Designer Brands Q4 2026 Earnings Report

Designer Brands EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$0.31
• Consensus EPS: -$0.48
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.17
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Designer Brands Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $713.59 million
• Expected Revenue: $718.91 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$5.32 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Designer Brands Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q4 2026
• Date: 3/26/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 8:30AM ET

Designer Brands (NYSE:DBI) is a footwear and accessories retailer based in Columbus, Ohio. The company operates primarily through its DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse stores and digital platforms in the United States, offering a broad selection of branded and private-label footwear for women, men and children, along with handbags, accessories and related products.

Designer Brands also operates retail banners in Canada, including The Shoe Company and Shoe Warehouse. Its merchandise assortment includes athletic, casual, dress and seasonal footwear from national and emerging brands, as well as products developed under its own and licensed brands, such as Vince Camuto, Crown Vintage and Kelly & Katie. The company also owns the Keds footwear brand.

The business was formerly known as DSW Inc. and adopted the Designer Brands name in 2019 as it expanded beyond its traditional DSW retail model. In addition to selling through its stores and e-commerce websites, the company supports brand development and wholesale activities. Doug Howe has served as the company's chief executive officer.

Designer Brands Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: The company delivered full-year adjusted operating income of $65M, above guidance, with Q4 net sales flat and sequential comparable‑sales improvement and significant gross‑margin expansion (Q4 +280 bps, FY +90 bps).
• Positive Sentiment: The brand portfolio is a major growth driver — Q4 brand sales rose ~5%, Topo grew ~46% for the year, and management expects the brand portfolio to grow double digits in 2026.
• Positive Sentiment: Improved liquidity and cost discipline — inventories ended down ~6%, debt was reduced nearly $60M, cash was ~$50.9M with total liquidity of ~$152M, and adjusted operating expenses were cut by about $26M.
• Negative Sentiment: Management warns of external risks — an evolving tariff environment and the conflict in the Middle East could increase inflationary pressure, and tougher year‑over‑year comps in the back half prompted conservative 2026 guidance.
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic initiatives to drive growth include the refreshed DSW brand positioning and loyalty relaunch, in‑store remodels and new openings with encouraging early results, and a partnership to accelerate introduction of emerging and adjacent non‑footwear brands.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day, and welcome to the Designer Brands Inc. Q4 2025 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad, and to withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Matthew Crummy, SVP of Strategy and FP&A. Please go ahead.

[Matthew Crummy, SVP of Strategy and FP&A at Designer Brands]

Good morning. Earlier today, the company issued a press release comparing results of operations for the 13-week and 52-week periods ended January 31, 2026 to the 13-week and 52-week periods ended February 1, 2025. Please note that the financial results that we will be referencing during the remainder of today's call exclude certain adjustments recorded under GAAP, unless specified otherwise. For a complete reconciliation of GAAP to adjusted earnings, please reference our press release. Additionally, please note that remarks made about the future expectations, plans, and prospects of the company constitute forward-looking statements. Results may differ materially due to the factors listed in today's press release in the company's public filings with the SEC. Except as may be required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

[Matthew Crummy, SVP of Strategy and FP&A at Designer Brands]

Joining us today are Doug Howe, Chief Executive Officer, and Sheamus Toal, Chief Financial Officer. I'll now turn the call over to Doug.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Good morning, and thank you everyone for joining us today. I'm very proud that our Q4 and full fiscal 2025 results reflect disciplined execution and the meaningful progress we've made in strengthening our business. I want to recognize the commitment of our Designer Brands associates who have remained focused on serving our customers and advancing our strategy. Before discussing our results, I want to give a warm welcome to Sheamus Toal, our new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who joined us last month. Sheamus brings decades of financial and operational leadership experience across complex organizations, and his expertise will be critical as we advance our strategic priorities and drive long-term shareholder value. I'm pleased to have him with us today. Building on the momentum we established throughout the year, we were pleased to deliver another consecutive quarter of sequential improvement.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Net sales were flat year-over-year in the Q4, and consolidated comparable sales improved sequentially by 50 basis points. For the full year, total company sales declined 3.9% compared to last year, coming in towards the high end of our guidance range, and comp sales were down 4.3%. Notably, we delivered full year adjusted operating income of $65 million, significantly above our guidance range of $50 million-$55 million, driven by an improvement in Q4 sales trends, continued gross profit expansion, and disciplined expense management that resulted in a $26 million reduction in adjusted operating expenses compared to last year. As I reflect on 2025, I want to acknowledge that the year began with a level of macroeconomic volatility and pressured consumer sentiment that few could have anticipated.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

