According to a recent report by the Leisure Trends Group, La Sportiva, with roughly 45% YTD growth in the category, leads the list of fastest growing Trail Running shoes sold in Outdoor Chain Stores, and similar results in Specialty Outdoor shops.
BOSS spoke with Mark Day, LaSportiva N.A.s VP of sales and marketing, who said that the company is not going after the broader running market, instead, they are strictly focused on the trail running market.
According to Day, prior to the 2005 season, LaSportiva had seen success in redesigning several niche footwear categories, like approach shoes. For the 2005 season, they decided to take that formula and apply it to trail running, redesigning their product from the ground up.
While the running category is the fastest growing division of the business, LaSportiva still remains focused on the rock-shoe market and has seen “more than 25% YTD growth” from 2004 to 2005 in their climbing shoe sales. Day said, “The rock shoe market is still the core of our company, and it always will be, but our success in trail running allows us to diversify a bit.”
