London – It seems as if consumer demand for sportswear and sporting
goods has yet to wane, as 2015 was marked as the year of the ‘athleisure’
wear in the UK thanks to an exponential growth within the product category.
According to International real estate advisor, Savills, the sales of
sporting goods grew faster than any other product category in retail in
2015 across 40 plus of the shopping centres managed by the company. The
sporting wear category revealed an impressive increase of 9.5 percent
during 2015 – higher than similar performing categories such as menswear
and jewellery , which grew 3.9 percent and 3.4 percent respectively.
“Sporting goods retailers enjoyed a stellar year thanks to the rising trend
for ‘athleisure’, various celebrity endorsements and a number of
significant football kit launches,” commented Stephen Toal, head of
property management research at Savills. “Looking ahead, [these] retailers
will need to keep a close eye on costs when the National Living Wage is
introduced in April this year, but those investing in omni-channel and
putting the transactional experience first will continue to reap the
benefits of increased consumer confidence.”
Driving this trend in part is a larger, cultural shift, spanning across the
globe that has seen more and more consumers prioritising their health and
well-being. Paired with an increasing interest in both functional and
comfortable clothing, which not only look good, but are also highly
adaptable and suitable to the ever-demanding modern lives of consumers, has
attributed to the rise of athleisure – apparel which can be worn to the
gym, or around town or even to work.
“Cultural society continues to be in awe of the human body and beauty,”
pointed out Dutch trendforecaster during a dedicated trend
seminar in 2014, as she predicted the mass movement to live a healthier,
more active lifestyle to continue to evolve leading to a demand for
innovative, leaner and sleeker activewear.
The demand for sportswear in the UK has also been reflect in retail sales,
as research firm Key Note predicted sales for the category to surpass by the end of 2015 and total
8.65 billion pounds by 2019. With numerous fast-fashion retailers,
Missguided and launching sportwear lines in 2015 as
well as higher-end brands like and dipping their toes into the
fitness collections, it seems as if this trend will only get bigger – as
long as customers are kept interested by new innovations and products.
Photo 1: Boohoo.com, Facebook
Photo 2: Karl Lagerfeld , Facebook
Photo 3: Missguided, Facebook