Amer Sports Inc. CEO James Zheng reported on a Tuesday morning conference call with analysts that the company’s Outdoor Performance segment was led by another “outstanding quarter” from Salomon Softgoods. In the end, it was all about footwear – even in the North America region – and the expansion of own retail stores across the globe, with 45 net new stores expected in China this year.

Salomon Softgoods are expected to finish the year representing 75 percent of the Outdoor Performance segment, uo from 54 percent in 2022.

“The investments we are making to grow Salomon brand awareness and the distribution footprint are paying off, as Salomon footwear momentum is expanding across regions, channels — and in both Sportstyle and Performance,” Zheng noted. “We are also excited to share that 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.”

He said they also saw “solid performance” from other segment’s Winter Sports Equipment (WSE) franchises, which he said continue taking share despite challenging market conditions. In addition to Salomon, the WSE sub-segment includes the Atomic and Armada winter sports brands. While the market for cross country and touring remains pressured compared to the COVID highs, the core Alpine “en piste” market was said to have remained healthy despite low snow in certain regions (e.g. U.S. western mountain states).

The Outdoor Performance Segment saw revenues increase 42 percent year-over-year (y/y) to $714 million in Q1, driven by “very strong” performance in Salomon footwear, apparel, and bags and socks.

Channel Summary
The DTC (direct-to-consumer) channel in the Outdoor Performance segment grew 57 percent y/y, reportedly led by the addition of new doors and higher productivity across markets, especially Greater China, APAC and the Americas.

Segment omni-comp came in at 29 percent, with strength in both stores and e-commerce. E-commerce is reportedly still growing across regions driven by higher traffic, especially in the Americas and APAC. Omni-comp reflects year-over-year revenue growth from owned retail stores and e-commerce sites that have been open at least 13 months.

For full year 2026, Amer now expects to open 45 net new stores in Greater China, a slight increase from the 35 the company communicated last quarter. Company CEO Andrew Page said this was made possible as more high quality locations became available to Amer and its partners.

“Keep in mind, although our net new store openings are slower than the nearly 100 new doors the last couple years, we are focused on upgrading the fleet by opening larger format, highly productive doors in the highest traffic shopping centers, with more space to incorporate apparel and accessories. This is a very similar playbook to what we followed for Arc’teryx the last few years in Greater China,” Page summarized.

The Wholesale channel in the segment grew 34 percent y/y, driven by strong sell through and reorders in the Softgoods sub-segment.

Region Summary
Regionally, the Outdoor Performance growth rate reportedly accelerated across all geographies, led by Greater China and APAC, followed by the Americas and EMEA.

“In Asia, DTC continues to be the critical growth channel for Salomon led by our highly productive Salomon shops,” offered company CFO Andrew Page. “We opened nine net new Salomon shops in Greater China this quarter, including both owned stores and partner stores, bringing our total count at quarter end to 302 doors.”

He said a great example of this is the new Salomon Flagship that recently opened in Beijing’s highest footfall shopping center, Chaoyang Hopson One, known for its premium, trend-driven retail. “With over 8,000 square feet, the new flagship offers a full range of footwear and apparel, and a highly elevated consumer experience,” Page noted.

In APAC, another region where Salomon said it is experiencing “explosive” growth, Page said the brand opened five net new Salomon stores in the first quarter. “These were all in Japan and Korea, both very large and sophisticated sneaker markets,” he detailed.

“Salomon’s overall brand awareness and desirability continues to grow very rapidly across Asia,” Page said.

In the Americas, Salomon footwear is reportedly seeing a “material growth acceleration” and seeing great DTC demand in both stores and e-commerce. Page added that they are also beginning to expand U.S. Wholesale in “a more meaningful way.”

Page added that in addition to seeing improving sell through and expanding shelf space within existing Wholesale partners, such as Nordstrom and REI, the brand is also now starting to move Salomon footwear into key doors with new U.S. retailers, including Foot Locker and JD Sports.

“There is growing demand for Salomon sneakers in the U.S., and we are strategically sequencing our U.S. wholesale rollout to align with our epicenter market strategy,” Page said. Still, he cautioned that the planned expansion into new Wholesale accounts will initially be comprised of just a small number of doors.

Page said Salomon is seeing “very strong” North America order books for Fall/Winter 2026 with growing demand across a variety of high quality existing and new retail partners. He added that they have improved their inventory position to respond to the growing demand.

Turning to DTC in North America, Salomon is further strengthening its presence in New York City, and just recently opened a Salomon brand store in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company also plans to open a Salomon store in the Flatiron district of New York.

