BROWN SHOE DECLARES REGULAR QUARTERLY DIVIDEND

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, September 14, 2000 -- The Board of Directors of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE: BWS) today declared a quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share, payable October 2, 2000 to shareholders of record on September 25, 2000.

This dividend will be the 311th consecutive quarterly dividend paid by the company.

Brown Shoe Company, Inc. is a $1.6 billion footwear company with worldwide operations. The company operates the Famous Footwear and Naturalizer chains of footwear retail stores and markets leading brands including Naturalizer, LifeStride, NightLife, Naturalsport, Buster Brown, and licensed brands including Dr. Scholl's, Barbie, Digimon, Digital Monsters, Rugrats and baseball-hero Sammy Sosa footwear.

Brown Shoe is headquartered in St. Louis, MO. Its press releases are available by fax through PR Newswire's Company News On-Call fax service at 800-758-5804, extension 109435. Brown Shoe information also is available on the company's web site at http://www.brownshoe.com.