Sportswear has been through the boom times of the 1990s and is now suffering from a severe bout of consolidation. With many mainstream brands labelled as 'chav fashion', its acceptance as everyday casual clothing is facing a major challenge. In a polarising market, splitting between performance sportswear, casual fashion and comfort clothing those left in the middle are in a very precarious situation
Yet despite these problems, the sportswear market offers some real opportunities for the future, with the UK being promised a 'golden decade' of sport, not least due to the 2012 London Olympics. Some brands, linked to outdoor and more specialist pursuits, like The North Face and golf heritage label Lyle & Scott, are maintaining and developing a wider lifestyle fashion audience. Rising participation rates in sporting activity and a recovering consumer economy are likely to boost spending on performance sportswear and mean that those retailers still around enjoy a much more buoyant environment.
Sportswear has been through the boom times of the 1990s and is now suffering from a severe bout of consolidation. With many mainstream brands labelled as 'chav fashion', its acceptance as everyday casual clothing is facing a major challenge. In a polarising market, splitting between performance sportswear, casual fashion and comfort clothing those left in the middle are in a very precarious situation
Yet despite these problems, the sportswear market offers some real opportunities for the future, with the UK being promised a 'golden decade' of sport, not least due to the 2012 London Olympics. Some brands, linked to outdoor and more specialist pursuits, like The North Face and golf heritage label Lyle & Scott, are maintaining and developing a wider lifestyle fashion audience. Rising participation rates in sporting activity and a recovering consumer economy are likely to boost spending on performance sportswear and mean that those retailers still around enjoy a much more buoyant environment.
Main themes
What are consumers' attitudes towards sports fashion and the reasons for wearing sportswear?
Is the sports fashion market polarising between different consumer groups?
What are the key innovations and opportunities within the sportswear market?
How are different retailers faring in the sports fashion market and what are their prospects?
What are the influences on the sportswear market that will affect its growth in the future, both negatively and positively?
There is more choice than ever before in the UK’s clothing mass-market. But it has been dominated by price for much of the last ten years, as cheaper sourcing from the Far East has facilitated the growth of value retailers.
This has increased competition and squeezed the middle-market players. And with youth unemployment rising fast, competition looks set to continue revolving around price for the
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This will exert further downward pressure on retailers’ margins and inhibit their ability to invest in new initiatives and stores. Not only that but it will make it hard for retailers
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