Foundation Wellness, the Wadsworth, OH-based manufacturer of insoles and orthotics, recently acquired Doctor Hoy’s Natural Pain Relief, a topical analgesic company focused on safe and natural pain-relieving products. The acquisition adds to Foundation Wellness’s portfolio of brands that also includes PowerStep, Foot Petals and FLAT SOCKS. Sean Williams, CEO of Foundation Wellness stated, “We believe the brand is a great fit in our portfolio along with PowerStep and Foot Petals and will strengthen our ability to empower consumers to lead active and pain-free lives.”

Retailer Tradehome Shoes plans to open its first West Virginia store in March, giving the retailer more than 100 locations nationwide. Featuring brands such as Hey Dude, Birkenstock, Sorel, Pikolinos, Chaco, Dansko, Ecco, HOKA ONE ONE, Brooks, ON Running, and many more, Tradehome Shoes, headquartered in Cottage Grove, MN, is a 100% employee-owned footwear retailer. Established in 1921, Tradehome Shoes has stores in 22 states, employing over 850 team members.

‍Naboso, the AZ-based maker of sensory and recovery products, has hired Brian Roberts as Director of Sales. Roberts brings over 25 years of experience in running specialty, retail ownership and sports sales and marketing, most recently as the National Sales Manager at Altra Running.

Naboso recently launched new Recovery Socks with a patent-pending texture inside the sock to help improve circulation, help speed recovery and reduce foot fatigue.

‍Designer Brands is partnering with Pensole and designer Dr. D’wayne Edwards, president of Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design (PLC) in Detroit. The parent of retailer DSW will invest $2 million in the first Black-owned footwear factory in the U.S., JEMS by Pensole, to produce shoes by PLC graduate students that will be sold exclusively at DSW.

‍Hibbett Sports says it has a “positive” outlook with expected strong sales and profitability, despite a Q4 that fell short of expectations due to ongoing supply chain challenges, inflationary concerns by consumers and lower traffic and transactions due to higher COVID cases. The small-town operator provided an update on final period and 2021 results late last week. HIBB will formally release results for the periods on March 4. Fourth quarter sales rose 1.7 percent to $383.3 million. Comparable store sales dipped 1 percent. For the full year, revenues rose 19 percent to $1.69 billion with comps gaining 17.4 percent. HIBB is currently forecasting flat FY23 sales; a negative low-single digits comp for the 12 months; and new door growth of 30-40 locations.