Recovery The Theme At NYC Marathon Expo

Products supporting recovery for runners dominated many of the offerings at the recent NYC Marathon Expo but an overall message of recovery for the industry was also heard from attending exhibitors.

“I think it’s stabilized,” said Luke Rowe, SVP at CEP, the maker of compression socks and sleeves, about the overall run industry. “There was a five-year decline at retail. But I think this year’s been a positive year for most retailers. The bottom was hit and they’re bouncing back.”

The run specialty industry has been impacted by a number of abnormal factors that threw off traditional supply and demand, including the hype around minimal and then maximal shoes; the arrival of obstacle, mud and fun runs; the growing popularity of spin and other fitness studios, and disruption caused by online selling.

Rowe noted that the running industry typically does well when the economy does poorly but this marked the first time the industry underperformed in sync with the economy. He attributed the weakness largely to store closings, particularly the exit of The Sports Authority, that led to a glut of inventory in the marketplace.

He believes cleaner inventories are helping drive the improvement along with still healthy interest in the activity of running overall. Said Rowe, “There may not be any crazy growth any time soon but the fundamentals for running specialty and sporting goods in general are pretty good. Americans always stay active.”

Rich Smith, director of sales at Zamst, believes the running industry is seeing some rebound in part because a number of categories – not just footwear – are “starting to click.” Said Smith. “I think you’re seeing a little bit of a resurgence on the apparel side, which had really contracted. Some accessories in the whole health & wellness side are also showing healthy gains. As shown by an event like this, injuries are a part of every athlete’s daily battle.”

Indeed, the NYC Marathon EXPO was filled with a number of recovery solutions, including CEP, Zensah, C3fit, CW-X and Wolaco touting the benefits of compression. Oofos was showcasing its new recovery OMG boot and bootie. Other recovery stories came from Addaday, The Stick, Bedgear, KT Tape as well as some of the many food purveyors.

The loudest noise, however, came from electronic massagers that also drew crowded booths for trial in the aisles.

Among the exhibitors, TheraGun, the percussive massage-therapy device that costs $600 and has become popular with celebrities, marked its second trip the NYC Marathon Expo. Myobuddy, which offers a $400 deep tissue massaging tool incorporating percussion, vibration and friction, made its debut. Hyperice, often called out as the pioneer of vibrating rollers, as well as BFF Turbo Electric Foam Roller, Air Relax, Hi-Dow Electron and NormaTec were also at the Expo.

Addaday revealed its initial line of electronic-massage devices that it plans to officially launch late November at The Running Event trade show in Austin. The devices included an electronic handheld for $79 and a back massager for $99. Vic Addaday, founder, said the friendly price points reflects the company’s commitment to having price points within reach of the average runner. Said Addaday, “You want the tool to do the job but it has to be affordable.”

The reason the recovery items stood out was in part because many of the industry’s footwear powerhouses skipped the show, including Brooks and Saucony that exhibited the prior year. Asics, the past long-term sponsor of the NYC Marathon before New Balance took over in 2017, also again didn’t exhibit, as well as Mizuno. Nike and Adidas didn’t show although they typically focus only on their own sponsored events.

With The North Face also skipping the event after showing in past years, runners had sparse options for running apparel outside New Balance’s extensive section. A bigger letdown was the general lack of inspired graphic t-shirts celebrating the NYC Marathon event. Even Oakley typically hawked some quirky NYC Marathon-themed T-shirt designs at past shows, along with sunglasses.

Exhibitors at the show believe the smaller sampling of major footwear vendors reflects the takeover of the show by New Balance. The Boston-based brand reportedly paid significantly more than the $3 million that Asics reportedly has been paying annually to sponsor the NYC Marathon and gained more rights, likely including EXPO exposure. One attendee said New Balance’s broad presence at the EXPO was similar to how Nike dominates its sponsored marathons in Chicago and elsewhere.

Visitors even had to snake through New Balance’s prominent section to get to the main EXPO area. On the product side, New Balance upped the ante with items such as a $450 NYC Marathon-themed, Gore-Tex jacket.

The absence of the major footwear players meant that many up-and-comers such as Hoka One One, On and Altra all benefited from extra footwear attention.

“We’re winning new fans faster than any other brand right now,” On co-founder David Allemann told SGB Exec. “We see the New York City Marathon as the highlight event of the running year with On fans coming from all around the world to run it.  We always want to be a part of that experience for runners and are committed to doing it well. As a young, growing brand, we also see the NYC Marathon as an opportunity for significant brand awareness. This was our fifth year at the marathon and it was by far our biggest turnout ever.”

Newton Running, which has narrowed its distribution to retailers committed to properly servicing the brand since co-founder Jerry Lee returned as CEO last year, was selling its latest Gravity and Fate models.

Fleet Feet had a booth showing off the Ikoni, the shoe created in partnership with in-house brand Karhu. Data of over 100,000 customer 3D foot scans taken at Fleet Feet stores over the last year guided the construction of the shoe.

Skechers again had a sizable booth despite losing one of its star endorsers, Kara Goucher, who competed in the race in the past. Goucher recently signed with Altra. Meb Keflezighi, who continues to be endorsed by Skechers, retired from professional running but still ran the race and finished at 3:10:34 in a non-competitive effort. The booth was offering its GORun Forza 3, Ride7 and Razor3 models and was the go-to place to secure free cowbells to cheer runners on race day.

Salomon marked its debut at the Expo with the launch of the Predict RA running model.

Jeff Larsen, VP footwear and commercial director, said Solomon is seeing a bigger opportunity to bring its learnings from making outdoor shoes and ski boots to the road running category. With an ultra-flexible sole and a focus on minimizing vibration, the Predict promises to ease hip and knee stress for committed road runners.