I am proud of how our team responded. We executed disciplined pivots to meet the needs of our business while remaining committed to our strategy, ultimately closing the year on a strong note. Over the last year, we continued to enhance our retail product strategy by elevating our assortment, improving inventory productivity, and cultivating our relationships with strategic national brand partners. We launched a new DSW brand positioning campaign this past fall and are highly encouraged that it is resonating meaningfully with customers, strengthening brand perception and driving engagement. In 2025, the DSW brand generated 79 billion total impressions, up 10% year-over-year, signaling strong, sustained interest. Our new brand positioning is beginning to come to life in stores as well, with several remodels and new store openings completed this past fall that incorporate updated creative and visual elements.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Customer feedback and financial performance in these locations have been encouraging. In our brand portfolio segment, we are pleased with the progress we've made to refine our go-to-market strategies and improve the profitability of the business, driving a $8 million increase in segment operating income for the year as we navigated an incredibly complex tariff environment. Before turning to review of our financial performance, I'd like to share an update on a recent organizational change we implemented in the business designed to accelerate execution across key priorities while maintaining a focus on reducing operating expenses. We recently brought our U.S. and Canada retail businesses under a streamlined reporting structure, which will enable better collaboration and integration of operations across our businesses. As part of these changes, we have right-sized our shared services organization to appropriately support the business moving forward.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Now let's review the financial highlights from the Q4 and full year. Starting with our retail segment, which reflects the aggregation of our U.S. retail and Canada retail operating segments, our total sales for the Q4 were flat year-over-year, with comparable sales down 1.7%, an improvement from down 2.1% in the Q4. This improvement was driven by strength in the boots category, affordable luxury, and accessories. For the full year, total sales declined 3.4%, with comparable sales declining 3.9%. Comp sales improved throughout the year, driven by positive in-store sales trends. In addition to the momentum we saw in existing stores, we were encouraged by the early learnings from our new stores that opened in 2025.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Over the course of the year, we opened 13 stores and remodeled four stores in total. While not all of these projects included the full suite of experimental features, each incorporated enhancements to improve merchandise, customer flow, and overall store experience. The initial customer reaction has been strong, with notably higher conversion and traffic. We will continue refining these concepts as we move forward by leveraging data and customer feedback to scale what works to further elevate the DSW in-store experience across our footprint. In the Q4, we delivered retail operating profit expansion, driven by a gross margin improvement of 140 basis points compared to Q4 of 2024. For the full year, gross margin improved 30 basis points. Turning to our brand portfolio segment, in the early phases, our focus was on margin enhancement and cost discipline.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

In 2024, we achieved profitability in the segment for the first time. 2025 was centered on foundational work to refine go-to-market strategies. Despite significant tariff-related disruption, we drove an $8 million increase in segment operating income. On the top line, Q4 sales were up over 5%, driven by Topo, which was up 42%, and Jessica Simpson, which grew 17% versus last year. We remain encouraged by the underlying growth trajectory inherent in each of these brands. For the full year, total sales were down 9%, reflecting headwinds in the first half of the year, with performance improving as the year progressed. A clear standout was Topo, which continued to drive impressive growth, up 46% on the year and more than doubling the size of the business compared to two years ago.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

We further strengthened and diversified our supply chain this year, which enabled us to proactively mitigate the impact of tariffs and external cost pressures and deliver an 80 basis points expansion in brand gross margin for the year. Now I'd like to spend a few minutes discussing our strategic priorities for 2026. As we move forward, we are laser-focused on the following. First, winning with the merchandise that matters most to our customers. Second, amplifying and expanding our DSW brand positioning. Third, elevating our in-store customer experience. Finally, building and scaling our brand portfolio. Let's start with our product strategy and winning with the merchandise that matters most. Our refreshed merchant leadership team has made incredible progress in shaping our 2026 assortment. We are doubling down in areas of strength and leaning into encouraging trends in fashion across dress, boots, and affordable luxury.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

