Founded in 1935, the renowned brand Sperry is synonymous with high-quality footwear, clothing and accessories designed for a nautical and outdoor lifestyle. Sperry shares parent company Michigan-based Wolverine Worldwide with such famed brands as Saucony®, Hush Puppies®, Merrell® and Chaco®.
A new generation of global consumers ensure that Sperry stores remain diligent in projecting the brand’s image in a way that is relevant and reaching. Thanks to recent lighting upgrades involving high-performing LED products from Solais, Sperry has updated its image and is more sustainable.
“My team manages the design, construction and maintenance for our fleet of over 300 stores nationwide,” shared Heather Dietrichson, Director of Store Design and Construction for Wolverine Worldwide, who has been with the company since 2010. While many of the stores already incorporated newer LED technology, she said, “We are always looking to implement the latest and greatest in LED advances, so that we can further improve our stores’ aesthetics to ensure the highest-quality and most consistent lighting.”
According to David Foss, Vice President of Specifications for Villa Lighting — a leading St. Louis-based provider of lighting products and design services, and longtime lighting design partner to Wolverine Worldwide — Solais’ Xi24, of the Xi Series LED trackheads, and LR38 and LR30LN, of the LR Series lamps, were used throughout the stores to highlight both the general retail space and shoe displays against walls. “They produced the same or improved light output with better color-rendering properties than the previous manufacturer’s and in a smaller housing, delivering a brighter aesthetic and higher lumen output per fixture,” said Foss.
“Solais’ high-quality, high-performing products and outstanding customer service reflect their brand. They’ve made a huge impact in the national lighting arena,” Foss said. “They’re a great team with great products, and they’re truly doing it right.”
As a result of Solais’ performance, quality and efficiency, “we’re using Solais LED products in our new Sperry-branded stores going forward and plan to incorporate them in all of our new stores and store refreshes in some capacity,” Dietrichson confirmed of the 40 to 80 Solais LED Xi24 fixtures to be used within each store’s 1,100- to 4,000-square-foot space. “Our experience with Solais has been wonderful. We’re thrilled with our upgrades and partnership and are excited to continue down the path with them.”
Photography by Greg Shupe of Shupe Studios