Jason Short Joins Orva to Grow Footwear Portfolio

Orva, an e-commerce accelerator with an expertise in , is looking to grow.

To get there, Orva brought in Jason Short as senior vice president, general merchandise manager. He has over 30 years of consumer-centric merchandising experience. In his new role, Short will lead Orva’s footwear merchandising strategy.

Most recently, Short led the merchant team at Caleres’ $1.6 billion Famous Footwear division, working on the executive team and partnering with major global brands that include Nike, Adidas, Birkenstock, Skechers, Crocs, New Balance and Under Armour.

Before joining Famous Footwear, Short was at Finish Line for nearly 19 years, starting as sales associate and rising to divisional merchandise manager of footwear that saw store growth from 80 doors to more than 700 locations.

“Orva has established itself as a trusted partner in the e-commerce space, and I’m honored to be joining a team focused on empowering brands and building meaningful, long-term partnerships,” Short said.

“Jason brings over three decades of invaluable merchandising experience to Orva following successful tenures at major retailers including Famous Footwear and Finish Line,” Jeff Espersen, the firm’s executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, said. “We look forward to benefitting from his strong merchant skills and deep industry relationships as we continue to attract the next generation of customers.”

In an interview with Footwear News, Espersen said Short will be charged with invigorating the shoe business. “Footwear is our strength,” he said, adding that “I’ve been looking to bring on another person of Jason’s caliber to really focus on more footwear growing the performance piece of the business too at the same time.”

Espersen said Short is the ideal person for the job. “When you look to hire somebody, it’s how does he fit within the company? And then, how is he perceived in the industry? So those two things are check, check. He’s top notch,” Espersen said, adding that Short has a lot of great relationships, is a true professional and is a good person who will “do the right thing for the business on both sides.”

While Short is working on the core footwear business, he will in time bring on new brands that are looking to grow and partner with Orva’s digital platforms. Orva buys the inventory from many of the major brands — they include Skechers, Under Armour, Crocs, New Balance, Brooks, Merrell, Clarks, to name a few — and works with over 150 partner brands on how the products are distributed on its digital platforms. Orva’s two primary platforms are Amazon’s marketplace and Walmart.