<p>The theme for the fiscal second quarter may have been “tighten, tighten, tighten” as sporting goods industry vendors focused on bottom line growth, but the trends for the third quarter have settled into a more normalized pre-recession pattern </p>
<p>Americans shifted their spending in November toward apparel and sporting goods and away from electronics, according to advance estimates released by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Advance estimates are the first put out by the U.S. Census Bureau and wil</p>
<p>Platinum Equity, a Los Angeles-based private investment group, submitted a winning $32.5 million bid for the assets of Schutt Sports at an auction last week in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. The successful offer came after a 19-hour bidding maratho</p>
<p>Hong Kong exporters should explore relocating some production outside the Pearl River Delta and even outside of China to mitigate soaring production costs on the mainland, a leading Hong Kong economist said last week…</p>
<p>Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to be up 9% in December over December 2009, and 2010 should end with a 17% increase over last year, according to the National Retail Federation…</p>
<p>Driven by a hike in margins in the Americas, Quiksilver Inc. reported significantly improved earnings before special items in its fourth quarter ended Oct. 31 while continuing to slash the heavy debt load it took with its failed Rossignol acquisition…</p>
<p>Everlast Worldwide Inc. awarded Sears Holdings the U.S. license for the Everlast brand for soft goods. The license covers apparel, footwear and accessories such as headwear, bags and underwear for men, women and kids. It does not include boxing equipment.</p>
<p>Yakima has acquired Hubco Automotive Ltd, the New Zealand maker of Whispbar, a rapidly growing vehicle roof rack system that uses aero bars to reduce the noise and improve the styling of such products…</p>
<p>With a solid start to the season, the National Retail Federation last week revised its holiday forecast to 3.3%, up from 2.3%. The revision is due to improvement in a variety of economic indicators including stock market gains, recent income growth, savin</p>
<p>Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. is getting into the lighting business after inking a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest Zweibrûder Optoelectronics GmbH & Co. KB, a manufacturer of LED Lenser flashlights…</p>
<p>Best Buy announced the national rollout of health and fitness products at its 600 Best Buy stores across the country. Items include heart rate monitoring watches, pedometers, special MP3 players, earbuds, headphones, yoga mats, scales and blood pressure m</p>
<p>Keen Footwear has opened a small factory in Portland with plans to make a new line of shoes for the U.S. market…</p>
<p>The North Face executives spelled out how they plan to grow revenues at a compounded annual growth rate of 16% over the next five years at their annual investor day last week. If successful, they will double TNF sales to $3 billion and increase share of t</p>
<p>For the bicycle, outdoor and snow sports market, the third quarter of 2009 was one of margin preservation by way of substantial inventory reduction. Following a highly-promotional fiscal 2009 front half, vendors and accounts in the year-ago period slashed</p>
<p>The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is moving to require federally licensed firearms retailers to report multiple sales of modern sporting rifles beginning Jan. 5, 2011…</p>
