Younger consumers have changed the boot industry in recent years by demanding sneaker-like comfort. Now, work brands are adopting more tactics perfected by athletic brands to engage these next generations, using tools like influencer marketing, collaborations, design innovation and more.
“In skilled trades, the baby boomers are starting to age out, and we have this whole influx of younger people coming in. When you look at these customers — not just Gen Z, but millennials — they grew up with sneaker culture and this idea of always looking for the newest, the freshest,” said Kevin Oberle, senior director of global insights and engagement for Keen Utility, which used things like elevated seeding kits and unboxing videos this year to highlight its new work sneakers, the Overton and the Kenton.
Scott Schoessel, chief marketing officer for Wolverine World Wide’s work division, agreed: “Consumers want freshness. They want stories and they want to understand what we’re doing from an innovation standpoint. And while we can’t crank out the innovation on the same frequency as the sneaker brands, they do present a good model for us to study and watch in terms of how are they stretching their brands? How are they talking to their consumers?”
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Collabs at Work
For Wolverine, collaborations have become core to its strategy in recent years, to help expand its audience.
Schoessel said the brand puts out three to four collaborations each year — a number that is kept intentionally low so Wolverine can invest time and money into due diligence, planning and advertising. “We’re willing to stretch and we put dollars behind it,” he said. “We market and story tell aggressively across every channel to drive a little bit of heat behind these things.”
He added that the goal behind each Wolverine collaboration is to either build brand buzz with a new audience — as with its Jarritos collab set to debut on Nov. 19 — or to raise funds for trade school scholarships, such as with its longstanding partnership with the rock band Metallica.
Keen Utility also entered the collab game for the first time this fall. On Oct. 10, the work brand unveiled a limited release with L.A.-based streetwear brand Noon Goons, offering an update to its Cincinnati wedge boot. Oberle said that the partnership originated “on the other side” of Keen, but the Noon Goons team requested to use a Keen Utility boot. From there, Oberle worked with them on the concept for a year.
He added that the goal was to not only build brand awareness but “partner with someone that’ll push us from a creative standpoint into places we haven’t been before.”
Selling Innovation
The quest for newness also extends into the core product lines, where work brands are incorporating new features to enhance the comfort and performance of occupational shoes and boot. The benefits are two-fold: Customers like the fit and feel, and marketers have a compelling story to tell.
“The younger people who were brought up in this age of social media and real-time advertising, there’s definitely an emphasis put on cool features and things that people can lock on to and say, ‘I want to try that, that looks pretty good,’” said Brian Gerrain, vice president and brand general manager of Rocky, a division of Rocky Brands Inc.
Gerrain said Rocky still believes in brand awareness marketing but has also increased its collection-based advertising to draw attention to specific technologies and features. One of its recent success stories came in early 2024, when it launched the Rams Horn 6-inch comp-toe boot — its first equipped with the Boa lacing system.
“We have been absolutely amazed at how it’s taken off,” said Gerrain. “Revenue wise, it’s now my number-one-selling work boot, which is crazy.” What is particularly surprising, he added, is that it retailed for a premium price point of $216, bucking the trend in the market for value-driven pricing. To augment the success, Rocky is introducing more shoes with the Boa system starting in spring 2025.
Influencers on the Job
In terms of how and where work brands are sharing their stories, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) are top focuses. And every brand FN spoke with was leaning into influencer partnerships.
For Rocky’s sister brand, Georgia Boot, it has taken a niche approach, partnering with do-it-yourself (DIY) influencers. “We originally only targeted occupational workers, but a couple of years ago, we started approaching DIY folks on Facebook and Instagram, and we found that the DIY space was performing as good or better than the occupational stuff,” said Jordan Gottke, vice president and brand general manager at Georgia Boot.
He said his digital ad spend is now 50-50 between occupational and DIY, but the brand will expand its DIY presence in the coming year.
Gottke said influencer partnerships are a solution to the high demand for fresh video assets and also offer “genuine” content that appeals to young consumers.
But influencer marketing in the work category does present challenges, according to Oberle at Keen Utility. Because tradespeople need different safety features in their footwear, “you can’t send the same shoe to everyone,” he explained. “We don’t ever want to put somebody in the wrong shoe for their job.”
