The Buckle Stock

The Buckle, Inc. operates as a retailer of medium to better-priced casual apparel, footwear, and accessories for fashion-conscious young men and women.

As of January 28, 2023, the company operated retail stores in 42 states throughout the United States under the names ‘Buckle’ and ‘Buckle Youth’. The company markets a wide selection of mostly brand name casual apparel, including denims, other casual bottoms, tops, sportswear, outerwear, accessories, and footwear. The company emphasizes personalized attention to its customers and provides customer services, such as free hemming, free gift-packaging, easy layaways, the Buckle private label credit card, and a guest loyalty program. Most stores are located in regional shopping malls and lifestyle centers. The company’s men’s buying team is located in Overland Park, Kansas.

Merchandising

The company's merchandising strategy is designed to create loyalty by offering a wide selection of key brand name and private label merchandise and providing a broad range of value-added services. The company provides a unique specialty apparel store experience with merchandise designed to appeal to the fashion-conscious 15 to 30-year old. The merchandise mix includes denims, casual bottoms, tops, sportswear, outerwear, accessories, and footwear.

Brand name merchandise accounted for approximately 56% of the company’s net sales during fiscal 2022. The remaining balance is consisted of private label merchandise from exclusive brands, including BKE, Buckle Black, Salvage, Red by BKE, Daytrip, Gimmicks, Gilded Intent, FITZ + EDDI, Willow & Root, Outpost Makers, Departwest, Sterling & Stitch, Reclaim, BKE Vintage, Nova Industries, J.B. Holt, Modish Rebel, and Veece. The company offers denims from brands, such as Miss Me, Rock Revival, KanCan, Hidden, Flying Monkey, Levi's, Preme, Smoke Rise, Ariat, Good American, and Wrangler. Other key brands include Hurley, Billabong, Affliction, American Fighter, Sullen, Howitzer, Oakley, Fox, RVCA, 7 Diamonds, Nixon, Free People, Z Supply, Salt Life, White Crow, Brew City, Reef, Stance, Versace Cologne, American Highway, Eight X, Pendelton, Hooey, Goorin Bros., Old Row, Timberland, Teva, Kimes Ranch, SOREL, Hey Dude, Steve Madden, Dolce Vita, SAXX, Ray-Ban, Wanakome, Guess, Fossil, Brixton, Dr. Martens, Very G, Birkenstock, Bed Stu, Palladium, Mia, K-Swiss, Myra, STS, and G-Shock.

The company also incorporates specialized services, such as free hemming, free gift-packaging, layaways, a guest loyalty program, the Buckle private label credit card, personalized stylist services, and a special order system that allows stores to obtain specifically requested merchandise from other company stores or from the company’s online order fulfillment center.

Marketing and Advertising

Buckle partners with key merchandise vendors on joint advertising and promotional opportunities that expand the marketing reach and position Buckle as the first-choice for these specialty branded fashions.

The company also offers programs to build and strengthen its relationship with loyal guests. In October 2020, the company combined its multi-tender loyalty program (Buckle Guest Loyalty) and private label credit card rewards program (B-Rewards) into one, all-inclusive program (Buckle Rewards). The Buckle Rewards incentive program rewards loyal guests and cardholders with real-time rewards after 300 points have been earned. There are three tiers in the program, providing guests with opportunities to earn additional points and exclusive benefits. The base tier is available for all guests who enroll, while the top two tiers are exclusive to holders of a Buckle private label credit card. In addition to the stated benefits, the company also extends other exclusive offers to Buckle Rewards members, such as special bonus points opportunities, targeted mailings, and other exclusive offers. The company provides a special Buckle Premier+ tier for its most loyal cardholders. The Buckle credit card marketing program is partially funded by Comenity Bank, a third-party bank that owns the credit card accounts.

