Environmental Social Governance
Across our portfolio of brands, we feel passionately that how we do business is as important as how much business we do.
Our long-standing pledge to quality craftmanship includes creating sustainable and lasting value for all our stakeholders. What it really comes down to is caring - about people, ethics and integrity, our shared planet, and about healthy financial performance. Caring is so integral to our business that we champion it as one of our core company values.
The Caleres story is most simply defined by the company’s mission: Inspire people to feel great...feet first.
Explore our five-star ESG promise and our portfolio of ambitious ESG targets that we are working to achieve by 2025 in our 2021 ESG Report - Caleres Cares...Feet First.
Our long-standing pledge to quality craftmanship includes creating sustainable and lasting value for all our stakeholders. What it really comes down to is caring - about people, ethics and integrity, our shared planet, and about healthy financial performance. Caring is so integral to our business that we champion it as one of our core company values.
The Caleres story is most simply defined by the company’s mission: Inspire people to feel great...feet first.
Explore our five-star ESG promise and our portfolio of ambitious ESG targets that we are working to achieve by 2025 in our 2021 ESG Report - Caleres Cares...Feet First.
Letter from our President and CEO
As we cross the halfway mark on our 2025 ESG goals, we have seen strong progress and, in some cases, have completed goals and started new ambitious projects. Our brands are incorporating sustainable materials that fit our customers' unique needs. We are using new methods to produce, package, and ship our products. Within our workplaces, we are focused on advancing diversity, equity and inclusion; strengthening our culture; supporting our Associates with opportunities to grow; and caring for the communities where we live and work. There is much to be excited about from the past year and about what's to come. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us.
Jay Schmidt, President and Chief Executive Officer
At Caleres, we care passionately about helping people feel great...feet first. That comfort arises from both our product portfolio and our five-star promise for delivering ESG excellence: Caleres Cares...Feet First.
Fit means more than how great our shoes feel on your feet. Every bit as important is how well our brands align with your values.
- During Pride month, Caleres brands showed support for the LGBTQIA+ community with unique activations and donations. Across the portfolio of brands, customers could round up at checkout to donate to the Trevor Project. At Famous Footwear, proceeds helped fund the unique needs of LGBTQIA+ youth in foster care.
- Allen Edmonds launched its Legend Series of brand collaborations beginning with British outerwear brand Barbour. Both brands are committed to creating products that are built to last and can be recrafted to extend the life of the product. Together, they created a collection that includes a limited edition version of the Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill boot.
- The Franco Sarto Dizzy boot won the Accessories Council Design Excellence Award in the category of footwear under $250. The Dizzy is a lug-sole, lace-up, wet and cold weather boot. Its upper and linings are partially made from recycled materials. The Franco team has infused eco-conscious features in its footwear, creating artful styles that tread more lightly on our planet.
Caleres creates sustainable value by governing and operating with integrity and transparency and by pursuing ambitions ESG targets.
- For the second consecutive year, Caleres was named to Newsweek's list of America's Most Responsible Companies 2023. We ranked second in the fashion and footwear sector and 11th in the consumer goods category.
- Caleres was recognized as one of 20 finalists for the 2022 National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Awards, which recognize boards that have improved their governance and created long-term value for stakeholders by implementing forward-thinking DE&I practices.
- 75% of Caleres-owned products use environmentally preferred materials, well on track to meet our goal of 100% by 2025. All shoeboxes for our owned brands use environmentally preferred materials, meaning they contain at least 70% recycled content, and all are recyclable in residential recycling bins. Our distribution centers reuse pallets and corrugated boxes – our Lebanon DC alone reused more than 500,000 corrugated boxes in 2022.
Curious, creative people working in an inclusive and empowering environment continue to propel our company forward.
- Caleres once again earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2022 Corporate Equality Index for LGBTQ+ Equality in the workplace. Additional layers of support for LGBTQIA+ Associate were introduced including enhanced benefits to be more inclusive of partners and family structures, the ability to identify across gendered identities in HR systems, required training including use of pronouns, and beginning in 2023, coverage for procedures for transitioning Associates.
- Our ongoing Caleres Forward initiative refreshes our company culture and connects it with our business strategy and long-term goals. In 2022, we identified three pillars of our culture – Results, Caring, and Learning – and four Strategic Truths that drive our work -- Delighted Consumers, Product That Fits, Inspiring Experiences, and Engaged People.
- Community Resource Groups (CRGs) are networks of Associates who identify with a particular group and their allies to create a sense of belonging and support. Four CRGs were launched in 2022: Black, Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC), Parents, LGBTQIA+, and New Associates. Two new CRGs are launching in 2023 – Sustainability and People with Disabilities. The final two CRGs, Women and Veterans, are planned to launch later in 2023.
We give back to people and communities in need and work to advance the profession and professionals of footwear.
- The Caleres Cares Charitable Trust gave $1.2 million in grants and matched over $376,000 through our matching gifts program in 2022 with a 136% increase in the number of Associates participating in the matching gifts program. In addition, our brands and distribution centers donated over $475,000 to a variety of organizations.
- Since 2020, Famous Footwear has supported the Ticket to Dream Foundation to support youth in the foster care system. Customers' in-store and online round-up donations have totaled more than $30 million to date. In 2022, Famous Footwear provided nearly 16,000 backpacks, school supplies and new shoes and nearly 15,000 pairs of socks and winter accessories to foster care youth.
- Caleres provided $250,000 cash and $250,000 in in-kind shoe donations to the Soles4Souls 4EveryKid program, which provides footwear for homeless youth across the country, as part of a two-year $1 million pledge.
By holding our suppliers to high standards and taking part in industry and NGO initiatives, we help drive continuous improvement.
- Caleres uses 96 core Tier 1 factories that make up 92% of our sourcing and spend. We assess these factories twice a year on five key areas, including supply risk, speed and agility, quality, sustainability, and operations.
- As part of the supplier onboarding process, it is compulsory for all factories to under a Factory Compliance Audit that evaluates potential suppliers on a variety of topics including business ethics, environmental protection, health and safety, child labor, wages, and working hours.
- 57% of our strategic factories are part of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers (FDRA) Factory Zero Waste Program. In 2022, they achieved a total reduction of 2,210 metric tons of CO2e through waste reuse and recycling activities.
2025 ESG Targets and Our Progress
Based on the results of materiality assessment and growing stakeholder expectations of our business, we developed a portfolio of ESG targets that we seek to achieve by 2025. The chart below shows those targets and our progress against them.