DTC footwear brand Oofos opens first stores

Dive Brief:

DTC active recovery footwear brand Oofos has opened its first brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S., according to a company press release.
The three store openings include Pentagon City in Arlington, Virginia, the Mall of Georgia in Buford, Georgia, and the Florida Mall in Orlando. Pentagon City opened at the end of May, while the Georgia location opens Thursday and the Florida store will debut later this month.
Customers will be able to shop a curated selection of Oofos shoes and sandals, including the recently introduced Oomy Stride, Oomy Zen and Ooyea.

Dive Insight:

After 14 years of building a brand through DTC, Amazon and wholesale partnerships, Oofos has opened its first permanent store locations.

Each store is 150 square feet with additional storage space and follows a series of pop-up shops Oofos tested across the country over the years. Those included locations on Boylston Street near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, at Ironman St. George in Utah and in collaboration with the Naperville Running Company at the Chicago Marathon. 

“We’ve always believed in building smart, sustainable growth,” Lou Panaccione, co-founder and CEO at Oofos, said in a statement. “With these new retail locations, we are starting small and being intentional with our strategy, with the goal of complementing our existing DTC and wholesale channels while also offering an additional touch-point to share our mission of helping people feel better.”

The brand will test consumer reaction through these stores and then decide if it wants to expand further in physical retail, according to Chief Marketing Officer Liz White. White hopes that stores will help shoppers to feel the difference made by Oofos’ technology.

Oofos was founded in 2011 by a team of footwear veterans that included Panaccione, Paul Brown, Juan Diaz, and Steve Liggett. The Oofoam technology helps to absorb 37% more impact than traditional foam footwear, per the company.

Oofos has found support in several nationally known athletes and artists, including an investment in 2023 that was led by a number of celebrities. Among the investors to the company were NFL quarterbacks Derek Carr and Alex Smith, as well as South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley. 

Additional partnerships with Oofos have included baseball player J.D. Martinez and Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, as well as a collaboration with Re-inc, a global lifestyle brand headed by U.S. soccer stars Christen Press, Megan Rapinoe, Meghan Klingenberg and Tobin Heath.