Nicoline van Enter, founder of The Footwearists, believes the industry’s push for “faster and faster” is lessening the importance of ideation in the shoe industry. She offered a myriad of opinions at a gathering of nearly 100 footwear designers and line managers in midtown... (Read More)
The longtime industry executive and CEO of the Running Specialty Group dishes on the specialty run marketplace, the Denver company’s acquisition strategy, the future of the Olympia Sports banner in New England, and his hopes for the overall running business in 2020.
Following a strong 2018-19 winter season that saw snow industry retail sales of apparel, footwear and accessories climb 7 percent to $6.3 billion, the NPD Group has uncovered retail optimism for the current 2019-20 season that has already seen cold temps and some snow from coast-to-coast. (Read More)
“One of our key growth strategies is that we are going to bring a lot of our manufacturing in-house by either building and/ or acquiring new facilities. And we've built four plus facilities now since then (IPO)… We've been able to bring a lot more capacity in-house to the point where I think last year it was close to 50% of our manufacturing. And there's still room to go higher than that. We don't have an absolute target…”
The Swoosh, in deference to its growing Direct-to-Consumer business model ($11.8 billion for the FY ended May) and working more closely with its key global partners, including Foot Locker, is abandoning its nearly two-year old partnership with online behemoth Amazon. (Read More)
American Outdoor Brands intends to spin-off its portfolio of 19 outdoor products and accessory brands as a tax-free stock dividend to its shareholders in the second half of 2020. The Springfield, MA company says the purpose of the maneuver is to enable the management teams of each business to focus on specific operational and growth strategies. (Read More)
Spalding is launching a collection of limited-edition basketballs and equipment, including collaborations with SLAP, BAPE, Just Don, Kobe Bryant and Damian Lillard on Nov. 24. (Read More)
Volcom is the official apparel partner of the U.S. Snowboard Team and will outfit Snowboardcross, Slopestyle/Big Air, and Halfpipe team through the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. Athletes will wear the brand at World Cup, World Championship, national events and at official training camps. (Read More)