Luxury Briefing: Malone Souliers adapts to a polarized luxury market under new CEO Andrew Wright

According to wholesale platform Joor’s 2025 Global Footwear Analysis report, published this week, shoes priced under $250 now account for 42% of market share, and the core $500–$1,000 luxury tier has dropped from 34% to 25% since 2021. Comfort-led categories are gaining ground, too, with sandals rising from 16% to 24% and flats from 6% to 8%.

For a brand like Malone Souliers that has historically been defined by its sculptural heels and $700–$1,200 satin mules, that shift would seem inconvenient. But it’s also the reason the company brought in Andrew Wright in November, appointing him as its first commercially seasoned CEO. Until now, founder Mary Alice Malone functioned as both creative lead and de facto chief executive, a setup that worked when cultural collaborations — like with “Bridgerton” in 2021 and “Emily in Paris” in 2022 — drove demand for eventwear. Today, the brand needs a different kind of navigation.

Wright said the current climate is “a tough moment [for footwear brands],” citing geopolitical uncertainty and what he views as a more measured luxury consumer in the U.S. and Asia. But he sees a structural advantage in the brand’s offer. “It’s not just high heels. The brand does flats as elegantly as it does heels,” he said, pointing to construction quality that lends itself to modern consumer tastes.

The brand’s Tommy Ton–photographed campaign from last month reflects that pivot. Instead of a traditional luxury shoot, the brand opted for Ton’s street-style perspective, capturing what Wright described as “energy and movement” across New York. The resulting out-of-home placements along Madison and Fifth Avenue served as a directional reset for the brand. Wright wants it to be a signal that the brand is speaking to a woman dressing for real life, not just red carpets.

Competitively, Malone Souliers sits in a crowded category where brands are polarizing, according to the last two years of the Lyst Index report. On the attainable end, COS, Adidas (particularly the SL72), Puma’s Speedcat and Miu Miu’s ballet-core silhouettes are pulling attention. At the top, Alaïa’s mesh ballet flats and The Row’s Dune sandals have dominated the Lyst Index rankings for two years. Meanwhile, legacy heel houses have had to rethink strategies: Jimmy Choo, for example, has leaned more heavily into handbags and sneakers, according to industry analysts.

Malone Souliers’s global presence spans more than 70 retailers, including Harrods, Bergdorf Goodman, Harvey Nichols, MyTheresa, Level Shoes and Neiman Marcus. But Wright said U.S. department stores are “buying more selectively,” and that the brand needs localized assortments to thrive — because “New York is not America, Orange County is not L.A., and Dallas is not Miami.”

That’s why the company is opening a New York office and showroom and building a U.S. warehouse to cut down on longer shipping times that Wright said can lose sales. “If you buy a pair of shoes online, you want them yesterday,” he said. Faster logistics, he said, are essential for both the brand’s DTC and wholesale replenishment.

On product, Wright isn’t departing from what works. “Maureen remains our consistent bestseller,” he said, talking about the brand’s strap heel — while the high-heeled Noah style trails close behind. Bettina, launching for fall 2025, reflects a move toward sculptural block heels that feel modern without losing the brand’s identity as an authority on heels. Bridal fits into this strategy, too, as an emotionally driven category with high lifetime-value potential, according to Wright.

But, at the same time, the brand is leaning into custom creations with a higher price point. Its made-to-order program — available online, at Harrods Shoe Heaven and through trunk shows — is the brand’s most premium lever, with prices typically starting around $900 and reaching $1,500–$2,000, depending on materials, heel customization and finishes. Wright called the service “complicated, but worth it,” noting rising demand for personalization and what he described as consumer fatigue around “too many exclusives and collaborations.”

By broadening its flat-price offer while deepening its craftsmanship and MTO capabilities, Malone Souliers is trying to serve both ends of the luxury divide without diluting either side. “Whatever we do, we’re going to keep it special,” Wright said. “Rather than clients, let’s call them [shoe] collectors.”

Independent brands are avoiding Italy’s big-luxury pitfalls

Italian luxury manufacturing is under renewed scrutiny after prosecutors placed Tod’s and three of its executives under investigation on November 20 for alleged labor exploitation in subcontracted workshops in Milan and the Marche region. Judicial documents accuse the group of knowing about abusive conditions, including excessive hours, inadequate pay and unsafe, degrading housing, and describe a pattern of “intentional blindness” despite audit findings. Earlier this year, police uncovered a similar setup at an unauthorized subcontractor producing accessories for Giorgio Armani.

The cases highlight a widening fault line in the Made-in-Italy model: As brands scale and push to retain margins, production splinters into subcontracting networks that become harder to monitor.

It’s the exact dynamic Paule Tenaillon, co-founder of Parisian footwear brand Nomasei, warns about. “Hand-making is not compressible,” she said. “You can’t manage numbers like you manage people.” For Nomasei, which produces shoes priced from around €450-€995 ($518-$1,144), the response has been to stay small and geographically tight. All components are sourced within 30 minutes of its Italian factory, which holds a 20% stake in the brand, a structure that gives Tenaillon direct visibility into “every guy who does every piece.”

