DC Shoes is pushing its store potential. The brand's parent company, the board sports clothing and equipment giant the Quiksilver Group, described DC as a performing asset in its most recent financial statement, validating the company's development strategy of franchise stores in the European market.

The DC store in Lyons which opened last year / Photo: DC Shoes

After opening locations in Lyon, Galway, Ireland, Val Thorens, Toulouse and Moscow in recent months, the brand says it intends to reach 20 stores in Europe before the end of 2012. “Today we have thirteen stores and our policy hasn't changed,” says William Piveteau, European Sales Director for the DC shoes. “We are working with a multi-brand partner who already knows and trusts DC but who also knows his local market inside out.”

The brand will open a 1,000 square foot location in the next few days in downtown Saint-Etienne with Loïc Frere, head of the recently reopened Uptown. DC also has plans to open another 1,000 square feet of retail space in Les Deux Alpes in partnership with Yannick Amevet, owner of the Billabong store in the alpine resort. The brand will stay up in the mountains for the summer, opening up shop in Innsbruck, Austria at the end of August. DC says it is also working on projects for the Spanish, English and German markets.