Bike

Lifestyle

Outdoor

Skate

Snow

Surf

Real estate

Cars

Home renovations

Strategic footwear executive with extensive global footwear product management and creation experience. Passionate brand builder with a proven track record of building new businesses, driving healthy growth of existing categories, and structuring and empowering teams to profitably meet and exceed goals and targets in a global environment. A hands-on leader with a thorough understanding of the footwear product creation, design, and development process with proven success across all footwear construction types, channels and tiers.

Drove the strategic vision for the global KEEN Lifestyle business and lead the product creation teams to innovate and deliver the best expression of KEEN's product stories and key franchises across all genders. Set strategic global product and consumer direction, established and drove gross margin and financial targets, set category positioning with marketing teams, and established segmentation strategies that align regional product assortments.

• Managed and directed product creation process (product briefs, design, tech pack creation, last and tooling development and prototyping) of the Lifestyle Category, delivering a 5% increase for FY18, 14% for FY19 (forecast), and 35% for FY 20 (forecast).
• Cultivated and implemented a "lead with her" product initiative dedicated to driving new seasonal product introductions targeted at acquiring the active outdoor urban female fan; total women's penetration increased from 57% to 64% of total lifestyle sales.
• Created and executed annual footwear business strategies and product roadmaps that outline the product creation and marketplace management of key styles and franchises that support the financial targets within each regional footwear business.
• Drove seasonal go-to-market plans, including coordination of all category marketing and channel strategies that support global category objectives and initiatives.
• Collaborated with Advanced Concepts and Product Sourcing teams to deliver innovative product solutions that improve costing and production efficiencies driving bottom line profit improvement; Initial Gross Margin increased to 52% for FY19 from 48.1% for FY17.
• Presented season lifestyle collections and go-to-market strategies to merchant and sales teams at all phases of product creation process through Global Sales Meetings.

Senior Director, Business Unit Director

Directed the product development and design process across all adult categories which include men's and women's hike, sandal and lifestyle products. Created and implemented effective systems, processes, and procedures to ensure timeline integrity and product quality objectives.
• Introduced new, more tapered last in Lifestyle and Hike to support modern, lightweight, and more streamlined upper and tooling designs resulting in 2 new key men's Hike programs that drove 8% increase for FY19 (forecast).
• Initiated test program for 3D design and modeling process as part of a new speed to market program resulting in 3-month reduction in the overall development timeline, reduction in total samples, and improved development efficiencies.
• Ensured that all product designs were briefed and executed with innovative solutions, cross-category design and brand connectivity, providing a more cohesive Brand presentation to the retail partners and the fans.
• Analyzed global product placement and set category product allocation within global supply factory base that best matched factory expertise and global duty rates resulting in improved quality and margin.
• Established new development and commercialization timelines, as well as consolidated and localized component vendors, with India factory partners resulting in 60% on time delivery improvement as well as significant reduction in QC issues.
• Worked closely with the Keen Effect team on establishment of socially responsible footwear guidelines and standards at the factory level and established core material and component suppliers that met new sustainability requirements.
• Confirmed all product design and technical aspects from initial prototypes through production resulting in improved sample quality, less samples, and more efficient costing analysis.

Senior Director

Find out detailed information about Chris Kuhr,  in Lake Oswego, OR

Chris Kuhr: in Lake Oswego, OR

Chris Kuhr

KEEN FOOTWEAR

KEEN FOOTWEAR

University of North Carolina