Genesco

{{update | section | reason = the current leadership history stops at 1977 | date = December 2024}}

File:General Shoe Company.jpg

James Franklin Jarman, J.H. Lawson and William Hatch Wemyss, all former salesmen for Carter Shoe Co. in Nashville, founded Jarman Shoe Company in 1924 as a footwear manufacturer.{{cite news | author = Wood, E. Thomas | author-link = E. Thomas Wood | title = Nashville Now and Then: A Voice From Our Past | url = http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/7/20/nashville_now_and_then_20jul07 | publisher = NashvillePost.com | date = 2007-07-20 | access-date = 2007-07-21 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184919/http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/7/20/nashville_now_and_then_20jul07 | archive-date = 2007-09-30 | url-status = dead }}

The company grew rapidly and took the name General Shoe Company in 1931, and its initial public stock offering took place in 1939.{{citation needed|date = December 2024}}

By the 1950s, General Shoe had factories in many southern towns, especially in Genesco's home state of Tennessee. The company assumed its current name, Genesco, in 1959, two years after it was chosen as one of the stocks in the first S&P 500 Index.{{cite news | author = Duncan, Walker | title = Foot Locker Makes $1.2 Billion Offer for Genesco | url = http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/4/20/foot_locker_makes_12_billion_offer_for_genesco_ | publisher = NashvillePost.com | date = 2007-04-20 | access-date = 2007-07-21 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928011424/http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/4/20/foot_locker_makes_12_billion_offer_for_genesco_ | archive-date = 2007-09-28 | url-status = dead }} Earlier strictly a manufacturer of footwear, W. Maxey Jarman, the ambitious son of co-founder J.F. Jarman, led the company to slowly diversify, especially as more of the manufacturing was being conducted overseas;{{citation needed|date = November 2024}} as well, it entered into fields such as sports—at one-time manufacturing and selling football (soccer) balls—and retail ownership, including the New York department store Bonwit Teller and the five-and-dime store S. H. Kress & Co.{{citation needed|date = November 2024}}

In 1973, directors of Genesco, who had oveseen W. Maxey Jarmen's subsequent naming of his son (J.F. Jarman's grandson), Franklin M. Jarman, as board chairman, then "quelled a dispute within the family at its top management" and elected the younger Jarman, then 42‐years‐old, to the further position of company CEO, essentially replacing his father.{{cite news |author = Barmash, Isadore |title=Genesca Family Dispute Quelled |date=February 28, 1973 | work=The New York Times | page = 53 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/28/archives/genesco-family-dispute-quelled-franklin-jarman-to-get-added-post-of.html |access-date=2 December 2024 }} By 1977, Genesco would go on to add ownership of Henri Bendel and Flagg Bros. shoe stores,{{cite news |last1=Lauderdale |first1=Vance |title=Ask Vance: Flagg Bros. Shoes |url=https://memphismagazine.com/ask-vance/ask-vance-flagg-bros-shoes/ |access-date=28 October 2024 |work=Memphis magazine |date=10 April 2024 |language=en-us}} to its Jarman's Shoes and Bonwit Teller. On January 2, 1977, the ten sitting directors of Genesco voted unanimously to oust the young Franklin M. Jarman from his positions of president and chief executive officer, retaining him as board chairman, but only with duties and authority as allowed him by the interim CEO, William M. Blackie,Blackie was a 4-decade veteran of Genesco, and was a director emeritus at the time of his elevation. See Barmash, NYT, op. cit. with a committee of the board tasked with identifying a permanent CEO.{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=William H. |title=Jarman Ousted |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1977/01/04/jarman-ousted/43529602-650f-429e-bddb-d376fdb5b85c/ |access-date=28 October 2024 |work=The Washington Post |date=January 3, 1977 | quote = }}{{update after|2024|12|2}}

The company suffered from over-diversification at one point, and the ongoing manufacturing operations in the southern United States continued to depress results for a long period of time.{{citation needed|date = November 2024}} The company was probably saved{{weasel inline|date = November 2024}} by its decision to reposition itself as a retailer.{{citation needed|date = November 2024}}