These categories are resonating with our customers. This will be supplemented by our efforts to build and scale our brand portfolio. We are also planning strong growth in categories adjacent to footwear, such as beauty, wellness, hydration, socks, and sunglasses. To further support our initiative to add newness to our product offerings, we're excited to be working closely with a consumer-focused investment bank focused on emerging consumer brands called Consensus, which runs the Consensus Great Brands program, the preeminent platform for emerging consumer brands in North America. This partnership enables us to thoughtfully identify and introduce new, relevant brands within our leading categories while also expanding into adjacent non-footwear categories that encourage customer discovery and exploration. Through this relationship, we gain early access to emerging brands that align closely with our customer and our brand vision.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

By infusing our assortment with this targeted newness, we reinforce our Let Us Surprise You brand positioning, strengthen differentiation, and ensure our assortment remains dynamic and aligned with evolving customer preferences. These product strategies are enabled by a heightened focus on end-to-end inventory optimization across planning, allocations, and digital order fulfillment. These efforts are designed to drive healthier margins, improve in-stock rates, support store conversion, and lower supply chain costs in 2026. We've made great strides in amplifying and expanding our DSW brand positioning, energized by the success of last fall's DSW brand campaign. To open 2026, we launched our Let Us Surprise You campaign for spring, designed to broaden our reach, strengthen customer connections, and ignite meaningful brand engagement, anchored by new, fresh creative that debuted on March first.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

At the same time, we continue to invest in strengthening relationships with our most loyal customers. This fall, we are relaunching our loyalty program, which continues to represent roughly 90% of our transactions. With this revamp, we're poised to deliver an even more compelling, differentiated experience that drives long-term engagement and growth. Our stores remain the foundation and an important point of differentiation in our strategy, and we are continuously working to elevate the in-store experience. In 2026, we are bringing our brand positioning and product strategies to life in new and exciting ways across our store base. We're also planning new store openings as well as several remodels.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Early indications from last year's work are encouraging, demonstrating how we can deepen engagement through a more immersive, differentiated shopping experience. Finally, turning to our brands portfolio, we are now entering the third year of the transformation journey that we outlined in 2024. In 2026, we will continue to build and scale our portfolio, a strategy which will in turn supplement our strategic priority of focusing on merchandise that matters. We're very excited about the renewed focus on our exclusive brands, which are only sold at DSW. These brands serve as a strategic tool for us to increase profitability via vertical integration and strengthen the DSW brand. We believe we are well-positioned to deliver meaningful sales growth in 2026, highlighted by opportunities to amplify trends in the dress and boot categories.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Topo’s sales trajectory continues to be strong as the brand executes against ambitious growth plans. We’re confident this momentum will continue in 2026. Growth will be driven by core franchises as well as new product launches that further elevate Topo’s brand positioning. We expect to continue expansion of the brand’s footprint within existing partners, as well as opening additional points of distribution with new customers, with a particular focus on specialty running. With Keds, 2025 was a year where we sharpened our product design to improve comfort and fit across the assortment, while also focusing on building the profitability of the brand. We’re now looking forward to accelerated growth in 2026.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

We plan to drive this through expanded wholesale distribution with a focus on value, as well as from our direct-to-consumer digital business, where we are seeing positive signs so far this year. Jessica Simpson has capitalized on the recent resurgence of trends in the dress category. Additionally, we have diversified into the boot category and lowered heel heights in key dress styles in an effort to strategically appeal to a larger audience. We are confident that this evolved product strategy will continue to drive momentum with this brand in 2026. Throughout the brand's portfolio, we are pleased with the progress we've made in building a profitable foundation and are looking forward to advancing our efforts to drive sustainable growth in 2026 and beyond. Before I conclude, I want to share a few thoughts on our 2026 guidance.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

We are currently operating in a volatile macro environment that includes evolving tariff dynamics and conflict in the Middle East, the latter of which may introduce increased inflationary pressure moving forward. We will continue to monitor these situations closely and remain nimble and adaptable as the year progresses. While there is some uncertainty in the current external environment, in 2026, we do expect to build on the improving trends we generated in the back half of 2025. We anticipate that total sales will be between -1% and +1%, driven by strength in our brand portfolio sales, which are anticipated to grow double digits. We also expect to deliver meaningful operating income and EPS growth on the year. Sheamus will take you through our 2026 outlook in more detail.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Before I close, I want to reiterate how proud I am of our team's disciplined execution and unwavering commitment, which drove sustained sequential improvement throughout the year. Despite a dynamic operating environment, we stayed focused on what we can control and executed against our priorities, and I'm excited to see this momentum continue in 2026. With that, I'll turn it over to Sheamus.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

