Amer Sports, Inc. saw another great quarter from the Salomon brand in the 2026 second quarter, and the Salomon footwear business, in particular, was said to post outstanding results. Amer Sports CEO James Zheng said on a conference all with analysts that the investments the company is making to grow Salomon brand awareness and the distribution footprint are paying off, driving strong footwear momentum across regions, channels — and for both Sportstyle and Performance products.

For those that still associate the Salomon brand with ski hardgoods, it may be hard to imagine how the brand evolved so well into one of the fastest growing brands in the footwear business. It appears that the brand has found itself at the perfect intersection, or perfect storm if you will, to sustain meteoric growth for the near future. Zheng laid out a few reasons why the brand is seeing such strong momentum.

First, the Amer CEO said that the clobal Sportstyle trend momentum continues. “Sportstyle is critical to developing Salomon’s position as the Modern Outdoor sneaker brand,” he suggested. “The XT-6 and XT-Whisper franchises are resonating with a younger and more diverse audience, from technical sports in the mountains to culture and community in the cities.”

He said JISOO, the global superstar singer and actress will be Salomon’s new global ambassador, confirming that the news had amazing global coverage, reaching nearly a billion consumers across social platforms.

Second, Zheng said the brand’s Performance lines are also working well. “We continue to believe our new GRVL franchise is helping to unlock the run category for Salomon like never before,” the CEO said. “Salomon is gaining traction in the Run Specialty channel in North America and EMEA.”

He also talked about the launch of the Aero Blaze 4 in July, and the recently launched second generation of Genesis, which he called “a highly technical trail shoe.” And he said Salomon athletes were winning races in Q2, including Courtney Dauwalter earning her fourth HardRock-100 title, which he said validated Salomon’s technical merits on the hardest trails.

Third, he acknowledged that Salomon continues to have excellent brand heat in Greater China and Asia, where he said they operate the most productive and profitable sneaker shops in the industry. While other sneaker brands are struggling in China, Zheng said the Greater China region continued to deliver very strong double-digit growth in Q2, driven by strength across Sportstyle, Performance, and Apparel.

“Our local-for-local apparel and accessories line in China, with technical products inspired by outdoor and trail running, has also been gaining traction the past few quarters,” he said. “Beyond China, Salomon is also experiencing surging demand in Korea and Japan — very important markets given their influence on global sneaker culture.”

Fourth, he said the company’s epicenter strategy is working.

“Focusing on key global Metro markets is allowing us to build out Salomon’s reach and presence in the right way,” he continued. “Our Tier-1 global epicenters Paris, London, Shanghai, Beijing (pictured below), Tokyo, New York, and Los Angeles are all driving very strong sales momentum as well as rising brand awareness.”

He said they approached these markets by opening a handful of impactful brand stores in the most relevant locations, alongside hand-picked elevated wholesale doors. In these markets, they also invest in event partnerships, community activations, and local media to build strong and lasting connections with consumers.

“We plan to adopt and expand this approach to several new major cities in the future, including Berlin, Seoul, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston,” he noted.

Fifth, he said the Salomon brand is experiencing strong demand in its home market of Europe, which is driving strong reorders, pre-orders and sell-through.

“Sportstyle continues to be the biggest growth driver, but GRVL is also inflecting in Europe, supported by marketing campaigns, in-store events, and running event activations,” he added. Zheng said they are seeing high e-commerce growth in Europe, even as the company expands its premium DTC (direct-to-consumer) and Wholesale channel footprints.

“Lastly. I’ll mention the U.S, which is the largest single sneaker market in the world, but still a small business for us,” he commented. “We know there is strong demand for Salomon here, but still very limited distribution for consumers to find us. Today, we are seeing a clear acceleration in North America as we leverage the rising brand awareness to expand distribution with both new and existing wholesale partners as well as our own stores and ecomm.”

Salomon in Q2 opened its first North America flagship store on Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District of New York City, offering both footwear and apparel. Zheng said they will continue to carefully expand the brand’s footprint and shelf space in existing wholesale partners, including Nordstrom, JD Sports, and Foot Locker.

Are we convinced yet that this isn’t our father’s Salomon brand?

Second Quarter Summary
The Outdoor Performance segment, which houses the Salomon footwear and apparel business under the Softgoods sub-segment, and the Salomon, Atomic and Armada winter sports hardgoods under the Winter Sports Equipment sub-segment, posted growth of 37 percent year-over-year (y/y) in the 2026 second quarter to reach $569 million, growth that was said to be driven by continued very strong performance in Salomon footwear and apparel.

