Behind Chaco’s 2025 marketing playbook, from collaborations to contests
Sandals brand Chaco is stepping up its marketing strategy, in regard to partnerships and products, as it looks to compete in the crowded outdoors space.
In the past three months alone, Chaco has rolled out a number of buzzy collaborations that have brought in significant revenue and social engagement, its marketing executives told Modern Retail. In May, Chaco debuted a mermaid-inspired sandal in collaboration with the tinned fish brand Fishwife. Then, in June, it launched a “Live One Love” sandal with Bob Marley’s family. And, in July, it paired up with Waffle House on a breakfast-inspired sandal that launched at midnight and was so popular, it sold out in 24 hours.
The brand is eager to collaborate with properties with a “cultishly-adored following,” said Rose Fulbright, Chaco’s marketing director. But, as Fulbright and Kelsey Dunneback, Chaco’s marketing manager, pointed out, that’s just one example of how Chaco has tried to keep pace with its customers’ interests. Chaco is increasingly sharing user-generated content, commissioning campaign imagery from fans, and crowd-sourcing strap colors and patterns for its ReChaco program, which customers can use to personalize their sandals. The brand is also staying up to date on pop culture moments; last week, it debuted a limited-edition orange sparkle strap in a nod to Taylor Swift’s upcoming album.
All the while, Chaco is looking to stay afloat in a footwear industry grappling with tariffs and larger macroeconomic uncertainty. Chaco’s parent company, Wolverine Worldwide, has been working to reduce its reliance on China, going from sourcing nearly 40% of its U.S. products from China six years ago, to “near zero” in 2026. Wolverine Worldwide is also in the midst of a turnaround strategy to reduce inventory and clean up its balance sheet. The strategy appears to be working; in August, the company reported an 11.5% year-over-year hike in quarterly revenue — the “strongest revenue growth we’ve seen in several years,” CEO Christopher Hufnagel said. This was, in part, due to sales at Saucony and Merrell and strong wholesale performance, he said; Wolverine Worldwide does not break out revenue for Chaco.
As it retools for the future, Chaco is continuing to tap into people’s growing interest in activities like hiking and running, carried over from the pandemic. “Consumers are getting out into the world more,” Fulbright said. “They’re looking to disconnect from their phones. There’s definitely a big opportunity there for Chaco, and we are trying to focus on making sure that whatever we do is intentional and impactful.”
Fulbright and Dunneback spoke with Modern Retail about how Chaco is approaching marketing and community today, including sending a cheeky “You up?” text to market its Waffle House collaboration. The following excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.
Chaco’s collaboration playbook
Fulbright: “We look for brands that have a similar type of engagement on social media and a cult following, where people want to be proud to wear that brand. It creates this collectible item. And brands that align with our values are super important to us. But we’re not only doing kitschy food [collaborations]. We are talking to some adjacent outdoor brands that are doing really cool things in their space, and then some apparel fashion brands and some beverage brands. Attacking different spaces with different KPIs has been a really big learning for us.”
Dunneback: “I would also add that we’re looking at our consumer, and they like the outdoors, but they’re also a whole person. So, what else aligns with their lifestyle? Are they interested in tinned fish or ‘sardine summer ‘? We’re trying to look at their whole lifestyle and figure out: Where can we show up in ways that feel surprising, but also align with who they already are?”
The making of the Waffle House campaign
Fulbright: “We talked a lot about the concept being ‘open-toed 24/7.’ You can go to a Waffle House in the middle of the night, after you’ve been out with friends, or you can go before a hike, or you can go the day after. The team wanted to lean into that 24/7 idea.
So, the product launched on our site at midnight. We sent a “You up?” text and then also an email. We posted [the product] on social, and it just blew up. Taylor [Sterenberg], who leads our social, was up until all hours of the morning, responding to comments and questions. We were kind of like, ‘OK, are people really going to be here with us at midnight?’ But it was so cool to see that people were adding to the cart and sharing. … And we did the bulk of our sales at midnight.
[With that campaign,] we definitely brought in a lot of new people. And actually, some of the people who were commenting on our [social] post had participated in consumer research for us in the past. So, people were coming out of the woodwork and interacting with Chaco, and that was exciting.”
A more grassroots marketing approach
Dunneback: “Social is one of our main channels that we utilize to bring things to life. Our consumer is so digitally connected and so digitally online. We’re finding pockets of ways to test things in Instagram or in TikTok. And we try to test different types of content, so we’re trying to lean into more informal, funny, quirky content, or behind-the-scenes content, or interviews with teams, or polling consumers. It’s a really great way to feel connected with that community, versus us just speaking at people.”
Fulbright: “We’re also thinking about content differently than we have in the past. Our consumers are doing cool things in Chacos already. And so, rather than us trying to manufacture that [in a shoot] with talent and wardrobe and makeup, it feels so much more authentic to go to them and let them be the face of the brand and let them tell us their stories. For example, the Waffle House creative was shot by a photographer named Rachel Weber. She’s a college student in Tennessee, and we found her because we were looking at photos that Waffle House was tagged in. We connected with her, … and she authentically loves Chaco, and she authentically loves Waffle House.
There’s a formula we’re working to unlock that shows authentic Chaco people doing authentic Chaco things. Obviously, jumping off a cliff into a river is amazing and aspirational. But what about when you first come out of your tent and your hair is messed up and your friend gives you a cup of coffee? We’re interested in those in-between, imperfect moments that have an emotional tie for consumers.”
Crafting new products through ReChaco
Fulbright: “We’ve been able to unlock a formula between our super-engaged consumer on social and the fact that across the street [from our office] is our ReChaco facility [in Rockford, Michigan]. They repair sandals, so you can send your 20-year-old sandals back, and they’ll resole them for you. But we also have custom [services] over there, so you can put your face on a pair of Chacos.
We’re able to test pulling those two levers. So, leopard was trending, and we had a leopard print that we put on some straps. We made 250 [units] across the street, and we sold out in two days. … We had [another] post that said, ‘Here are a bunch of strap designs in our archive that we’ve never shared. Which ones do you like?’ The reality is, if everybody was like, ‘The banana straps,’ we could make them tomorrow. I think that’s a really important formula for the Chaco brand. … To be able to directly put the voice of the consumer into the ear of the manufacturing is really powerful.
This fall, we’re also doing a ‘design the next strap’ contest. We’ll narrow it down to the five potential winners, and then we’ll let ‘Chaco nation’ vote on which one they want to do. Other brands do that, but what’s unique to us is that we’re going to have the product on site within the next 10 days or so. And obviously, if it does well, we’ll consider continuing it going forward.”