Thank you, Doug, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to begin by expressing my excitement about joining the team as Chief Financial Officer and thanking the Designer Brands board and the leadership team for their trust and warm welcome. My first month has been exciting, and I look forward to supporting our strategy to drive long-term growth and value creation. I'm eager to engage with our investor community and hear your perspectives as we continue to execute our strategy. I'm pleased to share Designer Brands' Q4 and full year results. The team successfully executed against its strategic priorities and delivered significantly improved performance as the year progressed. Let me provide a little bit more detail on the financial results.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

We were pleased to see another quarter of continued sequential improvement, with net sales of $713.6 million, flat to last year, and comps down 1.9%. Full year net sales decreased 3.9% to $2.9 billion, and comps were down 4.3%. In our retail segment, sales were roughly flat to last year, and comps were down 1.7% in the Q4. From a category perspective, boots, affordable luxury, and accessories were our top performers. In our brand portfolio segment, sales were up 5.3% in the Q4, driven by strong performance in both Topo and Jessica Simpson.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

Consolidated gross margin in the Q4 was 42.4%, a 280 basis point improvement year-over-year, driven by stronger IMU, fewer markdowns, and lower shipping costs. This resulted in a $20.1 million gross margin dollar improvement compared to last year. Full year consolidated gross margin was 43.6%, a 90 basis point improvement year-over-year, driven by favorable merchandise margin and increased efficiency in our digital order fulfillment operations. For the Q4, adjusted operating expenses were up $6.4 million compared to last year, representing 44.4% of sales. This reflects a deleverage of 90 basis points over last year on lower sales. It's also worth noting that the Q4 operating expenses were impacted by $9 million of incentive compensation in the quarter compared to none in the Q4 of last year.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

Absent the impact of incentive compensation, Q4 operating expenses would have leveraged 40 basis points versus last year. For the full year, adjusted operating expenses represented 41.7% of sales, an 80 basis point deleverage from last year. Amid a challenging macro backdrop, we remained focused on disciplined cost management across operating expenses, inventory and capital allocation throughout the year. Our total adjusted operating expenses declined by approximately $26 million for fiscal 2025 compared to 2024. We also ended the Q4 with total inventories down mid-single digits from prior year and decreased our debt by nearly $60 million compared to last year. For the Q4, adjusted operating loss was $11 million, compared to a loss of $23.5 million last year. The improvement was mainly driven by gross margin expansion of 280 basis points.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

For the full year, adjusted operating profit was $65.2 million, compared to $67.3 million last year. While full year adjusted operating income declined slightly year-over-year, we were encouraged by the progress we made in the back half of 2025, delivering an increase in adjusted operating income of over $15 million versus 2024 across Q3 and Q4 collectively to come in at above the high end of our guidance range for the full year. In the Q4 of 2025, we had $10.4 million of net interest expense, compared to $11.1 million last year. For the full year, net interest expense was $45.3 million, flat to last year.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

Our effective tax rate in the Q4 on our adjusted results was 31.3%, compared to 38.6% last year. For the year, our effective tax rate was 54.3% versus 31.6% last year. Q4 adjusted net loss was $15.6 million or 31 cents per diluted share, compared to a loss of $21.3 million or 44 cents per diluted share in the prior year. Our full year adjusted net income was $8.3 million or 16 cents per diluted share, compared to $15 million or 27 cents per diluted share in fiscal 2024. The full year decrease was largely driven by higher taxes as 2024 included one-time reversals of tax reserves.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

Turning to our inventory, we ended the Q4 with total inventories down 6% versus the prior year. We are planning to tightly manage inventory throughout the year as we focus on the brands, styles, and choices that matter most to our customers. We ended fiscal 2025 with $50.9 million in cash. Our total liquidity, which includes cash and availability under our ABL revolver, was $152 million at the end of the year. We continued to prioritize balance sheet strength in the quarter, applying excess cash towards debt repayments and closing the year with total debt outstanding of $435 million, a decrease of nearly $60 million compared to the prior year. Turning to our guidance for the full year.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

As Doug mentioned, the macro environment remains dynamic, with the conflict in the Middle East introducing uncertainty that could drive inflationary pressures and impact consumer sentiment. Conversely, while there may be some net upside for our business performance as a result of tariff policy evolution, this is not currently contemplated in our guidance. We currently anticipate net sales to be in the range of down 1% to up 1% for the year, with sales in the retail segment flat to declining slightly, offset by double-digit growth in the brand portfolio segment. In 2026, we expect to drive operating income growth through gross profit expansion and a continued focus on increasing efficiency in the business.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

