Brown Shoe Declares Quarterly Dividend

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, March 7, 2002 -- The Board of Directors of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE: BWS) today declared a quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share, payable April 1, 2002 to shareholders of record on March 18, 2002.

This dividend will be the 317th consecutive quarterly dividend paid by the company.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These include general economic conditions, competition, consumer apparel and footwear buying trends, and political and economic conditions in Brazil and China, which are significant footwear sourcing countries. The company's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission contain detailed information relating to such factors.

Brown Shoe is a $1.76 billion footwear company with worldwide operations. The company operates the 900+ store Famous Footwear and 400+ store Naturalizer chains of footwear retail stores. It owns leading brands including Naturalizer, LifeStride, Connie, Buster Brown, and markets licensed brands including Dr. Scholl's and Carlos by Carlos Santana for adults, and Barbie, Star Wars, Spider-Man and Bob-the-Builder character footwear for children.

Brown Shoe press releases are available on the company's web site at www.brownshoe.com.