The State Of Sports Retail: How Athleisure Keeps Changing The Game

The news for sports retailers over the past year has been varied. From Under Armour’s struggles to maintain relevance and Lululemon’s recent stumble over CEO Laurent Potdevin’s departure to Adidas’ strong challenge to larger brands and the fading appeal of Nike in the U.S. market. Indeed, sportswear as a category is heating up. According to Euromonitor International, the category saw growth of 5% in 2017, driven mainly by athleisure, health and wellness trends, and the casualization of the working dress code. But it’s not all rosy — sports retailers are facing increased competition from online players, unsurprisingly led by Amazon, and the success of some big brands is coming at the expense of smaller local and regional banners. In fact, according to a report emailed to Retail Dive by the NPD Group, sales in physical stores declined this year while online sales of sportswear increased in the high single digits. Read more at Retail Dive.