Our guidance contemplates actions taken to rightsize our workforce in 2025, partially offset by a return to a normalized level of incentive-based compensation in 2026. This guidance assumes an effective tax rate of approximately 40% for the year. We plan to deliver EPS between $0.28 and $0.38 per diluted share on an average diluted share count of 58 million shares, compared to an adjusted EPS of $0.16 in 2025. I'd also like to provide some commentary on intra-year performance. Aside from some unfavorable weather impacts early in the quarter, we have seen a continuation of the positive momentum in Q1. We anticipate sales to be flat to up low single digits% and EPS to be breakeven to slightly positive in the quarter.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

As we look across the year, we're anticipating sales and earnings growth to be stronger in the first half of the year. As we shift into the back half of the year and anniversary actions implemented during 2025 that drove margin expansion and cost reductions last year, the comparisons become more difficult. To conclude, I'm proud of the progress we've delivered in the Q4 and across the full year. I am confident in the foundation that has been built and our ability to continue building momentum throughout 2026, and I'm excited to be working alongside such a disciplined and strong team. With that, we will open up the call for questions. Operator.

[Operator]

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If your question has already been addressed, you'd like to remove yourself from queue, please press star then two. Once again, that's star then one if you have a question. Today's first question comes from Mauricio Serna with UBS. Please go ahead.

[Mauricio Serna, Executive Director and Equity Research Analyst at UBS]

Great. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. A couple of things. First, could you comment on what you saw in performance in the top eight national brands? I believe that had been a focus for the company in the previous quarters. Then maybe just to understand the shape of the revenue guide. You mentioned Q1 revenue should be flat to up slightly, but then, like, up to those single digits. Then, like, the guidance for the year is actually calls for like flat at the midpoint. Just trying to understand like what drives like this implied slowdown as you move on through after Q1. Thanks so much.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Yeah, Mauricio, this is Doug. Let me take the first question on the top eight brands. We're actually going to be evolving that to top ten brands for 2026. It'd be those brands plus our three exclusive brands, which we sell only at DSW, and we're really excited about the growth that those brands represent, given they're only sold in our channels of distribution. Those top eight brands for 2025 drove a comp increase. We were very happy with that, roughly 40% of the total business. The team's continued focus on deepening those relationships with the merchandise that matters most and deepening our planning with those strategic brand partners has definitely paid off, and we see that continuing to pay dividends into 2026 as well.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

It relates to your second question on guidance. I'm the eternal optimist. There could be some upside in there. We just want to acknowledge that given the uncertainty of the macro environment we wanna be mindful of that, particularly as it relates to the back half, which as Sheamus said in his prepared remarks, we come up against stronger comps. Very encouraged by quarter to date trends that we're seeing in Q1. That momentum that we experienced in Q4 has continued, particularly in the store channel, which has been a big focus for the teams. We feel like that's our biggest point of differentiation.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

We had a little bit of challenging weather impacts as we started the quarter, but kind of came around that and coming up against the shift of Easter, we feel really encouraged by that. In large part just a little bit of a conservatism probably in the back half when we come up against those higher comps. On the overall side, obviously, we're gonna see a strong double-digit increase on the wholesale business throughout the year. That's kind of how it balances out for total.

[Mauricio Serna, Executive Director and Equity Research Analyst at UBS]

Got it. The increase in wholesale is just driven by the strength in, like, some of the exclusive brands that you sell, right? Topo, Jessica, is that the right way to think about it?

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Yeah. The whole portfolio is gonna drive significant growth. Obviously, Topo is a significant driver of that growth. Jessica Simpson is a big growth driver. Ted will have a nice increase in 2026 as well. Again, those are largely their largest clients are either not DSW at all or their largest customers are outside DSW. Then the exclusive brands piece will be driving growth in our channels of distribution. It's pretty well-rounded growth, internal and external.

