Aisle Talk Week Of December 14, 2020

The Top National stories and the Latest headlines across the Active Lifestyle Market for the week of December 14, 2020, covered in the SGB Updates and delivered to your inbox every business day.

— December 18, 2020 —

Poshmark Files For IPO
Poshmark, the secondhand e-commerce platform, filed for an initial public offering. Read more

More Than 150 Million Plan To Shop On Super Saturday
More than 150 million U.S. consumers plan to shop on Super Saturday this year, up slightly from 147.8 million in 2019, according to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation. Read more

Burton Adds Board Member
Burton welcomed Selema Masekela to its Board of Directors. Read more

Under Armour Completes Sale Of MyFitnessPal
Under Armour Inc. announced that it has completed the sale of the MyFitnessPal platform to Francisco Partners. Read more

HanesBrands Names President Of Hanes Australasia
HanesBrands announced that Tanya Deans has been named president of Hanes Australasia. Read more

Backcountry Partners With USA Nordic As Official Retailer, Licensed Gear And Apparel Supplier
Backcountry announced today that it will partner with USA Nordic. Backcountry will serve as the official online retail store of licensed USA Nordic apparel and will provide all USA Nordic athletes with official Backcountry attire. Read more

Hillsound Equipment Expands Presence In Western Canada With Addition To Sales Team
Hillsound Equipment has partnered with Pro Line Sports Ltd to further its distribution of products in the Western Canadian markets. Read more

Dick’s SG Partners For Same-Day Delivery
Dick’s Sporting Good and Instacart announced that the companies have partnered to launch same-day delivery from more than 150 stores. Read more

Google Secures EU Approval Of Its $2.1 Billion Acquisition Of Fitbit With Conditions
Google obtained approval from the European Commission to acquire Fitbit Inc., after satisfying concerns about how the advertising giant would make use of health data obtained through the deal. Read more

Winnebago Industries Q1 Sales Climb 35 Percent Winnebago Industries Inc. reported sales grew 34.8 percent in the first quarter ended November 28 and 22.0 percent excluding the acquisition of Newmar. Net earnings more than tripled. Read more

— December 17, 2020 —

NRF Encourages Retail Workforce To Be Included in Early Vaccine Recipient Groups
The National Retail Federation’s President and CEO Matthew Shay issued a statement advocating for the retail workforce to be included among the early recipient groups for the COVID-19 vaccine. Read more

Astral Names New Rep For Texas Region
Astral said Stephen Seaton will represent the footwear brand across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Read more

Dick’s SG To Open Location In Minnetonka
Dick’s Sporting Goods plans to open a two-level, 105,000-square-foot store at Ridgedale Center mall Minnetonka, MN, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Read more

Shoe Carnival Announces New $50 Million Share Repurchase Program
Shoe Carnival, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program for up to $50 million of its outstanding common stock, effective January 1, 2021. Read more

IHRSA Report Shows Decade of Growth For Health Clubs, Gyms And Studios
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) has released its 2020 IHRSA Health Club Consumer Report. This year’s report, sponsored by ClubReady, showed the average annual growth rate for health club members and total users amounted to 2.5 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. Read more

Taxa Outdoors Announces New Headquarters
Taxa Outdoors announced it will open its new 69,356 square-foot headquarters in northwest Houston on December 23, 2020. Read more

FDRA Promotes Thomas Crockett To Vice President
The Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America (FDRA) elevated Thomas Crockett to vice president, government affairs. Read more

Noble Biomaterials Taps Industry Veteran To Lead Marketing Efforts
Noble Biomaterials today announced the expansion of its senior leadership team with the hire of marketing veteran Allon Cohne as its new Chief Marketing Officer. Read more

Amazon Extends Time For Holiday Returns
Amazon announced it was extending the time customers can make returns and expanding the places where those returns can be made. Customers can make returns until January 31 for items shipped between October 1 and December 31. Read more

Logo Brands Strikes Licensing Deal With Major League Baseball
Logo Brands, Inc. has entered into a new licensing agreement with Major League Baseball. The agreement grants Logo Brands rights to manufacture, produce and distribute MLB-branded throws, pillows and coozies to all retail channels. Read more

— December 16, 2020 —

Smith & Wesson Authorizes $50 Million Stock Repurchase Plan
Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $50 million of the company’s common stock. Read more

Markwort Sporting Goods Acquires HQ4 Baseball One Hand Training Bat
Markwort Sporting Goods Company, based in St. Louis, announced its acquisition of the HQ4 Baseball Aluminum 18″ One Hand Training Bat. Read more

