Top seven sports brand surpassed combined sales of $1 billion (approximately ₹8,277 crore) in India in 2021-22, driven by growing awareness of fitness and the rise demand for domestic sportswear. leopard lionDecathlon, Adidas, Reebok, Skechers, Nike and Asics saw sales increase 30-68% year over year, according to regulatory filings sourced from Altinfo. Sales of these brands combined increased 52% to ₹8,950 crore from ₹5,871 crore in 2020-21.
Demand for fitness apparel and sports equipment for sports other than cricket has increased as people prioritize health since the Covid-19 outbreak, industry executives say. There’s been a huge shift around the way people view health and fitness and that’s increased demand for us. Athleisure has become a hit,” said Abhishek Ganguly, managing director of Puma India.
“Almost half of India’s population is under the age of 25 and things like fashion sense, per capita footwear consumption and tier 2 and tier 3 (cities) aspirations will only increase.”
With a population of 1.39 billion, India is one of the largest and fastest growing international markets for footwear companies. Brands like Reebok, Adidas, Nike and Puma have been around for more than two decades in India and have grown by promoting their products in partnership with cricket and other sports activities. Newer players, however, have positioned themselves as people with laid-back lifestyles and casual sportswear brands.
The companies have also signed Bollywood celebrities, including Deepika Padukone, Kriti Sanon, Anushka Sharma, Tiger Shroff and Harrdy Sandhu, as their brand ambassadors, while also hoping to influence on their social networks will change their brand perception beyond sports activities. During the pandemic, companies are also getting a boost from selling online, helping brands reach small towns where they don’t have stores.
“Several trends emerged, from fashion and ecommerce perspective, really here to stay. For example, sport, we think, is going to die, but that’s not true. People are now pairing sneakers with all their outfits and that will continue. This started during the pandemic,” Myntra CEO Nandita Sinha told ET earlier this month.
The country is increasingly interested in sports like kabaddi, football, volleyball, hockey and badminton. It currently hosts professional tournaments in almost all of these sports, attracting participants from all over the world. Some companies have also stepped up investments. Puma, for example, has reduced its reliance on imports and invested in local manufacturing, which has helped the brand increase its local sourcing to 40% last year, from 31% two years ago. . Skechers CEO David Weinberg said on the September quarter earnings call that the company has begun the first phase of 1.1 million square feet. allotment center outside Mumbai, which is expected to come online in mid-2023.
The performance of sports brands is in line with general trends in the clothing and lifestyle segments, where companies include zaraUniqlo and Levi’s also saw a strong rebound in their revenue, indicating increased demand for discretionary products and revenge shopping.