The contrast signals where the industry’s structural tensions now lie, between scale that demands outsourcing and craftsmanship that depends on control.

The vanishing luxury customer: Bain warns of a market at risk

While discussing the Bain-Altagamma Luxury Study, which came out on November 20, Federica Levato, co-author of the report, told Glsosy the industry “looks stable from afar, but is full of tensions underneath.” Personal luxury goods are expected to close 2025 flat to up 2% at constant exchange rates. Experiences, meanwhile, now drive nearly half of global luxury growth, overtaking products for the first time. “This is no longer a shopping-spree market,” Levato said. “Consumers want emotions, entertainment and ethics. If brands don’t deliver that, [consumers] just go elsewhere.”

One of the report’s most striking findings is the loss of 70 million luxury customers over the last two years, more than 20% of the total base. Levato said much of that contraction is self-inflicted. “Elevation has shrunk the customer base. Prices have gone up, but creativity and engagement have not followed. Even very wealthy clients are saying the equation no longer works,” she said. Many are shifting spend toward travel, wellness and food, while aspirational shoppers are increasingly turning to beauty, eyewear and outlet shopping.

Regionally, the U.S. remains a surprise outperformer, buoyed by repatriated spending and rekindled loyalty to American brands. Europe, meanwhile, is softening as U.S. tourists step back from shopping trips. In China, Bain sees early signs of stabilization heading into Q4, supported by rising confidence and stock market gains, though the competitive landscape is tightening.

According to Levato, the brand mandate for 2026 is clear: “Creativity alone won’t be enough. Brands need to rebuild trust, restore ethics and reopen the doors to a broader customer base. The fundamentals are strong, but it’s time to reconnect.”

Earnings

• Mulberry’s revenue is still slipping, down 4% to £53.9 million ($71 million) in the half-year period ended September 27, as the brand cuts back on discounting and demand remains soft. The U.K. and Asia Pacific weighed on results, but Europe grew to £6 million ($8 million) and wholesale jumped 36% to £7.3 million ($10 million). Along with the full-price approach, tighter cost control brought operating expenses down to £42.7 million ($56 million) and helped steady the business despite lower sales.
• LuxExperience’s revenue dipped 4% in Q1 FY26 as the company continues its planned restructuring, including shrinking low-margin parts of the business like Yoox and offloading The Outnet. At the same time, Mytheresa delivered strong double-digit growth, showing that the group’s healthiest segment is still gaining share.

Executive moves

• Prada Group confirmed that Miuccia Prada’s son Lorenzo Bertelli will become executive chairman of Versace following its €1.25 billion ($1.4 billion) acquisition of the brand. Versace, currently 20% of Capri Holdings’s €5.2 billion ($5.6 billion) revenue is expected to account for 13% of Prada Group’s sales, alongside Prada at 64% and Miu Miu at 22%.
• Sarah Coonan, Liberty’s retail managing director, will step down on January 31 after 15 years with the company amid its 150th-anniversary store updates, with her successor yet to be named.

News to know

• Daydream’s iPhone app, launched on November 18 is already revealing how consumers want to shop with AI. In an interview, CEO Julie Bornstein said users are engaging in “about two and a half turns per query,” meaning most people continue refining their search through multiple back-and-forth messages with the Daydream agent. Voice search is also prompting richer requests, as “people give a little more detail when they’re voicing it.” Occasion-led queries — from summer weddings to holiday dressing — are proving especially popular. Behind the scenes, Daydream rebuilt its search infrastructure post-beta and has begun sharing early shopper-behavior trend reports with partner brands. The app was developed in parallel with iOS 26, following a hands-on collaboration with Apple’s design and engineering teams during a private development session in New York.
• Owner Public Clothing Company is relaunching Derek Lam Collection and repositioning Derek Lam 10 Crosby under a newly appointed creative director for both brands, Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez will debut his first Derek Lam Collection for fall 2026 at NYFW as the brand shifts to an advanced contemporary price point of $295–$1,295, while 10 Crosby moves to a more accessible contemporary tier.
• In early October, Kering CEO Luca de Meo told staff in an internal memo that the group will further shrink its retail network, reduce its heavy reliance on Gucci and pursue synergies across brands. It is part of an 18-month push to return all houses to growth and a three-year plan to restore top financial performance, following the €4.7 billion ($5 billion) sale of its beauty division to L’Oréal.
• China–Japan tensions spiked after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments this week about Taiwan, warning that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger Japan’s self-defense response. It prompted Beijing to warn citizens against travel to Japan and triggered sharp drops in Japanese retail and travel stocks. Barclays noted the shift could redirect Chinese luxury spending away from Japan, which accounts for under 10% of most luxury brands’ sales.

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