Accent Group steps up for nurses and tradies with 4 Workers brand

The company behind Vans and Athlete’s Foot is planning new stores and a new range of shoes designed for hard-working Aussies.

Accent is planning a new range of shoes for workers like nurses that spend a lot of time on their feet.

Footwear retailer Accent Group is gearing to expand its retail store footprint by almost 20 per cent this year and launch a new workwear brand orientated towards women as the economy recovers and with an anticipated boom in consumer spending.

In an investor presentation on Thursday, the $1.2bn retailer group’s CEO Daniel Agostinelli outlined plans to open 90 new retail stores by the end of the financial year, bringing the company’s total to 609.

Fifty of the planned stores are already trading.

Three of the planned stores will be dedicated to new workwear brand “4 Workers,” and will be situated in shopping centres with a “store design orientated to appeal to women”.

Accent is the company behind Athletes Foot, Vans and Hype. Picture: Anna Rogers

The company said the first store would open in May and carry workwear catered to “a broad customer base including nurses, chefs, tradies and others who work”.

Accent, which also owns brands including Hype, Vans and Athlete’s Foot, will also dedicate four new stores to Stylerunner, a street and sportswear “start-up” brand.

Accent’s expansion comes after it handed down a record half-year profit of $52.8m in February, driven by a boom in consumer spending.

On Wednesday a UBS survey found a strong uptick in consumer spending expectations and on Thursday Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed that total household wealth lifted by 4.3 per cent in the December quarter – the largest quarterly gain in 11 years – as the housing market roared back to life.

Accent Group CEO Daniel Agostinelli.

CommSec chief economist Craig James said Australians were feeling richer and spending more – but it would not last forever.

“There is cash everywhere,” he said. “Both Aussie families and businesses are enjoying record net worth or wealth. Aussie consumers are spending.

“Aussie businesses need to follow the lead and take advantage of record fiscal and monetary stimulus – it won’t last forever.”

Despite Accent’s significant investment in brick and mortar, the company also told shareholders that online sales continued to boom in the second half of the financial year, after rising 110 per cent to $108.1m in the first half.

Digital general manager Kasie Heathcote said that in the first eight weeks of the second half, online sales were up 65.4 per cent on the comparable period, comprising 17 per cent of all sales.

Shares in Accent Group closed at $2.35, up 1.73 per cent.