DSW announced a major expansion of its DSW Kids line on Thursday, which is launching this week in more than 200 stores in 40 states across the country.
The retail expansion, an extension of its successful e-commerce shop, will include footwear for kids of all ages from infants and toddlers through teens. In addition, DSW announced that 21 new stores opening this fall will also offer DSW Kids.
The launch includes over 100 brands for boys and girls in a number of categories, including fashion, athletic and functional shoes. DSW will also be launching its own in-house brands next spring; Olive & Edie for girls and Max + Jake for boys.
“Consumers have been asking for kids shoes in our stores for years and we answered with DSW Kids,” DSW Vice Chairman and Chief Merchandising Officer Debbie Ferrée said in a statement. “We are launching with a full range of footwear starting with infant sizes. With so many of our vendors offering children’s footwear, the expansion was comprehensive and seamless—we offer on average over 210 styles per store and over 2,000 styles online.”
DSW is hoping Kids footwear will be reason enough to keep parents shopping, and possibly turn around its financial fortunes for the rest of the year. Children’s footwear is one of three pillars the company plans to focus on in 2016, in addition to women’s and athletic footwear.