Rates Holding But Occupancy Softens As Booking Pace Reverses During November
The surging pandemic and mixed economic indicators are combining to negatively impact mountain resorts throughout the western US, with marginal snowfall at some destinations adding to the mix as tentative gains during October reversed course in November, according to DestiMetrics. Read more

Swiss Brand On Opens Flagship In New York City
On, the Swiss running brand, has opened its first global flagship store in New York City. Read more

Yuba Bicycles Names President and Chief Operating Officer
Yuba Bicycles announced the appointment of Pat Cunnane to President of North American operations and COO of its global business. The position is new for the company. Read more

Wrightenberry Mills, Inc Announces Retirement of Tom Weber
Wrightenberry Mills, Inc. announces the retirement of long-time industry stalwart Tom Weber. Weber has served as director of sales and marketing for the company for the past 23 years. Read more

StockX Raises $275M Series E Funding
StockX announced it has raised $275 million in a Series E funding round that values the live marketplace at $2.8 billion post-money. The new investment will be used to accelerate global expansion, innovation and category diversification for the e-commerce marketplace. Read more

Charles River Apparel Appoints Chief Marketing Officer
Charles River Apparel, based in Sharon, MA, hired Wayne Best as the company’s chief marketing officer. He previously headed marketing for ’47. Read more

RECALL: Cannondale Canvas NEO Bicycles
About 1,270 Cannondale Canvas NEO Bicycles are being recalled. The front fender can detach and cause the front wheel to abruptly stop, posing a fall hazard. Read more

RECALL: Camp Chef Portable Stoves
About 20,600 Camp Chef portable stoves are being recalled. Read more

Retail Sales Decline In November From October
U.S. retail sales dropped a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent in November from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Sales were up by 4.1 percent in November when compared with the same month a year ago. Read more

ORC Study: Retailers Report Rising Cases And Increased Losses From Organized Thefts
Organized retail crime is continuing to grow, with the number of dollars lost topping a key threshold for the fifth year in a row and three-quarters of retail companies that have been victims saying activity is up, according to the 16th annual ORC study released by the National Retail Federation. Read more

Climate Neutral Appoints Head Of Marketing
Climate Neutral welcomed Melissa Leslie to the newly created position as head of marketing. She assumes responsibility for advancing Climate Neutral’s message with brands and consumers. Read more

LaserMax Hires Dunkin Lewis
LaserMax, the division of Velocity Outdoor, announced that Dunkin Lewis has been named the manufacturer’s representative within the U.S. Read more

Kestrel Ballistics Parent Company Acquires Magnetospeed
Nielsen-Kellerman, Inc. announced the acquisition of the assets of MagnetoSpeed, LLC, the manufacturer of shooting accessories for the competition, hunting, recreational and military markets. MagnetoSpeed joins Kestrel Ballistics as part of the Ballistics Division. Read more

Olin Announces Redemption Of Senior Notes
Olin Corporation announced that it has notified bondholders that it intends to redeem all of the $120 million of its outstanding 9.75 percent senior notes due October 15, 2023. Read more

VF Corp.’s Debt Downgraded By S&P On Supreme Acquisition
S&P Global Ratings lowered its issue-level ratings on VF’s unsecured debt due to the debt being taken on from its pending acquisition of  Supreme. Read more

Vail Resorts Debt Ratings Placed On CreditWatch Negative By S&P
S&P Global Ratings has lowered its base-case revenue and EBITDA assumptions for Vail Resorts as it expects consumer concerns related to COVID-19, potential additional restrictions on travel and indoor activities, and limited ski resort capacity to likely impair Vail’s’ revenue in fiscal 2021 (ending July). Additionally, S&P noted that Vail plans to issue $500 million in unrated convertible senior unsecured notes due 2026 to enhance liquidity amid the ongoing pandemic. Read more

Xero Shoes Secures Investment
TZP Group announced a strategic investment and partnership with Feel The World, Inc., dba Xero Shoes. Read more

— December 15, 2020 —

American Outdoor Brands Q2 Sales Soar
American Outdoor Brands Inc. reported sales were $79.1 million in the second quarter ended October 31, an increase of 65.7 percent over net sales of $47.7 million for the comparable quarter last year, driven primarily by increases in both e-commerce and traditional sales channels. Read more

Apex Global Brands Sees 17 Percent Drop In Q3 Revenues
Apex Global Brands, which counts Hi-Tec, Cherokee and Tony Hawk among its lifestyle brands, reported revenues fell 17 percent in the third quarter ended October 31 although it was able to slightly narrow its loss in the period. The company secured an extension on a forbearance agreement from its lenders. Read more

