Brown Group Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (WIRE NEWS), September 17, 1998 -- The Board of Directors of Brown Group, Inc. (NYSE: BG) today declared a quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share, payable October 1, 1998 to shareholders of record on September 28, 1998.

This dividend will be the 303rd consecutive quarterly dividend paid by the company.

The Naturalizer retail division's sales of $13,900,000 in June were up 1.5 percent compared to $13,700,000 last June. Same-store sales were down 1.2 percent. For the first twenty-two weeks of fiscal 1998, Naturalizer stores' sales were up 7.4 percent to $60,900,000 from $56,700,000 and increased 4.8 percent on a same-store basis. These results were announced by Harry E. Rich, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who said:

Brown Group, Inc. is a $1.6 billion footwear company with worldwide operations. The company operates the Famous Footwear, Naturalizer and F. X. LaSalle chains of footwear retail stores and markets leading brands including Naturalizer, Life Stride, NaturalSPORT, le coq sportif athletic footwear, Buster Brown, and licensed brands including Dr. Scholl's, Disney and Star Wars character footwear.

Brown Group, Inc. press releases are available by fax through PR Newswire's Company News On-Call fax service at 800-758-5804, extension 109435. Brown Group, Inc. information also is available on the company's web site at http://www.browngroup.com.

Brown Group, Inc.
8300 Maryland Avenue
Post Office Box 29
St. Louis, Missouri 63166-0029
(314) 854-4000

For more information contact:

Mary Sylvia Siverts
Vice President - Public Affairs
(314) 854-4093

media-inquiries@browngroup.com