Johnston & Murphy
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Johnston & Murphy is an American footwear and clothing company, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The brand was established under its current name in 1882, when Newark businessman William A. Murphy partnered with The James Johnston Johnston (previously The William J. Dudley Shoe Company, founded in 1850 in Newark.) In 1951, the company was bought by Genesco (The General Shoe Corporation,) and the operation moved to its current location in Nashville, Tennessee.
The company opened its first retail store in 1971, in Schaumburg, Illinois. In 1996 it launched a website, and began placing retails locations in airports, train stations, and busy streets, in an effort to reach professional men in the market for high quality dress shoes. In 1998, the flagship store was opened on Madison in New York, and the brand expanded its offerings to include clothing, belts, hosiery, jackets, leather goods, luggage, and a women’s line of shoes and clothing.
As it exists today, the company is split into two entities; retail and wholesale. The retail division has opened more than 160 retail locations globally (most of which are in the United States.) Products are available via the website and catalogs. The wholesale division currently sells to over 2,000 department stores and specialty stores. Together, these divisions make Johnston & Murphy one of the most popular and prominent men’s designer shoe brands on the market.
Johnston & Murphy offers high quality men’s footwear of all kinds, and caters its collection to professional men on the go. They offers dress shoes, sneakers, golf shoes, boots, formal shoes, sandals, and more. While the brand remains predominantly a footwear brand, it also offers a large selection of clothing, in a full range of styles, and for a full range of occasions (formal, sport, casual, business, lounge, etc…) They also sell a full line of footwear accessories (socks, laces, shoe care products, etc) and fashion accessories (belts, scarves, glasses, etc.) The brand also features a lineup of bags, cases, and luggage.
The brand is frequently involved in charitable, philanthropic, and community outreach pursuits. The brand has partnered with Soles4Souls; a Nashville non-profit dedicated to job creation, and to providing shoes to those in need. Recently, Johnston & Murphy has donated over 25,000 masks to the Nashville Community Resource Center, and have provided support and relief for a series of tornados that struck Nashville in 2020.