Table of Contents
Overview
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- What you need to know
- Products covered in this Report
Executive Summary
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- The market
- Increase in sports participation drives the market
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- Figure 1: Participation in sport, July 2016-July 2017
- People are spending on experiences rather than things
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- Figure 2: Household weekly expenditure at current prices, 2009-16
- Companies, brands and innovations
- Brand collaborations increase in popularity
- adidas most highly recommended brand
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- Figure 3: Key metrics for selected brands, October 2017
- The consumer
- Most sportswear bought for everyday use
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- Figure 4: Reason for purchasing sportswear, September 2017
- Trainers are the most popular category
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- Figure 5: Top sportswear categories purchased, September 2017
- Amazon leads the way for top retailers
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- Figure 6: Retailers from where consumers have bought sportswear in-store or online in the last 12 months, September 2017
- In-store cafés are the innovation with widest appeal
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- Figure 7: Innovations consumers are most interested in when visiting a sports fashion retailer, September 2017
- People have little interest in celebrity collaborations
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- Figure 8: Consumer behaviour towards sportswear, September 2017
- What we think
Issues and Insights
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- Interest in experiences helps drive athleisure market
- The facts
- The implications
- Athleisure has gone from a trend to a permanent fixture
- The facts
- The implications
The Market – What You Need to Know
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- Sports participation grows
- More people are spending on experiences
- Wellness and health trend drive athleisure
- Casual dressing impacts sports fashion market
- Rise in number of active women
Market Drivers
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- Sports participation gains momentum
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- Figure 9: Participation in sport, June 2014-July 2017
- Experience economy fuels sportswear growth
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- Figure 10: Household weekly expenditure at current prices, 2009-16
- Wellness and health trend encourage athleisure
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- Figure 11: Kayla Itsines workout e-books, 2017
- Figure 12: Interest in using an online personal training programme, August 2016
- Dressing down is the new normal
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- Figure 13: Sporty styles of clothing are practical for everyday wear, by age and gender, January 2017
- Surge in number of active women
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- Figure 14: Year-on-year % change in number of adults doing at least 30 minutes of exercise weekly, December 2016
- Figure 15: This Girl Can campaign, 2017
- Number of gym memberships increasing
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- Figure 16: Volume of the UK private health and fitness club market, 2012-17
Companies – What You Need to Know
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- Focus on in-store experience
- Patagonia endears customers with reserved approach
- Increase in brand collaborations
- Sainsbury’s gets in on the sportswear action
- Lululemon launches first advertising campaign dedicated to menswear
- adidas catching up with Nike as favoured sportswear brand
- Puma and Nike reach out to the female consumer
Competitive Strategies
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- Lifestyle retailers
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- Figure 17: Lululemon menswear window display, Regent Street, October 2017
- Outdoor specialists
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- Figure 18: Supreme/The North Face collaboration, spring 2017
- Figure 19: Patagonia Black Friday New York Times advert, 2011
- Multi-brand outdoor retailers
- Sports stores
Launch Activity and Innovation
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- Retailers increase in-store sports experiences
- Sweaty Betty new flagship
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- Figure 20: Sweaty Betty studio, 2017
- Lululemon flagship
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- Figure 21: Lululemon Regent Street flagship, 2017
- Department stores become wellness destinations
- Debenhams gyms
- Harrods wellness centre
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- Figure 22: Harrod’s Wellness Clinic, 2017
- Personalisation
- Nike Makers’ Experience
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- Figure 23: Nike Maker’s Experience studio, 2017
- Gucci DIY x Mytheresa.com
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- Figure 24: Gucci DIY x Mytheresa.com, 2017
- adidas Knit for You
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- Figure 25: adidas Knit for You, 2017
- Events
- London’s Fastest Night
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- Figure 26: London’s Fastest Night, August 2017
- Sweaty Betty Live
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- Figure 27: Sweaty Betty Live, September 2017
- Collaborations
- New Balance x J.Crew
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- Figure 28: New Balance x J.Crew 997 Butterscotch limited edition trainers, March 2017
- Puma teams up with ASOS curve
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- Figure 29: Puma for ASOS Curve, 2017
- Chanel x Pharrell x adidas Originals
- Puma x M.A.C cosmetics
- adidas and Parley for the Oceans
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- Figure 30: adidas swim collaboration with Parley, 2017
- Fast fashion sportswear
- Sainsbury’s targets athleisure market
- ASOS own-label sportswear
- High-end sportswear
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- Figure 31: Gucci Pre-Fall 2017 activewear campaign, 2017
- realbuzz opens physical stores
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- Figure 32: Realbuzz Liverpool, 2017
- ArmourBox
Advertising and Marketing Activity
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- Increase in spend on sportswear advertising
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- Figure 33: Total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on sports clothing and footwear, top 15 spenders, 2013-17
- Celebrity campaigns
- Rapper Stormzy fronts adidas and JD Sports campaign
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- Figure 34: Stormzy JD Sports social media campaign, 2017
