Sufferfest Appoints President

Sufferfest, the beer brewed by athletes, for athletes, named Chris Strain president, effective immediately. Most recently, Strain served as chief marketing officer for Camelbak, where he oversaw the hydration brand’s product and marketing teams.

Lids Finds New Turnaround Partner In Fanzz

While ending up with a skimpier price than hoped for, Genesco finally found a buyer for Lids to enable the company to re-focus on its footwear platforms. For its part, Lids hopefully found a new major partner, Fanzz-owner Ames Watson Capital, and minor partner, Fanatics, to help further stabilize the struggling business.

Case Study: Burton’s Patience In China Paying Off

In a companion piece to our special report on how U.S. snow sports brands can expand to China, SGB examines how Burton Snowboards established a strong presence in the China market way back in 2003. Now that the Winter Olympics are coming to China in three years, the Vermont-based brand is well-positioned for a booming snow sports marketplace. Here’s how they did it.

Aisle Talk Week Of December 10

Top headlines from the active lifestyle industry you may have missed this week, including Fanatics marking its first licensing agreement with a university, a 10-year deal with the University of Oregon to license, manufacture and sell its sports gear beginning on January 1, 2020.

Genesco Agrees To Sell Lids To Fanzz

Genesco Inc. entered into a definitive agreement on the sale of the Lids Sports Group to FanzzLids Holdings, a holding company controlled and operated by affiliates of Ames Watson Capital, LLC. Ames Watson is the owner of Fanzz, a specialty retailer of officially licensed sports apparel. Fanatics Inc. will make a minority investment in FanzzLids Holding.

Snow Sports Industry Eyes China As Last Untapped Market

As host of the 2022 Winter Olympics, China is developing snow sports infrastructure not only for the Games but also for its citizens to use recreationally. The government said it will create 300 million winter sports participants over the next few years, a number that understandably caught the attention of the U.S. snow sports industry. In this special report, SGB outlines the opportunities that China offers brands and how they should approach this untapped market.

Cherokee Global Brands Narrows Guidance On Revenue Decrease

Cherokee Global Brands on Thursday narrowed its guidance for the fiscal year 2019 after reporting third-quarter revenues declined 25 percent as the company continues to transition from its DTR licenses to new wholesale licensing partners in the United States.

Wall Street Reacts: Under Armour’s Investor Day

Most analysts applauded the progress Under Armour is making instilling greater operational and financial disciplines under its transformation efforts. Some were also encouraged by the innovation on display Wednesday at the company’s Investor Day in Baltimore. But growth concerns, particularly in North America, and overall execution issues in the competitive landscape continued to worry many on Wall Street.

Fanatics Forms Strategic Partnership With Jakprints

Fanatics Inc. and Jakprints Inc. announced a new five-year partnership deal that will allow Jakprints to support the domestic production needs of Fanatics. With this partnership Jakprints also announced the opening of a new 140,000-square-foot facility in Eastlake, OH, which includes a $7 million investment in state-of-the-art equipment and the creation of over 100 new jobs.