Larsen said Solomon is seeing “bright spots” in the running footwear category, driven by innovation.

“If you can simplify the product lines to what runners really want, that’s going to make a real difference,” said Larsen, “There isn’t a silver bullet but there is something for everybody.”

Shelf space on running shoe walls appear to be up for grabs with some major players, including Asics, Mizuno and Saucony, recently showing declines in the category.

Rowe, a former top executive at Fleet Feet Sports, believes another hot trend will likely be required to wake up the all-important running footwear category and bring growth in the run specialty to a healthier level. He remarked that Goodr, the popular sunglass brand that sells for between $25 to $35, appeared to be one of the few break-out products in recent years with less innovation clicking across some core categories in the run channel. Said Rowe, “I think everybody is waiting to see what the next trend is going to be.”

Ze’ev Feig, founder and CEO of Zensah, in its 11^th year attending the NYC marathon, believes some retailers are playing it overly-cautious by buying too narrow and deep. Said Feig, “It becomes a vicious cycle. Customers go into a store and they don’t see curated product like they should and that’s another reason to go online.”

He also believes some chains need to become quicker in getting products to the selling floor to excite consumers. He added, “Some of these big online guys can put something up in 24 hours.”

But Feig likewise feels the run specialty community is in better shape with Zensah’s own sales running up this year after the compression category had undergone some consolidation in recent years. Zensah has scrambled over the years to further differentiate itself amid the heighted competition in compression by expanding its product range into no-shows and mini-crews, pushing the envelope with colors in its socks and sleeves, and recently putting a big focus on signature graphics. At the NYC Marathon, for instance, limited-edition subway and Statue of Liberty motifs were available for runners.

Feig also still sees growth opportunities in compression around messages of recovery as well as travel as compression socks can reduce leg swelling on lengthy trips.

Mark Yardley, VP of sales at Darn Tough Vermont, the maker of performance outdoor and lifestyle socks, saw “definitely a lot of energy” at the Expo and believes runners are increasingly becoming more educated and more open to solutions beyond the footwear wall. Said Yardley, “People like technology now and they’re realizing that good apparel and good socks can help them be better runners.”

Other sock suppliers at the show included Feetures! and H2D Ssocks. In electronics, Sunto, Timex and Garmin represented.  Aftershox, the leader in bone conduction headphones, was back with a significantly larger booth and was showcasing its advanced Trekz Air Headphones. Portability solutions came from Roo Sport, Spibelt, Auria and Flipbelt. A wide variety of energy-building liquids, bars and gels were also spread across the Expo floor. A number of brands didn’t have formal exhibitor booths but were being sold by booths from Paragon Sporting Goods, Jack Rabbit and Fleet Feet.

Reflectivity was another theme.

Chuck Gruber, director of business development at Brilliant Reflective, the maker of Stick-On Strips made with 3M Scotchlite reflective material, said the importance of visibility remains much higher in Europe, but more Americans are understanding the safety benefits. Said Gruber, “It’s like the bike helmet. Back in the day it wasn’t cool to wear a helmet but now it’s seen as a necessity. It’s the same with reflective, everybody is getting it.”

Exhibitors were also encouraged by the busy Expo that sent a strong signal about the health of the sport of running. While some secondary races may be seeing less runners, run participation overall bounced back in 2017 and major races such as the NYC Marathon continue to sell out. Said Vic Addaday, “I think at the end of the day, people find joy in running. I don’t see that dissipating any time soon.”

Some of the new exhibitors at the NYC Marathon Expo included:

* Anita, the German lingerie giant, is making a bigger push into the U.S and was showcasing its range of sports bras and tights. With prices ranging from $69 to $119, The sports bras stand out for fit, support and wide range of sizes. Anita’s recently opened up selling to Paragon Sporting Goods.

* Runderwear, the underwear brand for runners with the promise of chafe-free comfort, also made its debut as the U.K.-based brand accelerates its expansion in the U.S. Runderwear’s bras, designed in part to reduce bounce during high-impact activity, were prominently featured along with its crop tops at a friendly price of $30.

* Illumio, which launched earlier this year through the Indiegogo crowd-funding site, is best known for the Nova running jacket with LED light strips that provides visibility from 450 feet away. Nova features patent-pending LightGuide technology that is embedded into the fabric and activates on demand to illuminate people, and ensure high-visibility protection for up to eight hours. Nova is powered by a detachable, tiny half-ounce rechargeable battery that is concealed in a hidden pocket in the front of the jacket.

* Spryng, a sister company of Illumio, launched its portable, therapeutic muscle recovery tool. The Spryng calf wrap, driven by the company’s patent-pending WaveTech compression pattern, improves blood circulation through graduated compression of the calf muscle. The tool promises to deliver “on-the-go recovery anytime” to tired lower leg muscles and reduce swelling in the feet. The device also serves as an alternative to expensive, bulky equipment, access a foam rollers or even a power source.

* Hello Cup, from New Zealand, offers menstrual cups that female runners can use as a sustainable alternative to disposable feminine hygiene products. The start-up showed off its new partnership with 261 Fearless, the global women’s running and empowerment network started by famed runner Kathrine Switzer, with the sale of special-edition 261 Fearless cups at this year’s New York Marathon. Switzer spent some time at Hello Cup’s booth signing books.

* Nofel Pro, with U.S. headquarters in Edison, NJ, showcased its wide range of its durable running gloves. Also known for ski and cycling gloves, Nofel’s running gloves are built to handle a wide range of weather conditions and also includes tech features supporting visibility and silicone grip touch-tech fingers to manage devices on the run. Nofel Pro also makes a wide range of beanies, neck gators, as well as arm and leg warmers.