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Dearfoams is ready for a new era.
The 77-year-old slipper brand has teamed up with the team at Vacation for a full brand refresh that centers around a cheeky fall/holiday campaign that’s tailor-made for the next generation of style-conscious consumers.
For fall, the new campaign was designed to launch the brand’s next chapter by blending editorial-style photography with clickable social shorts. This season’s spot is all about a colorful and character rich new world, with hyper-stylized sets soaked in Americana. And for holiday, this campaign is a little cheeky, over-the-top and a little off script.
Both campaigns feature still photography by Alberto Newton, while live-action spots were directed by Memo Matthews, and a standout stop-motion vignette was crafted by acclaimed animation director Luis Téllez, best known for his work on Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio.”
And this is just the beginning of its brand evolution.
Dearfoams president Justine Suh, who joined the footwear company in January, it has been a busy nine months. “Stepping into this role was really about honoring the legacy of the brand,” Suh told FN in an interview. But it’s also about driving the direction for the next chapter of Dearfoams. I’m thrilled about where the brand is headed, and we’re just getting started.”
The executive noted that she looked at three growth areas of the business when developing this new brand vision – expanding distribution, strategic product growth opportunities and building the talent on the leadership team.
“I keep saying that we are the quietest number one slipper brand in America,” Suh maintained. “So, now is the time to get a little bit louder about who we are and our brand positioning.”
Part of how Suh plans to turn up the volume on Dearfoams is by adding more categories. Over time, Suh wants Dearfoams to be more than just a slipper brand. So, the next step is to move the company into a multi-category footwear brand, with the eventual goal of becoming a full lifestyle brand.
“We are very good at selling slippers,” Suh admitted. “With over 1 billion unit sold, Dearfoams and our parent company RG Barry, knows slippers. So, looking ahead, we want to start to chip away at the relaxed casual footwear market, own holiday gifting moments, reinvigorate our licensed lifestyle categories, reignite our Fireside franchise and claim white space in year-round comfort.”
Suh also in building Dearfoams’ distribution to include the family footwear channel as well as department stores. “We’re expanding distribution up and down – starting with premium accounts to mass channel accounts,” she noted. “We play in all distribution channels.”
Also coming up is a collaboration with Brigette and Danielle Pheloung of Acquired Style, a partnership designed to put Dearfoams directly in front of a younger, highly social consumer.
And for holiday, Dearfoams is launching the Gifting Squad, a multi-generational network of nine influential creators with a collective reach of 8 million followers.
“Timed right during peak gifting season, they’ll spotlight their favorite Dearfoams items, share heartwarming gifting moments, and inspire their audiences to shop with us for the holidays,” Suh said. “It’s creator advocacy at its best – trusted voices turning Dearfoams into the go-to gift.”
