Renaissance Capital Alliance, LLC’s Post

A good read on Sportswear makers' outlook and fundamental challenges in 2024 based on the impact of the economy, geopolitical landscape, and the U.S. presidential election. Despite the expected uncertainty, sportswear leaders express optimism and concentrate on areas they can control; most brands address these challenges by fortifying their businesses by opening freestanding stores, expanding internationally, and improving e-commerce sites.  

"The Rise of Sportswear’s Challenger Brands, in Four Charts 📈👟 Nike and Adidas still dwarf the competition in the sportswear category🥇. But a new report shows how their market share is being rapidly eaten away by a collective of newer brands, from On and Hoka to Arc’teryx and Salomon🚀. #SportswearTrends #MarketInsight #ChallengerBrands" by The Business of Fashion about Nike

This summarizes the opportunity that outdoor brands have to span their reach to the fashion conscious consumers: “In this industry, if you can make a credible, functional product that is accepted by the fashion consumer you couldn’t be in a better spot.” As one that spends a fair amount of time challenging the limits of my own outdoor gear, the ability to wear it more often rationalizes the high price point in costs per use.

The latest quarter was a very unsatisfactory one for Columbia Sportswear Company, with all its brands in decline and a big slump in profits. Much of this comes from pressure in the wholesale channel with fewer shipments and orders than last year. This, in turn, reflects something of a slowdown in retail and much greater caution over inventory among retailers. Unfortunately, the outdoor apparel market – which covers a lot of Columbia’s assortment – is going through a period of weakness after growing rapidly during the pandemic and the following years. That said, there is also a sense that some of Columbia’s brands don’t stand out or have as much of a ‘cool factor’ as rivals, and this is probably one of the reasons why it is losing market share. With weak forward guidance, management clearly feels that this softness will persist into 2024. This is one of the reasons why there is a renewed focus on cost cutting. Most of the cuts seem sensible and are about streamlining the business, so should not have a negative impact on sales performance. I shared my views with Just Style (link in comments). #retail #retailnews #sportswear

I enjoyed the read Daniel-Yaw Miller! Especially appreciate the market data & mentions of ANTA Sports Products Ltd / ADR, Li Ning Sports Technology Development (HK) Co Ltd, & ENDA. As a Designer & Consultant of both legacy brands (Nike, PUMA Group, Reebok, New Balance) & challenger brands (HOKA, Tracksmith, Janji, Cotopaxi, Moolah Kicks), I worry that the pressure for challengers to expand rapidly beyond the specialized performance POV that put them on the map could be their downfall. Legacy brands have had decades to grow beyond their core into multi-category, multi-channel offerings that evolved from genuine demand. For example, On proliferated thanks to its strong visual language & innovative POV in Running. Like most challengers in the Running space, there is a natural expansion into Race, Road, Trail, (easy push into Hike), & Recovery (an authentic translation of 'Lifestyle'). With a recent high-profile push into Tennis, Training / Gym, Travel, & Lifestyle that reads more like a generic take on old Nike Tech Fleece... Will they over-leverage themselves in inventory, marketing & athlete deals? I see the trend across many challenger brands with rapid category expansion, unoriginal designs & exorbitant campaigns.

Sportswear's biggest names are losing market share. This has been the case for several years now. But over the past three years, the rate at which smaller rivals (like On and HOKA) are collectively converting once-loyal consumers of Nike, Adidas and Puma in almost every category has dramatically accelerated. I crunched the numbers in my latest story for The Business of Fashion. https://lnkd.in/ekWpjzNu

This month Drapers exclusively revealed that Frasers Group acquired five-store premium menswear independent JOHN ANTHONY for an undisclosed sum. Here, Drapers looks back at how Frasers Group continues its land grab in the premium branded market, and considers what it means for competitors, customers and brands. Read more here. #FrasersGroup #independent #retailnews #fashionnews

Excited to share the latest updates on Blauer USA and its global expansion! The Italian sportswear brand of US origins, founded in 1938 is gearing up for significantly growth in Asia and other key markets. #BlauerUSA #Febos #BlauerFootwear&Accessories #Expansion #FashionNews - #BlauerUSA - #FGFIndustry - #Febos - #FebosFootwear&Accessories specialist. - #BlauerFootwear - #BlauerAccessories - #Expansion - #FashionNews - #GlobalGrowth - #ItalianFashion - #AsianMarket - #RetailExpansion - #BrandStrategy - #FashionIndustry

Adidas are hedging their bets on the sale of their retro shoe collection to compensate for lost revenue from the Yeezy sub-brand. The retro collection included Sambas (which were first introduced in 1949), Gazelles (which were released in the 1960s) and Spezials (that came out in the late 70s). This move by Adidas is fueled by growing consumer shifts notably among the GenZ towards retro fashion. It was recorded that Yeezy generated $1.2 billion in 2022 sales before Adidas severed ties with Kanye West (Ye) in October that year. Will this go in history that historic products can rev up a company's bottomline in a modern era! Only time will tell. https://lnkd.in/dHXNZZUz #fashion #adidas #genzers

he established sports apparel brands (Nike, PUMA Group and adidas) are watching closely the surge of a bunch on new hot brands that are competing aggressively for the same market. 👟On 🔸The most recent brand of the new "kids on the block." Founded only 13 years ago (2010) in Zurich, Switzerland (and yes, the Swiss make superb chocolate, luxury watches, and now fantastic running shoes).   🔸ON’s key differentiator, besides great design, is a patented cushioning technology called CloudTec. 🔸It is the fastest growing company in the space. Revenue went from "only" $276 million in 2019 to $1321 million in 2022. 🔸ON is also the company with the highest gross margin (56%) of its peers. Nike, for example has a 44% gross margin. 👟HOKA 🔹The brand was founded in 2009 in Annecy, France. 🔹It was acquired by the american group Deckers in 2012 for under $15 million (corrected from $1m) when the company was allegedly generating a revenue of $3 million. Not a bad deal considering that in 2022 Hoka generated $1400 million in revenue and grew 58% over the previous year. 🔹Deckers Brands is a group that also owns the brands UGG, #Teva and @Sanuk. 🔹UGG, which generates 55% of Decker’s total revenue, only grew 3% in 2023. 🔹Hoka is now the growth machine of the group and has a 39% share of Decker's total revenue. 👟lululemon 🔸The company was founded in Canada in 1998 as a retailer of #yoga apparel, but has expanded to athletic, fitness and lifestyle apparel. 🔸At the end of 2022 Lululemon operated 655 stores in 18 countries (Top Countries: 350 stores in the US and 117 in China). 🔸Big success in #ecommerce: 45% of the revenue is generated by the stores versus 46% of the revenue by ecommerce. 🔸Ten years ago, in 2012, the company's revenue was only $1.3 billion. Ten years later (2022) it grew almost 6X and hit the $8B mark. The company doubled its size in the past 3 years form $4B to $8B. 🔸Lulalemon’s market cap ($52B) is currently above Addidas ($32B), almost 6 times Puma’s ($9B), but only a third of Nike’s ($150B) 👟Under Armour 🔹The company was founded in Baltimore in 1996 🔹It went public on the Nasdaq in 2005 🔹The company grew very rapidly in the decade that went from 2008 to 2017, going from $700 million in revenue to $5B. In the past 5 years it has experienced very slow growth, growing “only” $1B in revenue in the period (20% growth)   🤔The big ❓ mark On and HOKA are up-and-coming, fast growing, super fashionable sport apparel brands. Will they be the new Lululemon or the new Under Armour? 🤔The other big ❓ mark