Amer Sports is reporting that its Arc’teryx technical outdoor brand achieved over $2 billion of sales in 2024, and delivered another great result in the fourth quarter of the year, again leading growth for the parent of Arc’teryx, Salomon and Wilson Sports. Company CEO James Zheng told analysts and investors on the company’s Q4 conference call that strong growth at Arc’teryx came across all regions, channels, and categories — especially in footwear and women’s, which grew faster than the brand overall.
“Our differentiated stores continue to be at the heart of Arc’teryx growth strategy and are critical to how we engage with consumers and the community,” shared Zheng.
Arc’teryx opened net eight new retail stores in the 2024 fourth quarter, bringing total net new store openings in 2024 to 33 doors. Key new locations include six openings in China, an “Alpha Flagship” store in Japan, and a new store in Salt Lake City, UT. The Arc’teryx store expansion strategy reportedly includes a mix of different formats ranging from multi-level large-scale “Alpha Flagship” stores to small-format mountain town stores.
“In Q4, we opened a 4-level Alpha store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which is located in the heart of the city with an estimated three-and-a-half million people walking by daily. The store features the full range of Arc’teryx and Veilance, and our first-ever ‘Beta Lounge’ in the country, offering unique concierge services,” Zheng detailed.
The top level of the Tokyo store reportedly has a ReBird Service Center, our platform for repair, trade-in, and up-cycle gear.
“In New York City, our Soho Alpha store continues to exceed expectations since its opening in September,” Zheng continued. “Notably, guests are responding very well to the largest Arc’teryx outerwear offering in the city as well as the store’s unique ReBird service center. ReBird continues to be an important strategy for Arc’teryx, driving strong guest engagement and elevating the in-store experience. Globally in 2024, we opened 11 new ReBird service centers.”
In January, Arc’teryx opened its first European mountain town shop in Chamonix, France.
“Chamonix is one of the largest mountain resorts in the Alps and attracts a range of visitors from all over the world, from mountain enthusiasts to hardcore mountain athletes,” the CEO noted. “This store comes after 13 years of engaging with European mountain athletes at our Alpine academy in Chamonix every summer, which allowed the brand to build significant recognition and appreciation with local and global consumers.”
Category Summary
Footwear continued to be the Arc’teryx brand’s fastest growing category in Q4. Zheng said consumers continue to respond strongly to what the company believes is the best line of technical performance footwear designed for mountains.
“Beyond the breakout success of the Kragg, we are excited that our Sylan running shoe won best-trail-shoe awards from Runner’s World UK and Women’s Running,” he said. “Looking forward, we believe Arc’teryx has an even more exciting pipeline for shoe launches in 2025. We believe that footwear will become a sizeable and profitable growth avenue for Arc’teryx both in own retail and certain brand-relevant wholesale accounts.”
Women’s also reportedly continued to “perform extremely well” in Q4 with double-digit growth across all regions, outpacing men’s and brand growth in total.
“Softer tones, feminine and neutral colors were popular with female customers,” Zheng noted. “Ski and snow products were especially strong with women as we are seeing significantly improving brand awareness & affinity with women in both the U.S. and Europe.”
The CEO also mentioned the changes in the Arc’teryx leadership team, with Nike veteran Matt Bolte joint the brand as chief merchandising officer. WHe said they are also building “an All-Star team” to develop the Veilance brand, which today accounts for 5 percent of Arc’teryx revenues and has significant room for growth.
“This includes our new Veilance GM, Marissa Pardini from Vans and Veilance Creative Director Ben Stubbington, who joins from Lululemon and Theory previously,” Zheng highlighted. “We believe the addition of Marissa and Ben to our Veilance team marks a pivotal moment in our journey to broaden the reach of our unique Veilance offering.”
Zheng also revisited the recent hire of Stefano Saccone to join the Peak Performance brand as president on April 1, coming over from his role as CEO of the Woolrich brand.
Technical Apparel revenues increased 33 percent to $745 million led by Arc’teryx. Growth was fueled by 44 percent DTC expansion, including a 29 percent omni-comp, a great result comparing against a 33 percent omni-comp in the fourth quarter of last year. Arc’teryx DTC momentum continues to be fueled by both new and existing consumers across all regions, channels and product categories.
Technical Apparel Wholesale revenues were roughly flat, driven by timing of shipments compared to prior year. We continue to have strong demand for Arc’teryx from the wholesale channel.
Regionally, Technical Apparel growth was reportedly led by Greater China, followed by Asia Pacific, the Americas and EMEA. All regions grew strong double digits fueled by Arc’teryx’s retail expansion.
Technical Apparel adjusted operating margin expanded 130 basis points to 24.3 percent, driven by higher gross margins from favorable product, channel and regional mix, and supported by savings in freight costs. This was partly offset by SG&A deleverage driven by investments in technology, marketing and operations to support continued DTC expansion, including new store openings.
Outlook
Looking ahead. Amer Sports is estimating growth of approximately 20 percent in Technical Apparel (Arc’teryx, Peak Performance) in 2025, and an Adjusted operating margin of approximately 21 percent for the segment.
Zheng said the company plans to keep a similar store opening pace in 2025 as they company had in 2024, with 25 to 30 net new Arc’teryx stores for the year. This plan reportedly includes a similar level of gross brand store openings as 2024 while closing certain outlets and other sub-optimal locations.
Image courtesy Arc’teryx/Amer Sports