Winter Sports Equipment
For those that still primarily associate the Salomon brand with powder, Amer Sports CFO Andrew Page offered some perspective on the Winter Sports business despite the second quarter being “by far” the smallest quarter of the year for the company’s Winter Sports Equipment franchises. He said they are encouraged by the positive order book trends and continued market share gain despite challenging weather and market conditions.

“The demand for ski vacations in the mountains remains high and consistent, and the core Alpine ‘en piste’ market is healthy despite inconsistent snow conditions, as most top ski resorts now have excellent snow-making capabilities,” he noted.

Channel Summary
Outdoor Performance segment DTC grew 52 percent y/y in the second quarter, reportedly led by new doors and higher productivity across markets, especially Greater China, APAC and the Americas. The segment’s DTC channel growth easily surpassed the consolidated Amer Sports DTC trends approaching 40 percent for the quarter.

Outdoor Performance achieved a 28 percent y/y omni-comp – which is said to reflect year-over-year revenue growth from owned-retail stores and e-commerce sites that have been open at least 13 months – with strength in both stores and e-commerce.

Page said Salomon’s e-commerce business is continuing to grow across regions, driven by Sportstyle momentum and higher traffic, especially in the Americas and APAC.

Outdoor Performance Wholesale channel revenues reportedly grew 25 percent y/y, driven by strong sell through and reorders for Sportstyle, as well as door count expansion.

Region Summary
Page said the Outdoor Performance growth rate was led by APAC, Greater China, and accelerating growth in the Americas, followed by EMEA.

“The popularity of Salomon footwear continues to inflect globally, and we are doing everything we can to ensure we are well positioned to fully develop this large opportunity in the right way, over time and across markets,” Page expressed.

Greater China Region
In Asia, the CFO said DTC continues to be the critical growth channel for Salomon led by highly productive Salomon shops.

“We opened 13 net new Salomon shops in Greater China this quarter, including both owned stores and partner stores, bringing our total count at quarter-end to 315 doors, with the potential for 400—500 doors over time,” he shared.

He said for full year 2026, the company continues to expect to open 45 net new stores in Greater China.

“We are focused on both expanding AND upgrading the fleet with larger format, more productive doors in the highest traffic shopping centers, and space to incorporate footwear and apparel,” Page noted.

He gave an example where Amer Sports recently upgraded the best-performing Salomon store in China, Shengyang MixC. “The new shop performed very well in its first month, demonstrating that even high productivity doors can benefit from an upgrade,” he said.

APAC Region
In APAC, another region where Salomon is experiencing explosive growth, the company opened net seven new stores in Q2, across Japan, Korea, and Australia.

“Salomon’s overall brand awareness and desirability continues to grow very rapidly across Asia, for both Sportstyle and Performance,” the CFO said.

Americas Region
In the Americas, Page said Salomon Footwear is continuing to see a material growth acceleration.

“The brand is seeing great DTC demand in stores and Ecomm, in both Sportstyle and Performance,” he summarized. “We are pleased to see traffic is up very strongly in Ecomm, which tracks our expanding geographic presence, distribution, and awareness across key cities.”

Salomon has begun to expand into a small number of key Wholesale doors with important U.S. sneaker retailers, such as Nordstrom, Foot Locker and JD Sports. Page said it is still in the early stages, but also said these channels are performing very well in terms of pre-orders, sell-though, and re-orders.

“We will continue to selectively expand with these retailers over the next couple of years,” he assured the call participants.

He said they are also expanding their own retail footprint in North America, again motioning the NYC Flagshipp store. He said that store is the first one in North America to carry a wide range of both footwear and apparel, and “is off to a very strong start.” He said the new Salomon store in the Upper West Side of New York City also continues to perform very well.

“Looking ahead, as we expand our Los Angeles epicenter, we are planning a Beverly Hills location for October,” Page shared.

“We will continue to focus on our epicenter strategy in 2026 and beyond, particularly New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco,” he continued. “We continue to plan to open 7-10 new Salomon shops in the Americas this year.”

EMEA Region
In EMEA, Page said key epicenters Paris and London are seeing “strong growth” even as the company develops other European markets, including a Barcelona shop that opened in July.

Segment Profitability
Outdoor Performance Adjusted operating profit margin expanded 800 basis points y/y to 14.6 percent of segment revenue in Q2, compared to 6.6 percent in Q2 last year. The 2026 period included a 270 basis-point positive impact from net tariff refunds. The CFO said the year-over-year improvement was largely driven by gross margin expansion due to mix shift benefits and SG&A leverage on strong sales.

Outlook
Amer Sports raised its Outdoor Performance sales growth expectations from 22 percent to 24 percent, as previously reported, to a new range of 27 percent to 28 percent for the full year.

Images of Salomon Beijing Flagship Store courtesy Salomon/Amer Sports, Inc.