Must-read
Meet the challenger: Maia Active
Anta-backed and rebuilt under new leadership, the Chinese yoga wear brand has restructured its retail model and product line to displace Lululemon.
ANTA Sports: The making of a global multi-brand machine
From a Fujian shoe factory to a global conglomerate: how ANTA built a portfolio that now rivals Nike and adidas, and how it runs it.
Nike’s 2026 World Cup campaign: it starts with Polaroid
Nike deploys a 12-week rolling activation model, launched May 21 with a Polaroid series featuring athletes, artists and cultural figures.
Distribution of branded sporting goods in Europe
Vertical pricing, exclusive distribution, price-adjustment clauses and GPSR compliance: key rulings and obligations reviewed.
Community Over Product is Selling in Seoul Retail
From rotating pop-ups to base camp concepts, Seoul’s retail landscape is transforming how sportswear brands engage digital-first consumers.
Lululemon is opening six new markets in a year
Greece is market three. Romania, Austria, and India still to come: all via franchise.
DICK’S Sporting Goods makes AI the spine of its apps
The rollout of Coach by DICK’S brings together ScoreCard data, GameChanger users and a full Adobe AI stack.
England defender Maguire co-founds AI coaching app Feedz
Feedz uses AI to convert spoken audio into structured player feedback in under a minute, targeting grassroots and academy coaches.
Zalando signs five-year deal with Belgian football
The Berlin-based e-commerce platform becomes a top premium partner for Belgium’s men’s, women’s and youth national teams through end of 2030.
Fanatics Commerce names veteran marketer as CMO
Gersch unifies brand, performance and lifecycle marketing under one role for the DTC fan apparel platform.
Meet the challenger: Maia Active
Anta-backed and rebuilt under new leadership, the Chinese yoga wear brand has restructured its retail model and product line to displace Lululemon.
Arctos to take a stake in NFL’s Browns
Arctos, now part of KKR, has NFL approval to buy into the Cleveland Browns — its third NFL franchise after the Bills and Chargers.
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FitnessBusiness intelligence on the fitness economy: gyms, studios, connected platforms, tech adoption, and trends driving sporting goods demand. Explore Fitness Coverage → |
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Sports ParticipationWhich activities are growing or declining: participation trends, sports and hybrid formats, and behavioral shifts that drive sporting goods demand. Explore Sports Participation → |
Meet the ChallengersTracking challengers shifting market dynamics through product innovation, community growth, and category disruption. From A as Alo to V as Vuori. Explore Challenger Brands → |
World Cup 2026: The business of the beautiful game
Three brands outfit 77 percent of teams. Sponsorship is at record levels. And yet FIFA’s own pricing strategy may be the industry’s biggest risk.
PARTNER CONTENT
ISPO launches Leaders Summit with €3 million investment programme
The ISPO Leaders Summit will open ISPO 2026 on 3 November in Amsterdam, convening a senior audience of C-suite executives, policymakers and industry leaders from across the global sport, outdoor and winter market.
Arctos to take a stake in NFL’s Browns
Arctos, now part of KKR, has NFL approval to buy into the Cleveland Browns — its third NFL franchise after the Bills and Chargers.
HOKA powers Deckers to record $5.47bn in FY2026
Deckers closes fiscal 2026 with record $5.47bn in revenue, driven by HOKA’s 16% growth, and guides for further expansion through 2030.
ANTA Sports: The making of a global multi-brand machine
From a Fujian shoe factory to a global conglomerate: how ANTA built a portfolio that now rivals Nike and adidas, and how it runs it.
Sport 2000 brings outdoor and transformation to board
Sport 2000’s new board leadership brings outdoor expertise and transformation skills that directly mirror its 2025 strategy.
Community Over Product is Selling in Seoul Retail
From rotating pop-ups to base camp concepts, Seoul’s retail landscape is transforming how sportswear brands engage digital-first consumers.
DICK’S Sporting Goods makes AI the spine of its apps
The rollout of Coach by DICK’S brings together ScoreCard data, GameChanger users and a full Adobe AI stack.
Zalando signs five-year deal with Belgian football
The Berlin-based e-commerce platform becomes a top premium partner for Belgium’s men’s, women’s and youth national teams through end of 2030.
Skechers picks Mainhausen for German HQ
The move consolidates showroom and HQ into one facility at Europe’s largest footwear ordering campus.