In February 2002, Genesco Chief Executive Ben Harris, noting that "[s]ales of welted shoes ha[d] fallen as consumers... adopted more casual attire"', said that demand for that product "ha[d] reached a level at which it can be better satisfied from other sources", and—despite previous year company statements "sternly reject[ing]" closure of the Johnston & Murphy, Nashville, Tennessee plantPer its description in the Nashville Post, that plant was "sentimentally viewed as the last vestige of the company’s storied past in American-made, hand-made footwear", see Nashville Post Staff, February 1, 2002, op. cit.—and announced a layoff of 40 workers, and closure of the plant.{{cite web | author = Nashville Post Staff | date=2002-02-01 |title=Genesco Closing Local Shoe Plant, Firing 40 at Headquarters |work=The Nashville Post | url=http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2002/2/1/genesco_closing_local_shoe_plant_firing_40_at_headquarters |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329081056/http://nashvillepost.com/news/2002/2/1/genesco_closing_local_shoe_plant_firing_40_at_headquarters |archive-date=2012-03-29 |access-date=2010-10-07 | quote = }} Hence, Genesco exited the business of U.S.-based shoe manufacturing in 2002, and in that year began contracting with independent, third parties located offshore, to manufacture its branded and licensed footwear.{{Cite web |author = Genesco Staff | date=March 22, 2023 |title=Form 10-K |url=https://www.genesco.com/static-files/0610304c-f467-476b-a1e7-281155053219 |access-date=November 25, 2023 |location = Nashville, TN | publisher=Genesco}}{{primary source inline|date = December 2024}}{{better source needed|date = December 2024}}{{verify source|date = December 2024}}

The following is a list of some brands and retailers{{clarify|date = December 2024}} owned or licensed by Genesco as of 2006:

• Johnston & Murphy – Retailer of better men's and women's footwear, apparel, luggage and leather goods sold in Genesco-owned Johnston & Murphy retail stores, and wholesaler of footwear to department and specialty stores.{{cite web| author = Genesco Staff | date = 2006-12-24 |url = http://www.johnstonmurphy.com/about.aspx| title = About Johnson & Murphy| access-date = 2006-12-24| publisher = Genesco Inc}}{{third-party inline|date = December 2024}}{{third-party inline|date = December 2024}}
• Dockers Footwear – Casual footwear marketed with the Dockers brand licensed from Levi Strauss & Co. and sold at wholesale to department and specialty stores{{cite news | author = Genesco Staff | date=2006-10-28 |title=Genesco Comments on Dockers Footwear License Extension |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-28-2004/0002316000&EDATE= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122021/http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-28-2004/0002316000&EDATE= |archive-date=2007-09-29 |access-date=2006-12-25 |publisher=PRNewswire}}{{third-party inline|date = December 2024}}{{third-party inline|date = December 2024}}
• Journeys – Retailer of footwear for teens and young adults.{{cite web| author = Genesco Staff | date = 2006-12-24 |url = http://journeys.com/| title = Journeys Shoes| access-date = 2006-12-24| publisher = Genesco Inc}}{{third-party inline|date = December 2024}}{{third-party inline|date = December 2024}} The first Journeys retail store was opened at the Rivergate Mall in Nashville, Tennessee by Genesco in December 1986.{{citation needed|date = December 2024}}
• Journeys Kidz – Retailer of footwear for children, where many of the Journeys brands and styles can be found in smaller sizes in the Journeys Kidz stores.{{cite web| author = Genesco Staff | date = 2006-12-25 |url = http://www.journeyskidz.com/index.aspx?source=RANG2006| title = Journeys Kidz| access-date = 2006-12-25| publisher = Genesco Inc}}{{third-party inline|date = December 2024}}{{third-party inline|date = December 2024}}
• Schuh – U.K. retailer of footwear and other branded items, acquired by Genesco in June 2011.{{citation needed|date = December 2024}}
• Little Burgundy – Montreal, Canada-based footwear retailer for trendy teens and young adults, acquired by Genesco in 2015.{{citation needed|date = December 2024}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{official website|http://www.genesco.com/}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928010735/http://www.nashvillepost.com/news?categories=Genesco%20Inc. News stories about Genesco] from NashvillePost.com

{{Finance links

| name = Genesco

| symbol = GCO

| reuters = GCO.N

| bloomberg = GCO:US

| sec_cik = GCO

| yahoo = GCO

| google = GCO

}}

{{Nashville companies}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange

Category:Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee

Category:Retail companies established in 1924

Category:1924 establishments in Tennessee

Category:Footwear retailers of the United States