Arc’teryx puts Renée Augustine in charge of newly created footwear division

After topping the $2 billion revenue mark in 2024, Arc’teryx, the premium Canadian outdoor sports brand owned by the Amer Sports group, does not intend to stop growing. And as James Zhang, CEO of NYSE-listed Amer Sports explained during the presentation of the group’s annual results, one of the growth drivers Arc’teryx can tap is boosting its footwear range.

“We believe Arc’teryx has an even stronger pipeline for footwear launches in 2025. Footwear will become an important and profitable growth driver for Arc’teryx, both in retail and select wholesale accounts,” said Zhang a few weeks ago. Arc’teryx is a specialist in performance outdoor apparel but has, in recent seasons, extended its footwear assortment, especially with the Kragg hiking shoes and the Sylan trail running shoes.

In order to consolidate the footwear range and boost its retail distribution, Arc’teryx has now created an ad hoc business unit, overseen by Renée Augustine, who in 2023 was named vice-president in charge of brand strategy. Arc’teryx has undoubtedly reached a new milestone in terms of its market positioning and status, and Augustine, a former JP Morgan and Bank of America analyst specialised in developing new business models, will contribute her expertise, drawn from groups operating in multiple product categories and sports. After nearly 11 years at Nike, five of which she spent developing new business models, Augustine served as chief strategy officer at Under Armour for 18 months.

Augustine will draw on the footwear expertise of the team already working for Arc’teryx in Portland, Oregon, including Ovidio Garcia, the brand’s vice-president of footwear and head of Arc’teryx’s Centre of Excellence.

“Establishing a dedicated footwear business unit marks an exciting step in the evolution of Arc’teryx, which is aiming to became a world leader in mountain footwear,” said Stuart Haselden, CEO of Arc’teryx. “The outstanding work of Ovidio Garcia and his team, who have spearheaded this effort, has created tremendous momentum with our spring 2025 launches, including the Norvan LD 4 and the Vertex Speed, and we are keen to see what this means for the future of the company,” he added.

Energising the footwear category is all the more important for Arc’teryx as the brand wants to grow its monobrand store fleet. It currently operates 160 stores worldwide, and offering a complete product range to its customers is a key element to improve store profitability.