Business Operations

12 Months Ended

Jan. 30, 2016

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Business Operations- DSW Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries are herein referred to collectively as DSW Inc. or the “Company”. DSW refers to the DSW segment, which includes DSW stores and dsw.com. DSW Class A Common Shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “DSW”. DSW Class B Common Shares are not listed on a stock exchange but are exchangeable for Class A Common Shares at the election of the shareholder.

DSW Inc. has two reportable segments: the DSW segment and the Affiliated Business Group ("ABG") segment. DSW offers a wide assortment of brand name dress, casual and athletic footwear and accessories for women, men and children. As of January 30, 2016, DSW operated a total of 468 stores located in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and dsw.com. During fiscal 2015, 2014 and 2013, DSW opened 40, 37 and 30 new DSW stores, respectively, and during fiscal 2015, closed 3 DSW stores.

DSW separates its merchandise into four primary categories: women's footwear; men's footwear; athletic footwear; and accessories and other (which includes kids' footwear). The following table sets forth the approximate percentages of DSW segment sales attributable to each merchandise category for the fiscal years below:

	Fiscal
Category	2015	2014	2013
Women's footwear	59%	61%	62%
Men's footwear	18%	18%	17%
Athletic footwear	14%	12%	12%
Accessories and Other	9%	9%	9%

DSW Inc., through its ABG segment, also partners with three other retailers to help build and optimize their footwear businesses. As of January 30, 2016, ABG supplied merchandise to 276 Stein Mart stores and Steinmart.com, 102 Gordmans stores and Gordmans.com, and one Frugal Fannie’s store. During fiscal 2015, 2014 and 2013, ABG added 16, 27 and 18 new shoe departments, respectively, and ceased operations in 8, 12 and 6 shoe departments, respectively. Affiliated Business Group segment sales represented 5.7%, 5.8% and 5.8% of total DSW Inc. net sales for fiscal 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

DSW Inc. also has an equity investment in Town Shoes Limited ("Town Shoes"). Town Shoes is the market leader in branded footwear in Canada. As of January 30, 2016, Town Shoes operated 185 locations across Canada, primarily under The Shoe Company, Shoe Warehouse, Town Shoes and DSW banners, as well as an e-commerce site. As of January 30, 2016, there are 13 DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse stores in Canada operated under a licensing agreement. See Note 5 for additional disclosure on the licensing agreement.