DestiMetrics Data Shows Strong Daily Rates Driving Winter Revenue At Southeast Destinations
Despite the twin challenges of a worsening global pandemic and negative economic indicators, all six winter months are posting rate increases from September through February at participating Southeast resort destinations, according to data released by DestiMetrics. Read more

FDRA Adds Board Members
FDRA has added a new slate of top footwear executives to its board of directors as part of its assumption of, and effort to reinvigorate, the Fashion Footwear Association of New York. Read more

JD Sports Acquires Shoe Palace
JD Sports said it has acquired Shoe Palace for $325 million in a move that will expand its footprint on the West Coast. The U.K.’s largest sneaker chain marked its entry in the U.S. with the acquisition of Finish Line in 2018. Read more

Sports Marketing Surveys Introduces New Dashboard For Participation Data
Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS) plans to offer a new interactive dashboard tool to enhance its 2020 US sports participation data, produced on behalf of the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). Read more

Dan Arment Re-Elected SFIA Chairman
The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) reappointed Dan Arment, president and CEO of Riddell & BRG Sports, as chairman for a second one-year term. Jake Griffith, general manager for Sports, Fitness & Outdoors; Walmart, and April Lane, director and general manager of Sports & Outdoor; Amazon, join SFIA’s board. Read more

Under Armour Sued Over Rush Fabric Claims
Under Armour Inc is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing it of misleading consumers about the purported performance-enhancing features of its Rush apparel line. Read more

Canyon Bicycles Acquired By Belgium Investor
Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) has become the new majority shareholder of Canyon Bicycles, the direct-to-consumer bike brand. Roman Arnold will remain the chairman of the Advisory Board and reinvest a significant part of his proceeds alongside GBL, while significant minority shareholder TSG Consumer Partners will fully exit its stake. Read more

The WSL Suspends Production On The Billabong Pipe Masters
The World Surfing League (WSL) has decided to suspend the Billabong Pipe Masters competition, presented by Hydro Flask, as a result of positive COVID-19 tests within its organization, including WSL CEO Erik Logan. Read more

ARVC Report Forecasts 53,000 Additional Campsites in 2021
The 2020 Industry Trends and Insights Report, released by the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, anticipates more than 53,000 new campsites will be constructed in the next 12 months. Read more

Vail Resorts Announces Commencement Of Convertible Senior Notes Offering
Vail Resorts Inc. announced its intention to offer, subject to market and other conditions, $500 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2026 in a private offering to institutional buyers. Read more

— December 14, 2020 —

Foot Locker Appoints Chief Information Officer
Foot Locker Inc. announced the appointment of Himanshu Parikh as senior vice president, chief information officer. He formerly worked for Michaels and Ross Stores. Read more

Mad Dogg Athletics Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Peloton
Mad Dogg Athletics, the creators of the Spinning indoor cycling platform, has sued Peloton Interactive for patent infringement in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Read more

Line Skis And Full Tilt Boots Hires Brand Director
Line skis and Full Tilt Boots have hired outdoor industry veteran Steven Hartl as its Brand Director. Hartle will be tasked with bringing the brands’ products and messages to market. Read more

Rab Appoints National Sales Manager
Rab announced today that it has named Ryan Krusemark as the company’s first national sales manager as it looks to build on and expand its North American footprint in 2021. Read more

NPD Reports: Backcountry Sales Showing Strength
Backcountry-related equipment sales in the U.S. grew a combined 76 percent in the opening months of this year’s snow season (August through October 2020) compared to the same period last year, according to The NPD Group. Read more

RECALL: Burley Kids Bike Seats
About 780 Dash X FM child bicycle seats from Burley are being recalled. Read more

Adidas Assesses Strategic Alternatives For Reebok
Adidas AG said it has begun a review of whether to sell its underperforming Reebok brand.  Adidas said Monday it will announce a decision on March 10 when it presents its new five-year growth plan. Read more

Nevco Sports Appoints CEO
Nevco Sports LLC, a portfolio company of Dominus Capital, named Jeff Fiorini as president and chief executive officer. He was most recently SVP of global business units at Rawlings. Read more

Christensen Arms Adds Industry Veterans To Sales And Marketing
Christensen Arms hired Stephen Graham as SVP of marketing and David Farrell as director of national sales and key accounts. Read more

Enjoying the magic of Christmas, Bass Pro Shops continues its holiday tradition in a safe and responsible way. Photo courtesy Bass Pro Shops