• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, April 10, 2007

Maybe it's that preppy is chic again. Maybe it's a return to the brand's boating roots. Or maybe it's new line extensions, targeting shoe-crazy young women as well as crusty old men from the yacht club. Sperry Top-Sider is hot again, with owner Stride-Rite Corp. reporting recently that fourth-quarter sales for the boat-shoe classics are up 10%, to $26 million.

"We've been very focused on a renewed commitment to building performance products for consumers who live and play in and on the water," says Karen Pitts, Sperry's new VP/Marketing. (She had been at Etonic, Reebok and Dexter.) "And we are seeing exciting growth from the women's market." This season's offerings, for example, include an expanded line of thongs and mules cute enough to wear away from the boat.

But Sperry's nautical heritage "is key to the brand's authenticity," she says. The shoes were introduced in 1935, invented by a sailor who was intrigued with the way his Cocker Spaniel kept his footing on the ice, and have since become a wardrobe staple for the country club set, with big bursts of cross-over moments. So Pitts says the company will continue to concentrate on the hard-core boaters and sponsor a number of regattas. Sperry was also recently named the official shoe of the National Safe Boating Council.

Those sponsorships "help underscore the brand's commitment to the sailing community and allow us to speak directly to consumers about the products they need, and how a brand like Sperry can maximize their enjoyment of the water," she says. "We connect to the water in many ways, through sailors, boaters, fisherman, kayakers, any individual who aspires to bringing a nautical connection into their lives."

Separately, the company announced that its stride rite brand, premium children's footwear, will co-sponsor Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants Friend or Foe?" network event on Nickelodeon on Friday. To launch its new SuperBall Shoe, constructed with a SuperBall in the heel of the outsole, the company will also run ads on multiple Nickelodeon platforms.

Stride-Rite, based in Lexington, Mass., also owns Keds, Saucony, Grasshoppers and Robeez.