- Nike’s Force is Female campaign
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- Figure 35: Ruby Rose in Nike’s Force is Female campaign, 2017
- Lululemon launch first campaign for menswear
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- Figure 36: Professional surfer Mark Healey in Lululemon’s ‘Strength to Be’ campaign, September 2017
- Sportswear brands prioritise TV and digital advertising
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- Figure 37: Total above-the-line, online display, and direct mail advertising expenditure on sportswear, by media type, 2016
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
Brand Research
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- What you need to know
- Brand map
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- Figure 38: Attitudes towards and usage of selected brands, October 2017
- Key brand metrics
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- Figure 39: Key metrics for selected brands, October 2017
- Brand attitudes: Puma offers good value for money
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- Figure 40: Attitudes, by brand, October 2017
- Brand personality: Nike still most likely to be perceived as unethical
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- Figure 41: Brand personality – Macro image, October 2017
- Nike is exciting and stylish while adidas is classic and comfortable
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- Figure 42: Brand personality – Micro image, October 2017
- Brand analysis
- adidas has wide appeal
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- Figure 43: User profile of adidas, October 2017
- Nike courts the female consumer
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- Figure 44: User profile of Nike, October 2017
- Figure 45: Nike: What Our Girls Are Made Of, March 2017
- Under Armour popular with wealthier 25-34-year-olds
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- Figure 46: User profile of Under Armour, October 2017
- New Balance taps into more affluent market
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- Figure 47: User profile of New Balance, October 2017
- Puma more popular with men
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- Figure 48: User profile of Puma, October 2017
- Figure 49: Fenty x Puma AW16 collection by Rihanna, 2016
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- Less than a third of consumers buy sportswear for sports use
- Trainers most popular sportswear category
- 16-24-year-olds are keenest sportswear buyers
- Amazon most popular retailer among online shoppers
- Offline remains more popular than online
- In-store cafés have wide appeal
- Consumers lose interest in celebrity collaborations
- Women want to see more inclusive sportswear advertising
Reasons for Purchasing Sportswear
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- Less than a third buy sportswear for sports use
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- Figure 50: Reasons for purchasing sportswear, September 2017
- Men most likely to buy sportswear for everyday use
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- Figure 51: Reasons for purchasing sportswear by gender, September 2017
- Age is a big differentiating factor in reasons for purchase
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- Figure 52: Reasons for purchasing sportswear, by age, September 2017
Sports Clothing and Footwear Categories Purchased
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- Trainers are the most popular sportswear item
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- Figure 53: Top sportswear categories purchased, September 2017
- Trainers almost twice as likely to be bought for casualwear as for sports
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- Figure 54: Items bought for sports use or casualwear, September 2017
- Trainers popular with all age groups
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- Figure 55: Sportswear products bought by age, September 2017
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- Figure 56: Sweaty Betty Zero Gravity run leggings, 2017
- 16-24-year-old’s buy the most sportswear
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- Figure 57: Repertoire of sportswear products bought by demographics, September 2017
Where People Shop for Sportswear
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- Amazon and Sports Direct lead the way
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- Figure 58: Retailers from where consumers have bought sportswear in-store or online in the last 12 months, September 2017
- In-store still more popular than online for all ages
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- Figure 59: Channels used for buying sportswear, by age, September 2017
- Female shoppers are more loyal
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- Figure 60: Number of retailers shopped at for sportswear in the last 12 months, September 2017
Consumer Interest in Innovations
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- In-store cafés’ universal appeal
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- Figure 61: Innovations consumers are most interested in when visiting a sports fashion retailer, September 2017
- Millennials twice as likely to be interested in personalisation
- Fit technology appeals most to better off consumers
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- Figure 62: Asics Motion ID service, 2017
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- Figure 63: Interest in technology to test products for the right fit, September 2017
Consumer Behaviour towards Sportswear
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- People are happy to pay more for quality sportswear
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- Figure 64: Consumer behaviour towards sportswear, September 2017
- Celebrity collaborations begin to lose their shine
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- Figure 65: Victoria Beckham at Reebok HQ, 2017
- Women would like to see more inclusive advertising in sportswear
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- Figure 66: Agreement with statement ‘Sportswear campaigns should feature more models that represent the average person’, by gender and age group, September 2017
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- Figure 67: ‘This Girl Can’ campaign, 2017
- 16-44-year-olds more likely to prefer branded sportswear
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- Figure 68: Sports fashion – CHAID – Tree output, September 2017
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- Figure 69: Sports Fashion – CHAID – Table output, September 2017
- Methodology
Appendix – Data Sources, Abbreviations and Supporting Information
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- Financial definitions
- Abbreviations
- Consumer research methodology
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