As many active lifestyle market professionals hit the beaches, bike trails, hiking trails, mountains, and streams this summer, SGB Media was there to keep everyone informed about the day’s important news.
With over one million SGB Update newsletters sent to subscribers during the peak summer months, the support of our growing list of advertisers is critical to ensure the reader’s breaking news of the day is free of charge.
From the long Independence Day holiday weekend to the just-completed Labor Day weekend that signaled the end of another summer, SGB Media readers focused on second-quarter earnings reports from a wide variety of the industry’s public companies. However, as usual, the most read articles often include unique subjects about people, issues that impact a particular business or segment of the market, or reports that cover subjects that can affect our reader’s business, wallet, or portfolio.
Foot Locker was the top retailer story of the last two months as it announced a planned move from New York City to Florida, a more profitable path ahead and hope in the market that the retailer may be turning it around. On the other hand, the news surrounding the bankruptcy process of the parent company of Bob’s Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports garnered considerable attention as those legacy retail brands ceased to exist.
Vendors getting the most attention included Nike, Inc. and its path forward after announcing disappointing forward guidance and an admission that the business was indeed in trouble due to a shortfall of new innovation and a faltering of relationships with its retail partners. The staff cuts continued over the summer at Nike, but the company also found a way forward by appointing key people to oversee the innovation and recruiting former retail relationship guru Tom Peddie back to the mothership.
Another key storyline of the summer involved VF Corporation, the parent of The North Face, Vans, Timberland, Jansport, and Dickies, as that leader in the active outdoor lifestyle and street lifestyle markets pushed its turnaround efforts forward with key divestitures, none more significant than the sale of the Supreme brand to Oakley’s parent and several key hires to lead the Vans and TNF businesses.
The other big stories of the summer included moves by Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank to turn around his brand and Lululemon’s ill-fated venture with a new legging that did not have the desired effect on sales or how it looked on the consumer.
The decision by the Board of Directors at Camber Outdoors to cease operations was also a big headline this summer. The non-profit, created to support the advancement of women in the outdoor industry but, more recently, becoming the voice for DEI initiatives in the outdoor industry, saw its relevance wane as more companies took up the banner and carried it forward.
Stifel’s Back-to-School Survey and report are always a summer favorite. The investment firm provides a snapshot of sneaker brands at the retail level, including which brands are up and which brands are down. This year’s report was quite a departure from the company’s reports of the recent past, as its teen survey results called out a faltering Nike brand and an expanding appetite for other brands.
Outside the Top 20 Most Read list from SGB Media, but undoubtedly worth an honorable mention, were the published articles about BSN Sports getting a new majority investor, Topgolf Callaway making move to divest the Topgolf part of the business, the sale of the Sanuk brand to Lolë Brands, extensive reports from Amer Sports, Birkenstock, Fleet Feet hires, VF’s return to growth, and Dick’s SG closing the remaining Moosejaw stores it acquired in spring 2023.
These articles and over 90,000 others published by SGB Media cover the last twenty years of activity in the active lifestyle market and are available to read at SGBonline.com.
Have a great Fall and Holiday selling season!
The SGB Media Editorial Team