[Mauricio Serna, Executive Director and Equity Research Analyst at UBS]

Got it. One last housekeeping item. In the guidance you included share count being 58 million shares outstanding for fiscal 2026. That's like 8 million higher, 16% versus last year. Just wanna understand what drove that increase and how should we think about the interest expenses for the year. Thank you.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

Hi, Mauricio. It's Sheamus. I'll take those questions. First, in terms of the share count, I think if you look back at the history, the lower share counts were in periods in which we had a loss. In those periods, from a GAAP accounting standpoint, we do not include the full impact of potential dilutive shares. As we move into the future, we are anticipating and based upon our guidance, anticipating that we will shift back into profitability. As such, we need to include the full impact of potentially dilutive shares in our diluted share calculation. That's what's driving the increase. It's not really incremental shares. It's just the fact that now they are included in periods of income.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

In terms of the interest for the year, I think as we disclosed on the call, we're expecting to see significant reductions in debt levels, as you know, we've completed this year. We completed this year with debt levels down approximately $60 million to last year. That is helping us certainly from an interest perspective, in controlling interest costs as we move into the fiscal year this year. Those expectations are built into our numbers for the year. In terms of the total dollar value, we're anticipating about $40 million of interest for the full fiscal year, which takes into account that lower level of debt.

[Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO at Designer Brands]

Also, I would point out in terms of our interest calc, you might have noticed that we have tremendous partnership with our banking partners. We negotiated an extension of our ABL revolver. So we're really pleased with those partnerships, and that will continue for us into the future.

[Mauricio Serna, Executive Director and Equity Research Analyst at UBS]

Very helpful. Thanks so much.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star then one at this time. We'll pause for just a moment to assemble our roster. Our next question today comes from Dana Telsey at Telsey Advisory Group. Please go ahead.

[Dana Telsey, Founder, CEO, and Chief Research Officer at Telsey Advisory Group]

Hi. Good morning, everyone. Can you talk a little bit about on the inventory side and tariffs? As you're bringing in inventory now, what rate are the tariffs being brought in by and how you're thinking about the tariff impact flowing through with rates where they are and how they were, how is that changing and the impact on margins? Then just lastly, Doug, category-wise, what are you seeing category-wise? How is it shifting and promotional landscape of how you're seeing the environment? Thank you.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Thanks, Dana. Appreciate your questions. First of all, those are such tariff questions. You know, it's still an evolving tariff environment. We thought we had, you know, kind of, gotten through all of that in 2025, but there's still, you know, quite a bit of evolution that's happening there. Our guidance is built on the assumption that the new tariffs are largely gonna be enacted. We'll replace the IEEPA tariffs. You know, there's definitely favorability that we're seeing right now with regards to year-over-year comparisons, but there potentially could be some upside if, you know, the, enacted tariffs don't replace those IEEPA tariffs. That could prove to be conservative, but we wanna just be, you know, clear about the fact that there's ever-changing dynamics there. We wanna stay close to that.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Again, could be some net upside in there, but again, just continues to be so much volatility. On the category perspective, I'd say it's pretty broad based. We feel really good about the dress category. We've always had, you know, leading market share penetration in that category. We're seeing nice increases there. For fall, you know, we planned boots down significantly. We actually had an increase, so that was a big rebound. Sandals for spring are off to a really good start. It's pretty broad based. We talked about affordable luxury. It's a business that is providing incredible growth for us and fits into that, you know, let us surprise you component of our product assortment. Then the accessory business in adjacent categories has given us very significant growth as well.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

We feel really good about all those continuing momentum through 2026. From a promotional perspective, I'm really proud of the team and the evolution that the new refreshed merchandising team has made on the product assortment. You heard about our margin expansion of 280 basis points in for last year's performance. We are being much more surgical with regards to promotions. We've focused a lot on channel profitability, specifically on digital, pulling back on some of those unprofitable promotions. As a result, we've reduced our markdown rate tied to the fact that we're very conservatively managing our inventories. We ended with inventories down 6%. You know, all that has led to a pretty nice expansion in margin that we feel really good about.

[Dana Telsey, Founder, CEO, and Chief Research Officer at Telsey Advisory Group]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. That concludes our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Doug Howe for any closing remarks.

[Doug Howe, CEO at Designer Brands]

Thank you all for your continued interest in Designer Brands. Before we close, I just want to again recognize the dedication and the commitment of our teams. Really proud of the determination and the resilience that they demonstrated this past year. I'd also share that we continue to be encouraged by the momentum we're building in the business, driven by the strategic priorities that we shared. We look forward to continuing to update you on our progression throughout the year. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. That concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful day.

Participants

Executives

• Doug Howe, CEO
• Matthew Crummy, SVP of Strategy and FP&A
• Sheamus Toal, EVP and CFO

Analysts

• Dana Telsey, Founder, CEO, and Chief Research Officer at Telsey Advisory Group
• Mauricio Serna, Executive Director and Equity Research Analyst at UBS