• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, October 4, 2023

Add Vans to the long list of brands partnering with Disney for its centennial celebration. The footwear company is unveiling a collection of themed shoes and apparel featuring both heroes and villains.

Mickey stars in some of the shoes. Another style features Scar, the “Lion King''s bad guy, on the soles, with those menacing hyenas on the heel. Other items highlight the bony hand of “Snow White’s” Evil Queen. There are 100 designs in the collection, including jackets, cardigans, hoodies and T-shirts.

The launch comes when all U.S. footwear sales are challenged, with Vans fast losing footing.

New research from Circana predicts that U.S. footwear sales will decline in the coming quarter, continuing the softness shown so far this year. As the impact of people returning to work and shopping for special occasions receded, footwear sales revenue declined by 3% from January through August 2023.

And when people are buying, the market researcher says, they’re selecting seasonless choices, like sneakers, loafers, and ballerinas. Sales of running shoes in that period rose 6%, for example, and basketball shoe sales climbed 13%. Soccer-inspired sneakers intended for everyday wear are also selling well.

Alas, none of those trends work out in Vans' favor, and the brand continues to lose its cool.

In August, parent VF Corp. reported that quarterly sales fell 8% to $2.1 billion, with Vans sales nosediving 22% to $737.5 million, compared to $946.8 million in the year ago period. Wholesale results in the Americas dropped 40%. And direct channel sales fell 7%.

“Vans performance remains difficult as work to turn around the brand continues with a great deal of urgency,” company executives said in a conference call discussing those results. “Our wholesale business, particularly in the U.S., remains challenging.”

Efforts to improve Vans' go-to-market activities include a sharper focus, with fewer key products and stories. And the company has been working to reduce the number of SKUs in stores. A relaunch of the Vans website is expected to be completed before the holidays. But VF remains confident that the once-fast-growing brand can pull off the turnaround: “Vans is a great brand, and we're confident in its enduring strength and, importantly, the energy and intensity that this leadership team is bringing to the effort every day.”