Kurt Geiger owner Steve Madden is mulling a sale of the business that manages Geiger’s major footwear emporiums in key department stores, according to a report.
Selfridges
Sky News said it has hired advisors at Solomon Partners to explore the sale of the business that manages Harrods’ and Selfridges’ shoe departments, which are among the most visited shoe retail spaces in the UK.
Kurt Geiger used to be owned by Harrods, which sold it to its management team for £46 million in 2005. Steve Madden paid around £259 million for the business last year. Sky hasn’t identified any prospective buyers for the shoe departments.
Kurt Geiger has gone from strength to strength in recent years, partly due to its US expansion and its growing focus on accessories that now make up a massive chunk of its overall turnover.
Steve Madden results releases have included a succession of glowing reports about the Kurt Geiger business. Its most recent results for Q1 showed Kurt Geiger delivering “another strong quarter, with continued momentum across channels”.
The impact of the British business on its American parent can be seen from the fact that Steve Madden said revenue for the wider firm’s wholesale business in the first quarter of 2026 was $443.6 million, a 1% increase year on year, but excluding Kurt Geiger, wholesale revenue declined 8.2%.
Wholesale footwear-specific revenue decreased 5.8%, but fell 12% excluding Kurt Geiger. And wholesale accessories/apparel revenue increased 15.1%, but fell 0.5% excluding Kurt Geiger.
Meanwhile direct-to-consumer revenue in Q1 was $206 million, an 83.8% increase, but excluding Kurt Geiger, it only rose 8%.
