk Gallagher, OpEx was was up a little less than 3%.

Speaker 4

Okay.

Speaker 8

That's very helpful. Thank you very much. Appreciate all the color.

Speaker 4

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Stichter of BTIG. Your line is now open.

Speaker 9

Hey, good morning. You have Ethan Saggy on for Janine. For my first question, was just wondering on Kurt Geiger. Could you provide some more color on how the brand has performed since the acquisition closed as well as the current margin profile for the brand and where China sourcing sits today compared to the 80% number you gave last call?

Speaker 3

Yeah, yeah, the brand continues to perform. As I mentioned, we continue to see very strong growth, double digit, strong double digit growth in digital, particularly in The US, strong performance and momentum there. As I mentioned, the new stores that they've opened are performing extremely well, ahead of where we expected them to be and on track to drive very strong four wall profitability. And then the brand is comping positively in the home market of The UK and its existing footprint. So, continue to feel very good about the momentum there.

Speaker 3

In terms of the margin profile, again, look, we're not providing guidance, but what we've said, just to remind you, is that last year the business had EBIT margins of about 9.3%. That was in the year prior to our acquisition of them. We do expect that number to come down a bit this year because of pressure from tariffs. But obviously, over time, we think we can, you know, this will be, you know, double digit and then profitability.

Speaker 9

Got it. And then on the China sourcing, just where

Speaker 3

it sits today compared to

Speaker 9

the 80% number you gave last call.

Speaker 3

Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, so I think that they're in the low 60s currently out of China.

Speaker 9

Got it. Thanks so much.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Our

Operator

next question comes from the line of Anna Andreeva of Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.

Speaker 10

Great. Thanks so much. Good morning, guys. To Zain, just a follow-up on DTC on systems implementation. Did you say what that impact was to the second quarter?

Speaker 10

And curious, what are you guys seeing in the DTC business quarter to date? And then to add, you've talked about getting back to double digit margins in the past. Can you just talk about how we should think about that path of a margin recapture and just any timeframe that you guys could provide? Thanks so much.

Speaker 3

Sure. Yeah, I'll take those. In DTC, we did do a we completed an ERP implementation in their DTC business, and also a new POS in Q2. And I think the team did a great job, but as always there's going be a little bit of disruption. There were certain related to sort of moving inventory around and we were limited in what we could do from an allocation standpoint for a period.

Speaker 3

We couldn't do the fulfilling e commerce orders in stores from a certain point, what we call send sales where we take an order in a store and send from another store. Anyway, we were limited for a period of time. We estimate that that hit us about 110 basis points of comp in the quarter, something like that. And then we also had inventory disruptions from tariffs in the quarter. That was probably another 160 basis points or so because we canceled orders or had delayed orders because of the tariff disruption.

Speaker 3

That did impact DTC in the quarter. But the good news is the system stuff is completely behind us and we don't expect that to impact us going forward. We have seen a slight improvement in July versus Q2 in terms of comp quarter to date. In terms of getting the overall margins, EBIT margins back to double digits, look, there's no way we could provide any kind of timeframes right now with all the uncertainty Until we understand what the tariff regime is and can react to that, we can't provide any color around that. But as soon as we know what the rules of the game are, we'll be happy to tell you the path and the timing.

Speaker 10

Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you. And just as a follow-up, do you think KG should be a higher margin business over time than the core business?

Speaker 3

I certainly think there's an opportunity for it to be, yes.

Speaker 1

All right, fair enough. Very helpful. Thank you, guys.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Tom Nikic of Needham. Your line is now open.

Speaker 11

Hi, this is Matt Quigley on for Tom. Thanks for taking our question. Can you just talk a little bit more about how the international business performed in the quarter excluding Kurt Geiger? You've seen any differences in performance by region? Thanks.

Speaker 3

Yeah, we continue to see nice performance in our international business. Excluding Kirk Geiger, it was up about 8% in revenue or about 10% constant currency in the quarter. And we were on track to have high single digit growth for the year in dollars, again double digits in constant currency. And it's really we're seeing growth across all of the three primary regions. So, EMEA, APAC, and Americas ex US, all on track to see that kind of high single digit type growth in US dollars.

Speaker 4

Got it. Thanks. Yep.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory Group. Your line is now open.

Speaker 12

Hi, everyone. As you think about current trends, Ed, how was the Nordstrom anniversary sale? Is there any indicators from that as I've always thought about it as a read forward to potential holiday and what you're seeing? And then when you think about the trends at Kurt Geiger and what you're seeing sell through there, how is it different or the same of what you're seeing with your brand? Thank you.

Speaker 12

And then a follow-up.

Speaker 3

Sure. Yeah, the Nordstrom anniversary event went very well for us. We're really excited about what we saw there. I think it was the best sell through performance that we've had in that event in a number of years. And so that gives us a lot of optimism going forward about fall and the products that our design team is creating.

Speaker 3

In terms of KG excuse me, Kurt Geiger sell through, again, continues to be very strong as we said overall, and it's just a brand with very good momentum. But we're seeing good strong sell through in Steve Madden and Dolce Vita and other brands as well.

Speaker 12

Got it. And then on Kurt Geiger, the small portion that is in The U. S, are they are you increasing the prices a similar amount to what you're increasing for Steve Madden? And when does distribution of Kurt Geiger in any format, how do you see that expanding in The U. S.

Speaker 12

In terms of timing wise? Is it this year, next year?

Speaker 3

Yep. In terms of price increases, it's pretty similar to what we're doing in our other brands, maybe a little bit more in Kurt Geiger. I think we have a little bit more room there, and so we'll probably test going a little bit higher there. And then in terms of distribution, I think in The US, the big difference would be just opening more of our own retail stores in the coming years.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jay of UBS. Your line is now open.

Speaker 13

Hi. This is Natalie Kolchman on for Jay Sole. Thanks for taking our question. I wanted to ask about the amount of inventory you have on hand, especially for inventory coming from non China. I mean, Do you have enough to last you through Q3 before the higher rates we're seeing from Cambodia, Vietnam, and other countries go into effect?

Speaker 13

Or when would you expect the higher rates to kind of start flowing through the P and L? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yeah, most of what we're going to deliver in Q3 would not be impacted, but as you know, we turn our inventory very quickly. And particularly in our wholesale business, we turn our inventory in and around 10 times a year. And so we do feel these impacts from tariffs when they're implemented earlier than others, because we're bringing goods in and shipping them right out. So, just keep that in mind.

Speaker 1

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. I am showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Ed for closing remarks.

Speaker 3

Okay. Well, thanks so much for joining us today. We hope you all have a great day, we look forward to speaking with you on the next call.

Operator

All right. Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

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