The company supports a corporate web site at www.buckle.com. The company’s web site serves as a portal to enhance, influence, and help its valued guests through their decision journey, reaching a growing online audience. Buckle.com provides an interactive, informative, and brand building environment where guests can shop, discover, learn, engage, and seek information, as well as search for career opportunities and read the company’s latest financial news. The company also maintains an opt-in email database. Targeted email campaigns are deployed informing guests of the latest styles and promotions. Paid-search, organic-search, and affiliate marketing programs are individually managed to increase online and in-store traffic. The company continually invests in enhancements to the site's features and functionality, helping improve the overall digital guest experience and facilitate the growth in online traffic.

Purchasing and Distribution

The company purchases products from manufacturers within the United States, as well as from agents who source goods from foreign manufacturers.

In 2022, Axis Denim (which produces private label denim for the company) accounted for 15.2% of net sales and Rock Revival/Miss Me accounted for 10.7% of the company’s net sales.

Store Locations

The company operates stores in 42 states. The existing stores are in downtown locations, strip centers, lifestyle centers, and shopping malls.

Seasonality

The company's business is seasonal, with the holiday season (from approximately November 15 to December 30) and the back-to-school season (from approximately July 15 to September 1) historically contributing the greatest volume of net sales. For 2022, the holiday and back-to-school seasons accounted for approximately 35% of the company’s fiscal year net sales.

Trademarks

‘BUCKLE’, ‘THE BUCKLE’, ‘BUCKLE BLACK’, ‘BKE’, ‘BKE BOUTIQUE’, ‘BKE SOLE’, ‘DAYTRIP’, ‘RECLAIM’, ‘B BELIEVES’, ‘GIMMICKS’, ‘BKE RED’, ‘BEST BRANDS. FAVORITE JEANS.’, ‘BKE SPORT’, ‘BKE RESERVE’, ‘BUCKLE BELIEVES’, ‘FADE BY BKE’, ‘SOLELY BLACK BY BKE’, ‘FITZ + EDDI’, ‘BUCKLE SELECT’, ‘IN THESE BLUES’, ‘POETIC REBEL’, ‘UNTAMED SOUL’, ‘WILLOW & ROOT’, ‘TWINE & STARK’, ‘INDIE SPIRIT DESIGNS’, ‘BKE CORE’, ‘GILDED INTENT’, ‘#BUCKLEDOUT’, ‘QUINN & COPPER’, ‘LEGACY COLLECTION BY BKE’, ‘SWEET HARMONY BY BUCKLE’, ‘DAYTRIP REFINED’, ‘WHEREVER YOU WANDER BY BUCKLE’, ‘RED BY BKE’, ‘#INTHESEBLUES’, ‘J.B. HOLT’, ‘OUTPOST MAKERS’, ‘DEPARTWEST’, ‘STONE REFINERY’, ‘stylized G’, ‘DEPARTWEST logo’, ‘GREHY’, ‘NOVA INDUSTRIES’, ‘SAY YOU WILL’, ‘BRILL BOUTIQUE’, ‘BUCKLE B’, ‘BUCKLE REWARDS’, ‘BKE ESSENTIALS’ and ‘B’ icon are federally registered trademarks of the company. The company also owns trademarks for certain product designs.

Competition

In the men's merchandise area, the company competes primarily with specialty retailers, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Boot Barn, Express, Gap, Hollister, PacSun, Scheels, and Tilly’s. The men's market also competes with certain department stores, such as Dillards, Macy’s, and Nordstrom.

In the women's merchandise area, the company competes primarily with specialty retailers, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Altar'd State, American Eagle Outfitters, Anthropologie, Boot Barn, Express, Forever 21, Francesca's, Free People, H&M, Hollister, Journey's, Lulus, Madewell, Maurices, PacSun, Revolve, Scheels, Tilly's, Urban Outfitters, Zara, and Zumiez. The women's market also competes with department stores, such as Dillards, Macy’s, and Nordstrom.

History

The Buckle, Inc. was founded in 1948. The company was incorporated in Nebraska in 1948.