Amer Sports Struggles with North American Market

Although apparel and especially footwear performed well, weakness in most other categories and particularly in North America led to a widened loss for Amer Sports in the second quarter. Citing the tough economic climate and lower-than-expected level of pr

Gander Mtn. Welcomes Back Catalogs/E-Commerce

Gander Mountain, which was previously prevented by Cabelas from operating a website or employing direct marketing operations, has launched its first e-commerce site and announced a catalog to be mailed in coming weeks…

Hybrids, Drivers Drive Q2 Growth for Adams

Adams Golf reported a 9% increase in net sales for the second quarter, largely due to a low to mid double-digit increase in driver and hybrid sales and a low-single-digit increase in sales of irons…

ITC Reaffirms Ruling Against Crocs

Crocs fell short yet again in its ongoing struggle to prevent other companies from importing footwear similar to its own foam designs. In another noteworthy setback for the firm, the U.S. International Trade Commission has reaffirmed an April ruling verif

Heelys Sales Continue to Plunge in Q2

Heely’s, Inc. 2008 sales continued their downfall for the second fiscal quarter as net sales plummeted more than 400% as compared to the same period last year. Gross margins, down 12% from the second quarter of 2007, were significantly impacted by “aggres

Softgoods Drive Mid-Teens Q1 Sales Growth for ASICS

ASICS Corp. reported that net sales increased 14.9% to ¥65.32 billion ($625.8 mm) for the first quarter ended June 30, up from ¥56.84 billion ($471.2 mm) a year earlier. Net income jumped 22.6% to ¥7.57 billion ($72.6 mm) from ¥6.18 billion ($51.2 mm) las

SGMA Gauges Interest in Swimming, Basketball

In light of the 2008 Beijing Games, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) has conducted and released studies gauging American interest of and participation in two of the country’s most popular activities-swimming and basketball…

Crocs Lays Off 75

Crocs Inc. laid off 75 U.S. operations employees on Thursday, a move that Crocs spokeswoman Tia Matteson said was a “larger part of our efforts to reduce overall spending,” according to Boulder’s Daily Camera….

DSW Comps Down 6.9%

DSW Inc. reported net sales for the quarter ended August 2, 2008 increased 2.4% to $357.2 million compared with $348.7 million for the quarter ended August 4, 2007. Same store sales decreased 6.9% for the comparable period versus an increase of 5.9% last

Neiman-Marcus Sees July Comps Slip 1.7%

Neiman Marcus, Inc. reported comparable store sales for July decreased 1.7% to $265 million. Overall net sales slipped 0.3% for the month ot $268 million from $269 million last year…

Nordstrom’s Comps Drop 6.1% in July

Nordstrom, Inc. reported sales during July declined 6.7% to $840 million from $901 million a year ago.. Same-store sales decreased 6.1%. Preliminary second quarter sales of $2.29 billion decreased 4.3% compared to sales of $2.39 billion during the same pe

Target’s July Comps Rise 1.2%

Target Corporation reported that its net retail sales for the four weeks ended August 2, increased 4.7% to $4.56 billion from $4.36 billion. On this same basis, July comparable store sales declined 1.2%…

J.C. Penney’s Comps Drop 6.5%

J.C. Penney reported comparable store sales decreased 6.5% for July, compared with the company’s guidance for sales to decrease mid-single digits. In last year’s July period, comparable store sales increased 12%, largely driven by a calendar shift that mo

Finish Line Extends Sole Destination

The Finish Line, Inc. announced that it will extend its partnership with Soles4Souls, the international charity dedicated to providing free footwear to those in need, and will continue the national shoe trade-in program, “Sole Destination,” at all 697 Fin

Dorel’s Bike Business Jumps on Cannondale Acquisition

Dorel Industries Inc. reported that company-wide net revenues rose 29.3% to $593.7 million from $459.0 million for the same period a year ago. Net income for the second quarter ended June 30 was $31.3 million or 94 cents per diluted share compared to $10.