Edward Rosenfeld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated: “We are pleased to have delivered sales and earnings results ahead of expectations in the second quarter. These results are attributable to outstanding performance in our retail segment, driven by robust comparable store sales growth of 18.5%, as well as a second consecutive quarter of mid-teens sales growth in our wholesale accessories business. As expected, sales in our wholesale footwear business excluding acquisitions were down, but we continue to see much-improved sell-through at our retail partners compared to 2014. Based on the improvement in the underlying trends in our business, we are confident in our ability to achieve our sales and earnings targets for 2015.”

Steve Madden's net sales for the second quarter increased 9.4% to 323.6 million US dollars compared to 295.7 million US dollars in the same period of 2014. Gross margin was 35.9% as compared to 36.2% in the similar period last year.

Net sales for the wholesale business totaled 266.7 million US dollars in the second quarter compared to 249.8 million US dollars in the second quarter of 2014. Gross margin in the wholesale business decreased to 29.8% compared to 31.3% in last year’s second quarter with declines in both the footwear and accessories segments.

Retail net sales in the second quarter reached 56.9 million US dollars compared to 45.9 million US dollars in the second quarter of the prior year. Same store sales increased 18.5% for the second quarter. Retail gross margin increased to 64.5% in the second quarter of 2015 compared to 62.8% in the second quarter of 2014 as a result of decreased promotional activity.

Operating income totaled 36.8 million US dollars, or 11.4% of net sales, compared with operating income of 40.3 million US dollars, or 13.6% of net sales, in the same period of 2014.

Net income for Steve Madden for the period reached 24.5 million US dollars (0.40 US dollar per diluted share) compared to 28.0 million US dollars (0.44 US dollars per diluted share), in the prior year's second quarter.

During the second quarter, the company opened one full price store and four outlet locations and closed two full price locations. Additionally, stevemadden.ca was launched in Canada. The company ended the quarter with 161 company-operated retail locations, including 117 full price stores, 36 outlets, four Internet stores and four joint venture locations in South Africa.

For fiscal year 2015, the company continues to expect net sales increase of 7% to 9% over net sales in 2014. Diluted EPS for fiscal year 2015 is expected to be in the range of 1.85 US dollars to 1.95 US dollars.