How SG Companies Grew the Once Dormant Rugged Shark Label Into a $100M Outdoor Shoe Brand
After bringing back its Rugged Shark brand from dormancy in 2020, SG Companies is doubling down on its outdoor footwear label – adding new styles as business continues to grow.
From what started as a marine and fishing-focused shoe brand, the label is now primarily driven by its EVA-molded footwear positioned to cater to the entire family. The debut style under the new and improved Rugged Shark was the Cove CLG molded clog – which created a formidable competitor to other molded styles dominating the market in post-pandemic America.
According to Tom Zito, vice president of creative strategy at Rugged Shark, the label was ranked as the 10th fastest-growing footwear brand in 2023 by Circana, with 46 percent year-over-year growth in retail sales. And the brand is projecting an additional 54 percent growth in 2024, surpassing $100 million in retail sales, Zito told FN.
But this growth didn’t come overnight. SG Companies – the over 125-year-old footwear licensing company which also produces shoes under other labels like BCBGeneration, Dockers, Izod and Nintendo – acquired Rugged Shark from Gordon Brothers in 2009 for an undisclosed sum. At the time, the brand was solely positioned as a marine and fishing-focused shoe brand. For years, not much was done with the brand under its new owners until about late 2020 and early 2021 when SG Companies relaunched Rugged Shark with the focus on EVA-molded footwear for the whole family at a value price-point. Retails for Rugged Shark shoes range between $20 and $50.
For Zito, the brand’s growth really took off during the pandemic when more consumers were looking to get outside after isolation.
“The pandemic was really an inflection point for us as a company,” Zito told FN in an interview. “We started to look at who we were, where we wanted to go, and it felt like we had this underutilized asset. So, we brought back Rugged Shark for consumers and families that appreciated the outdoors, just in time for when people were eager to go outside.”
Aside from its bestselling clog style, Rugged Shark has also added the Surf Moc water shoe, which includes a sole made with its AquaFlo technology designed to drain water out of the shoe.
New for this spring, is the Kano RNR, a lightweight EVA-molded runner designed to take on all types of terrain and outdoor activities.
And the company is ready for more. “We have built enough of a base level business over these last few years that we’re really ready to truly invest in more growth,” Zito said. “We just recently launched a revamped Rugged Shark e-commerce site, and we’re also investing more on social media. Overall, though, we are being very intentional and purposeful in terms of our expansion.”
