Earnings Releases

BROWN SHOE REPORTS SECOND QUARTER RESULTS;
EARNINGS PER SHARE, $0.51 VERSUS $0.58 LAST YEAR

ST. LOUIS, MO, August 15, 2000 – Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE: BWS) reported net earnings of $9,198,000 or $0.51 per diluted share for the second fiscal quarter ended July 29, 2000, compared to net earnings of $10,517,000 or $0.58 per diluted share in the second quarter of 1999, a decrease of 12.5 percent.

Consolidated net sales for the second quarter of 2000 were $418,709,000 compared to $410,100,000 in last year's second quarter, an increase of 2.1 percent.

"We were not pleased with our results as consumer spending continued to slacken throughout our industry segment," said Brown Shoe Chairman and CEO Ron Fromm. "Both our retail and wholesale divisions experienced lower-than-projected sales.

"While sales and operating earnings at Famous Footwear and the branded segment of our wholesale division were under plan, our flagship Naturalizer brand continued its comeback," Fromm said. "Naturalizer wholesale sales were up 16.4 percent and same-store sales in our domestic Naturalizer Retail chain increased 4.2 percent for the quarter. This confirms that our turnaround strategy for the brand is succeeding, and should generate much improved operating performance during fiscal 2000.

"The acquisition of the 26-store Mil-Mar chain by Famous Footwear, plus the launching of a strategic alliance between Wal-Mart and our Buster Brown & Co. children's business (announced this month), also afford promising opportunity," he said.

As previously reported, total sales at Famous Footwear, the company's family footwear chain, which increased from 875 to 901 stores with the August Mil-Mar acquisition, rose by $16.6 million or 7.0 percent to $254,072,000 for the quarter, from $237,522,000 for the same 13-week period last year. Operating earnings were $13,482,000, a 3.3 percent decrease compared to year-ago operating earnings of $13,935,000. Same-store sales for the period were down 1.2 percent. While expenses were well under plan, pressure on margins and lower-than-planned sales resulted in the earnings decline.

Famous Footwear has opened 36 stores so far this year -- mostly in high-performance strip malls -- and closed 28 under-performers.

Naturalizer Retail, the company's 485-store chain selling the Naturalizer brand of women's shoes in both the U.S. and Canada, posted a 10.2 percent sales increase for the second quarter: $55,054,000 compared to $49,977,000 for the same period last year. Strong increases in same-store sales in the U.S. stores were largely responsible for doubling operating earnings to $1,711,000 compared to $865,000 a year-ago.

Sales of Naturalizer product by the wholesale division were up by 16.4 percent in the quarter, with an especially strong increase in sales to department stores as consumers responded enthusiastically to the Naturalizer collection of sandals and fashion-right slides.

Operating earnings for the wholesale businesses, which include the Brown Branded, Brown Pagoda and the company's Canadian wholesale operations, decreased to $5,507,000 from $8,778,000 for the prior-year quarter. Sales for the quarter were $109,583,000 versus $120,348,000 last year. This decline in operating earnings reflected less-than-anticipated seasonal reorders of branded wholesale product as the branded business also was hurt by the slow retail environment and sales of Star Wars movie product last year.

While inventories are slightly higher than planned, inventory quality is good. The overall increase reflects 36 additional Famous Footwear stores and 20 additional Naturalizer stores open versus a year ago, and increased inventories per store at Famous Footwear to position the chain for its aggressive back-to-school sales plans.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, Fromm said, "The back-to-school period is key for Famous Footwear, and while we won't have a clear picture of back-to-school until after Labor Day, if current retail-wide trends continue, this would have a negative impact on our third quarter results."

Fromm emphasized that Famous Footwear is aggressively employing its new high-impact "We Are Family" advertising campaign (featuring Sister Sledge's hit song) and has promotions timed for school-starts in each market to strengthen its position as the "go-to footwear store" for the whole family.

During the second quarter of 2000, the company repurchased 153,700 shares of its common stock for $1.9 million as part of its program announced May 4, 2000 under which up to 2 million shares could be repurchased. The company intends to continue to repurchase shares from time to time.


Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation 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 $1.6 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, 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.

(Thousands, except per share)
	Thirteen Weeks Ended		Twenty-six Weeks Ended
	July 29, 2000	July 31,1999	July 29, 2000	July 31,1999
Net Sales	$418,709	$410,100	$ 812,978	$ 806,926
Cost of Goods Sold	251,056	249,025	483,839	488,044
Gross Profit	167,653	161,075	329,139	318,882
Selling and Administrative Expenses	150,392	141,533	298,335	283,182
Interest Expense	4,314	4,392	8,579	9,075
Other (Income)	(771)	(2,628)	(1,433)	(1,333)
Earnings Before Income Taxes	13,718	17,778	23,658	27,958
Income Tax Provision	4,520	7,261	7,912	11,125
Net Earnings	$ 9,198	$ 10,517	$ 15,746	$ 16,833
Basic Net Earnings per Common Share	$ .51	$ .59	$ .88	$ .95
Diluted Net Earnings per Common Share	$ .51	$ .58	$ .87	$ .93
Basic Number of Shares	17,863	17,861	17,891	17,812
Diluted Number of Shares	18,057	18,248	18,058	18,112

Note: Other Income in the thirteen and twenty-six weeks periods ended July 31, 1999, includes $2.3 million of income from the sale of the le coq sportif brand in July 1999. This gain was substantially offset by a tax provision of $2.0 million which included $1.2 million of taxes to allow repatriation of the previously untaxed foreign cash generated from the sale.


(Thousands)

	July 29, 2000	July 31, 1999
ASSETS
Cash and Cash Equivalents	$31,945	$34,642
Receivables, Net	60,832	72,975
Inventories, Net	447,817	412,485
Other Current Assets	22,572	22,085
Total Current Assets	563,166	542,187
Property & Equipment - Net	87,790	84,582
Other Assets	77,119	76,066
	$ 728,075	$ 702,835
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
Notes Payable	$ 14,000	$ 2,000
Trade Accounts Payable	170,303	163,404
Accrued Expenses	85,750	92,472
Income Taxes	6,500	11,897
Current Maturities of Long-Term Debt	10,000	10,000
Total Current Liabilities	286,553	279,773
Long-Term Debt and Capitalized Leases	162,035	172,033
Other Liabilities	19,657	19,175
Shareholders' Equity	259,830	231,854
	$ 728,075	$ 702,835