Weeks into his new role as chief executive officer of Mephisto USA, Logan Bird is already making moves towards building the French footwear brand’s next chapter, from category expansion to collaborations and retail.

Initially hired in 2023 as vice president of omnichannel sales, Bird has led the brand’s digital evolution and helped unify wholesale, retail and direct-to-consumer strategies to deliver a more consistent premium customer experience.

“When I joined the company, my role was a newly created position with the goal of creating a bit more unison between all the channels that coexist within our brand,” Bird told FN in an interview.

“My first task when I joined in 2023 was to rebuild our e-commerce business. We did that. We actually took the business in-house here in the USA and built a team here to do that, which I oversaw. Then we started to take our own spin on the creative visuals to speak to the American audience. For our market, it’s important to maintain our French brand values, but we also have to adapt to what works in the American market.”

The company also took the same approach to product, the executive noted. “The Match sneaker is a unique style just for the U.S. market, but it gets global notoriety,” Bird explained. “In fact, we just did the first global release of the Match through our new collaboration with Kith earlier this month. But as we think about strengthening the brand, we are taking our key franchises like the Match and the Helen cork sandals and amplifying and developing those styles for new audiences.”

And its collaborations, like the recent one with Kith, are essential to Bird’s growth playbook going forward.

“We want to be intentional with the different collaborators, designers, fabric houses we team up – like recent prints we worked on with Liberty of London for our women’s sandal collection – it’s a deliberate effort to try something new,” the newly-minted CEO said. “Working with these collaborators opens the door to different people who may not know the brand or allow others to see the brand in a different light. And this, hopefully, helps reinvigorate who we are to our existing customer, but also introduces us to a whole plethora of new customers.”

And the new customers are coming. According to Bird, Mephisto USA has grown its customer base by nearly 50 percent over the last 18 months. “We’re finding success in bringing new customers into the brand, while maintaining existing customers,” he said. “So, my goal is to reinvigorate our presence and the look and feel of the brand across these different channels but make it cohesive.”

As for what else is working, Bird circled back to the Helen cork sandals for women. The executive noted that the Helen, as well as the brand’s cork sandal category for women, have seen “phenomenal growth” as it continues to expand the offering across multiple silhouettes. “The Helen is always our number one, but we continue to see really great growth on the premium side of women’s cork sandals, where we do higher wedges and a little bit more fashion,” he said.

Turning to men’s dress shoes, Bird sees the category as a priority for Mephisto to focus on developing as the brand continues to see “a bit more demand” for dress collections in recent seasons.

“Historically, we’ve had a strong men’s dress business,” Bird noted. “This continues to be a priority for us to figure out exactly how we play in that space, and we’ve seen a couple items hit and do extremely well. So, we’re trying to build on those franchises of loafers for men’s and women’s, as well as boat shoes for men’s and women’s, where we have a long legacy.”

Looking ahead, Mephisto will be expanding its store presence, Bird said. While many details are still unknown, the executive did confirm that the company will be opening a new NYC location this spring.

“I can only hint to it, because I can’t officially make the announcement, but we do have a very exciting opportunity to expand our own personal retail stores,” Bird added. “Our goal is to maintain our presence, but really strengthen our relationship with key partners that we have in all of the retail channels we operate in.”