Skiwear collections have become regular occurrences for designers on the luxury end of the spectrum each fall. More drops of technical and fashion-forward ski apparel, including many collaborations, are introduced each year, and past partners tend to reprise their efforts with new designs annually. Examples for 2023 involve a variety of labels: Dior is offering […]
Archive | Sporting goods
E-Bike Partnerships Accelerate
The e-bike market is growing at a fast pace, propelled in large part by consumer and corporate interest in sustainability. Fortune Business Analysis, as reported by Inside EVs, estimates that the global market will increase from $37.47 billion in 2022 to an expected $43.32 billion in 2023, translating to annual growth of 15.61%. By 2030, […]
Up a Creek Without a Padel
Pickleball has been one of the fastest-rising sports—in participation and licensing interest—in the last couple of years. But another up-and-coming racket sport, padel, is emerging in mainstream popularity and seems to have similar potential to pickleball. Padel, played with four people per team, is described as a cross between tennis and squash. It takes place […]
Pickleballing in Style
When we last covered pickleball, in 2019, it was just emerging as a licensing opportunity, with a number of leagues, governing bodies, collegiate teams, and sponsors signing their first licensing and endorsement deals. With pickleball continuing as the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., with average annual increases of 11.5% in participants over the past five […]
Brand New Pairs of Roller Skates
Like many hobbies, participation in roller skating rose during the pandemic—about 12 million people in the U.S. partake in the sport—but in this case the resurgence began even before the lockdowns hit, in the late 2010s. The growth was fueled at least in part by nostalgia for both inline skating and, in particular, the four-wheeled […]
Fashion Labels Go Fishing
Fishing and fashion may seem to be an odd-couple pairing, but collaborations involving streetwear or other apparel labels and functional fishing gear come up more than you might think, including at least two examples this season. All involve companies that are rooted in Japan, where fishing is a popular pastime, or that have strong ties […]
Celebrities Try On Compression Gear
High-performance compression apparel is a relatively narrow, but increasingly mainstream, slice of the health and wellness space that has been the focus of a handful of collaborations and endorsement deals involving athletes and other celebrities over the past eight years. Compression garments made from a variety of materials—including many infused with copper—are purported to help […]
Sporting Goods Get a Workout
Consumers have been boosting their purchases of sporting goods and outdoors products during the pandemic, as they search for ways to exercise safely, look to break up their homebound routines with activities outside, and, in some cases, address their fears in a turbulent time. Total retail sales of sporting goods in June 2020 were up […]
Gun Brand Licensing in a Polarized Landscape
By Karen Raugust on October 28, 2019 in Corporate brands, Licensing, Politics/social movements, Sporting goods
Last week, the U.S. government submitted a court filing that assigned responsibility to Academy Sports, a sporting goods discount chain with more than 250 stores in 16 states, for contributing to a church shooting in Texas in 2017. The retailer had sold the shooter the semi-automatic rifle and high-capacity magazine used in the shooting. The […]
A Pitch for Women’s Soccer Fans
Women’s football/soccer has been in the spotlight this summer after the July 7 conclusion of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019, hosted by France and won by the U.S. team. Heightened global awareness for the women’s sport is increasingly leading to more endorsement opportunities for individual female athletes, more sponsorship revenue for women’s teams, and […]