Gross profit as a percentage of revenue was 42.1% in the quarter compared to 40.7% in the same period of 2022.
Net income for the period totalled US$36.7 million, down from US$74.5 million in the first quarter of last year.
Revenue for the wholesale business fell by 19.3% in 2023 so far to reach US$362.1 million, while wholesale footwear revenue specifically was down by 18.6% and wholesale accessories/apparel revenue decreased by 22%.
Meanwhile, direct-to-consumer revenue dropped by 8.1% in the quarter to US$99.6 million, driven by declines in both the brick-and-mortar and e-commerce businesses.
The company ended the first quarter of 2023 with 235 brick-and-mortar retail stores and five e-commerce websites, as well as 21 company-operated concessions in international markets.
Looking forward to the full 2023 fiscal year, Steve Madden expects that revenue will fall by 6.5-8.0% year-on-year.
Chairman and CEO Edward Rosenfeld said: “In light of the challenging setup we faced in the first quarter – including a choppy retail environment, conservative order patterns from our wholesale customers and difficult comparisons with the prior year – we were pleased to deliver revenue and earnings slightly ahead of expectations.
“We also further reduced our inventory levels while driving strong gross margin performance despite a promotional retail landscape, demonstrating the benefits and durability of our business model in challenging operating environments. As we move forward, we remain focused on executing our strategic initiatives – most importantly, utilising our proven model to create trend-right products and bring them to market quickly – and are confident that we can drive sustainable growth and value creation over the long term.”
