The downward slide for athletic footwear that has progressed since the retail first quarter and slowed further in the second quarter continued into August, although the rate of decline for the month was a clear improvement over the July period.  While retailers and manufacturers have told Sports Executive Weekly that they remain optimistic that back-to-school will end on a positive note, the season certainly did not start out that way.

Based on data compiled by SportScanINFO, Sports Footwear sales for the month through August 26 were down in the mid- to high-single-digits in dollars and down in the high-singles in units. The declines came primarily in the mall, department stores, and the discount/mass channel, while full-line sporting goods, sport specialty, and internet/catalog all posted gains for the month. The trend improved somewhat last week as the decline slowed to under the mid-single-digit neighborhood for the first week of September.

While many analysts have seen these declines as an indicator that performance footwear has slowed, the hard evidence — and anecdotal feedback from retailers — tells a very different story. The SportScanINFO data indicates that Performance Footwear declined in the low-singles, with most of that decline coming from Basketball, which declined in strong double-digits, and Cross-training, which declined in mid- to high-single-digits. Conversely, Running footwear sales were up in the low-teens for the month.

Classics, which usually has its biggest month in August, remained the most difficult category, down more than a third for the month, with all major brands suffering. Perhaps more significant is the fact that better Classics, the over-$60 product which had been insulated from the YTD decline, are now starting to slow at a similar rate as the under-$40 product.

The first two weeks of September are still significant, but after that Classics as a percentage of the total, becomes much less important and should be less of a drag on the overall trend. The category was down in the mid-30’s last week, the first week of the September retail month.

On a positive note, overall average selling prices were up in the mid-singles for Sport Footwear, which could provide some nice sales leverage should the unit decline abate. The increase in average selling price indicates that the promotional tenor has remained muted so far this year.

The Lifestyle Fashion Athletic category (up in the low- to mid-teens) is still showing major growth, but not enough to offset the continuing weak trend in Classics.  The growth trend in LFA has slowed somewhat, as the category begins to lap strong growth from last year.

Skate, which many see as a subset of the LFA business, remained strong (up in the low-teens), but that growth was primarily driven by the children’s segment. Sporting goods retailers and the mall have finally wakened to the Skate category, driving the growth percentage by channel. Still, family footwear leads the way here, representing more than 50% of sales for the category when excluding the core skate specialty channel not covered by the SSI data.

Despite the energy around the LFA category, the overall Casual footwear segment was a tough place to be in August, as the super-category declined in the mid-teens for the month, thanks in large part to Classics. Canvas has been performing poorly of late, declining in the low-teens for the month after mid-singles growth in the first half of the year. Canvas was down just about everywhere measured by SportScanINFO, except the mid-tier department stores. Sandals also declined for the month after strong gains through the first half.

In Performance Footwear, Basketball remained tough, exacerbated by a trend to move more key marquee launches to September. Retailers anticipate September will be strong in Basketball and other key categories, as the best product gets delivered later, launches moved later, and BTS season occurs later, all following consumer preferences.
The Cleated business was helped in August by double-digit gains in Football and Soccer.

The Outdoor shoe season has started off very soft, as the fashion look for men moves away from boots.  The Outdoor/Boots segment was down in mid- to high-singles, due primarily to a mid-30’s decline in the Fashion Casual business. Timberland outdoor was down in the low-teens, but still picked up share in the category, while Nike outdoor was up almost 50% off of a very low base. The Military/Duty category was the only strong performer in the Boots segment in August, driven by gains at sporting goods and family footwear. The Work Boots category was basically flat for the month.


>>> Full-line continues to perform better than other channels due to their focus on performance footwear and the apparel that goes along with it. Looks like that’s where kids shopped so far…