“We also opened our first Salomon shop in Mexico City, as the brand is also enjoying accelerating awareness and desirability across LatAm markets,” Page noted.

Still, he said the company will continue to focus on its epicenter strategy in 2026 and beyond, particularly New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco. Amer currently plans to open seven to 10 new Salomon shops in the Americas this year.

In EMEA, Salomon also continues to expand its store fleet in key epicenters, and will further develop Europe epicenters into Spain, Germany and other key UK cities in 2026. In Q1, Salomon opened its first brand store in Copenhagen, Denmark, which has reportedly delivered a “very positive” start.

Salomon Footwear Energy
Addressing the big driver for the company and the brand, Zheng reiterated that Salomon footwear has become a very important growth engine, not just for Salomon, but for Amer Sports Group overall.

“We are excited to see a demand inflection for Salomon’s unique outdoor sneaker offering, especially since the brand still only has a small share of the global sneaker market,” he quipped.

Page added, “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. Salomon is positioned for significant growth in all major consumer regions, and we are working hard to build the right team, operational, go-to-market, and brand building functions to support our growth.”

Zheng outlined several factors that are driving the energy around Salomon footwear. He said these points give Amer Sports the confidence that the category is well positioned to achieve its growth potential, and do it in the right way:

  1. Global Sportstyle momentum continues. We believe Salomon is connecting with younger consumers and female consumers in a way traditional Outdoor brands have not. Sportstyle is critical to developing Salomon’s position as the Modern Outdoor sneaker brand, including franchises such as the XT-6 and XT-Whisper;
  2. Salomon’s Performance and running 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. Salomon is gaining traction in the Run Specialty channel in North America and EMEA. Recent running launches include the S/LAB Phantasm 3, which is an ultra-lightweight racing shoe engineered for elite performance, as well as the Aero Glide 4 with OptiFoam 2;
  3. Salomon’s amazing brand heat in Greater China and Asia, where we believe we operate the most productive and profitable sneaker shops in the industry. Greater China was Salomon’s fastest growing region in Q1, driven by both Sportstyle and Performance, as well as strong growth in apparel. Salomon is also experiencing surging demand in Korea and Japan, both large sneaker markets;
  4. The epicenter strategy is working. Our strategy to open a handful of brand stores alongside strategic elevated wholesale distribution in key Metro markets around the world is critical to elevating Salomon’s presence and awareness. Our tier-1 global epicenter cities include: Paris, London, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, New York, and LA. We have seen both rising brand awareness and accelerating revenues in our epicenter cities;
  5. The strong pull demand from consumers in Europe, Salomon’s home market, driving strong reorders, preorders and sell-through. Sportstyle continues to be the growth driver, but we have also seen a real inflection in GRVL in Europe, supported by marketing campaigns, in-store events, and running event activations. Also we are seeing high ecomm demand growth in Europe, even as we expand our retail and wholesale footprint; and
  6. North America, which is the largest sneaker market in the world, but is still a small business for us. In the U.S. we are seeing a clear growth inflection driven by Sportstyle and Performance. Not only are we expanding our shelf space and sell-through in existing wholesale partner doors, but we are also now starting to move Salomon footwear into key wholesale partners in the U.S.. As you know, there is strong demand for Salomon sneakers in the U.S. but still very limited distribution for consumers to find our products.

Operating Profit
Outdoor Performance adjusted operating profit margin expanded 480 basis points y/y to 20.4 percent of revenue in the first quarter. The margin expansion was said to be led by gross margin thanks to positive channel, region and product mix, as well as SG&A leverage on strong growth.

“We were pleased to deliver strong margin expansion in Q1 after making the decision last quarter to accelerate investments to support Salomon’s long-term growth, including marketing, retail expansion, and talent acquisition,” CFO Page said. “We believe these types of investments are critical to deliver the kind of results we saw in Q1, as well as position the brand for high quality long-term growth.”

Page said that the company believes this is one of the advantages of its portfolio.

“The strong sales growth and margin expansion at the Group level gives us the flexibility to invest behind early stage growth opportunities, such Salomon sneakers and also Wilson Tennis 360, in a way that they could not as standalone entities,” he said.

Outlook
Amer Sports is guiding to year-over-year revenue growth of 22 percent to 24 percent in the Outdoor Performance segment in 2026, even to the Arc’teryx growth outlook for the year but outpacing the overall company expectations of 20 percent to 22 percent growth y/y. Segment operating margin is expected in the range of 15.0 percent to 15.5 percent of revenue for the year.