This week, Rockport launched the “Powering Your Vote” campaign, which aims to provide a comfortable and stylish pair of shoes to those working or heading to the polls on Election Day. For five days, from October 19-23, Rockport is giving away 270 pairs of shoes — one pair to represent each winning electoral vote — in an effort to support active citizenship and encourage voting across the country. Learn more about Rockport’s Powering Your Vote initiative on the brand’s website: https://www.rockport.com/power-your-vote.

‍Weinbrenner Shoe Company, the manufacturer of Thorogood brand footwear, has tapped The Evans Group as its new sales representatives for the Outdoor sales division as of November 1. The Evans Group will oversee sales operations for the Outdoor sales division in all states except Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Southeast New York. All quotes and sales will be coordinated through The Evans Group directly.

‍Foot Solutions, the international foot wellness retailer, strikes a 10-year partnership with the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA). The retailer makes its debut as the association’s official foot wellness provider tomorrow at a Las Vegas tournament.

‍Coresight, which is forecasting 5 percent holiday sales growth for the Oct.-Dec. timeframe to $1.1 trillion, outlines five factors to support its prognosis. Among them: a potential multibillion-dollar switch from services to products as consumers face reduced options for spending; shoppers appear to be trading up to more premium products; and there are tens of billions of dollars in pent-up spending that could flow into retail. Meanwhile, among three “wildcards” that could have hard-to-predict impacts on holiday spending, the research firm cites social-distancing measures in stores that could constrain in-store capacity and brick-and-mortar shopper spending.

‍Global Consumer Spending is forecast to decline 8.6 percent year-over-year in 2020 to $44.3 trillion, according to StockApps.com. But consumer spending is forecast to grow 20 percent to $53.5 billion in 2022. A recent McKinsey & Co. survey found a “significant change” in the shopping mindset with more than 60 percent of consumers globally trying a different brand or another retailer during the crisis for convenience, value or quality. In the U.S. more than 75 percent of consumers have reported trying a new shopping method this year.

‍NPD’s Matt Powell is predicting disappointing Black Friday in-store sales for footwear. He also expects athletic footwear sales will dip in the low single-digits in the fourth quarter, in part due to a lack of new products. But running shoes should outperform the market, he says adding more mainstream styles are better-suited for beginning runners than higher-priced models. Also, the analyst cautions brands to be careful not to oversature the sport lifestyle category that has performed “fairly well” during the pandemic to date.