Lululemon is opening six new markets in a year
Greece is market three. Romania, Austria, and India still to come: all via franchise.
Zalando signs five-year deal with Belgian football
The Berlin-based e-commerce platform becomes a top premium partner for Belgium’s men’s, women’s and youth national teams through end of 2030.
Meet the challenger: Maia Active
Anta-backed and rebuilt under new leadership, the Chinese yoga wear brand has restructured its retail model and product line to displace Lululemon.
Nike’s 2026 World Cup campaign: it starts with Polaroid
Nike deploys a 12-week rolling activation model, launched May 21 with a Polaroid series featuring athletes, artists and cultural figures.
Golf: The 2026 State of Play
The 9-hole round, screen golf and digital apps are rewriting the rulebook on who plays golf and how.
Activewear sells confidence. The data disagrees.
A peer-reviewed study finds no link between activewear engagement and female body confidence, contradicting a core industry marketing claim.
Athletic footwear loses ground in US survey
A new US survey finds athletic spend down 5 percent and athleisure down 8 percent, as durability overtakes performance tech as the key purchase driver.
Beyond the logo: what brands gain from mass participation sports
A 7.8% surge in event participation is reshaping where sporting goods brands can build durable equity – if they look past the finish-line banner.
Fanatics Commerce names veteran marketer as CMO
Gersch unifies brand, performance and lifecycle marketing under one role for the DTC fan apparel platform.
Frasers Group merges brand and people under one exec
Andy Brown has been promoted to chief people and brand officer at the British multibrand retailer.
Oberalp passes the keys to the next generation
A dual leadership transition reshapes Oberalp’s governance for the next phase
Authentic Brands restructures leadership ahead of planned IPO
Authentic Brands Group names a public-market veteran to lead day-to-day operations as it prepares for a potential listing
WFSGI and Commonwealth call for sport in youth mental health policy
A World Health Assembly side event on May 20 brought together Nike, ASICS, WHO advisers and Commonwealth ministers to argue the case
Purpose-led sponsorship gets a new playbook
A UK consultancy unveils a new service to help rights-holders and brands convert social impact into measurable commercial returns.
Ortovox retains Fair Wear Leader status sixth year
An 11-point score jump and a structural shift: social compliance now sits inside procurement, not alongside it.
Sympatex rescued, but the hard question remains
The brand survives, but whether Pidigi can fund the R&D needed to keep Sympatex competitive against Gore-Tex is the deal’s central open question.
DICK’S Sporting Goods makes AI the spine of its apps
The rollout of Coach by DICK’S brings together ScoreCard data, GameChanger users and a full Adobe AI stack.
England defender Maguire co-founds AI coaching app Feedz
Feedz uses AI to convert spoken audio into structured player feedback in under a minute, targeting grassroots and academy coaches.
Golf’s AI rebuild: inside the DPWT–HCLTech deal
Multi-year deal covers full redevelopment of the tour’s website and app, plus marketing activation at six tournaments in five countries.
Polymarket hooks into another football league
Polymarket becomes Italian Serie A’s exclusive US prediction markets partner, with official data supplied via Genius Sports following its Legend acquisition.
Nike may pocket the tariff refund. Consumers want it back.
Footwear giant raised prices by up to $10 to offset $1bn in import costs. Now the tariffs are gone — and so is its commitment to refund shoppers.
Trump tariff refunds: are you in the queue?
$127 billion enters the queue — but not all at once
US Customs race to build IEEPA tariff refund system
Around 330,000 US importers await refunds on $166bn in IEEPA tariffs as CBP builds a new processing system under court supervision.
EU-Mercosur deal in force provisionally May 1
Provisional tariff cuts on footwear and apparel into South America start May 1 – but full ratification is still years away.
Spain to tighten borders to low-value foreign e-commerce
New measures target platforms like Shein and Temu, aligning with EU policy whilst introducing additional scrutiny.
Adidas probes partner data breach
Criminals claim 815,000 rows of data stolen from an Adidas extranet via a martial arts products licensee.
Nike probed in the US for bias against white employees
Federal regulators claim diversity programs discriminated against white employees, challenging past corporate DEI practices.
Nike pays Thai workers after five years
After nearly five years of advocacy, Nike agrees to compensate 3,300 Thai factory workers who were allegedly coerced into unpaid leave during the pandemic.
Intelligence, analysis and advice for the global sporting goods industry.
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