\n\tRetailers, shoe brands and buyers alike are optimistic as they ponder the possibilities that could come from a new fashion cycle.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe shifts are breathing some fresh air into the shoe sector after years of dominance by athletic performance and casual sneakers<\/a>. But it\u2019s a move that could see fewer sneaker sales as athletic performance shoes<\/a> adjust to a new normal following the post-COVID-19 focus.<\/p>\n \t\tFashion Cycle\t<\/p>\n \n\tThere\u2019s a significant emphasis on trends, paving the way for footwear<\/a> fashionistas to update their shoe closets.<\/p>\n \n\tThe first hint of possible change came during\u00a0December 2025\u2019s FFANY Market Week\u00a0<\/a>when retailers and brands focused on fall lines and some spring fill-in product for intermediate deliveries. That excitement continued during\u00a0FFANY Market Week in June<\/a>, and FFANY August Market Week<\/a>, which ended on Friday. Newness in the dress and casual categories in women\u2019s shoes<\/a> saw standouts that included ballet flats, Mary Janes, thong sandals, jellies and the split-toe shoes.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPeople were feeling fairly positive about the market and consumer buying, and the trends coming into spring 2027,\u201d said Sandi Mines, vice president of corporate engagement at the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America\u00a0and president of FFANY, adding that there were \u201cbright spots all around.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShe said the new fashion cycle has been a boost for everyone, as \u201cpeople are ready for a change,\u201d adding that the storytelling, as well as the fun new campaigns out there, are \u201cjust much more inspirational than it has been in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tCasual and Athletic Sales Are Normalizing\t<\/p>\n \n\tAfter years of strong results for many companies, now might be the time when sneaker spending shifts.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Designer Brands Inc. posted first-quarter earnings results in June, chief executive officer Doug Howe<\/a> told investors during a conference call then that the company saw \u201csoftness in the casual and athletic categories as consumers shifted back toward fashion and occasion-based products, following several years of elevated demand in casual and athletic.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSteven Madden Ltd. CEO Edward Rosenfeld in May noted a similar shift<\/a>, adding that it saw strength across dress shoes and boots, but that the \u201cbig thing\u201d it saw was a \u201cdecrease in the penetration in sandals and sneakers<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDeckers Brands last month posted first-quarter results<\/a>, with Hoka leading the way with a 7.7 percent increase in net sales to $705.3 million. But some analysts on Wall Street<\/a> saw that as a slowdown, citing missed first-quarter estimates and a second-quarter guide that was below consensus. And they\u2019re questioning Hoka\u2019s sales growth rate.<\/p>\n \n\tAdding further to concerns of a slowdown is a report from Needham analyst Tom Kikic<\/a> on Monday suggesting that the \u201cJordan Brand is facing a difficult demand environment,\u201d as some retro launches have failed thus far to trade<\/a> at a resale premium.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWith a lack of meaningful innovation and \u2018buzz\u2019 in the sneakerhead market, coupled with less-than-ideal macro conditions, it seems clear to us that the sneaker market is challenged at the moment,\u201d the analyst concluded.<\/p>\n \t\tUnder Armour Needs More Time\t<\/p>\n \n\tWhile there was hope that Under Armour<\/a>\u2018s first-quarter report would be the last bit of challenging news for the sports brand, its latest earnings report said otherwise.<\/p>\n \n\tThe company reported on softer demand ahead, mostly in North America and Asia-Pacific in what CEO Kevin Plank described as a \u201cchallenging consumer demand environment<\/a>.\u201d Plank said he knows what the brand needs to do, and that is focus on quality at full-price and not quantity.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThat means being willing to walk away from lower-quality volume, tighten inventory buy, and reduce the amount of product that ultimately has to be cleared for promotion,\u201d Plank said. He did caution that the nature of the reset means the company will see \u201cprogress in those ares before revenue fully reaccelerates.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tUnder Armour<\/a> is a wait-and-see stock investment.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe believe Under Armour\u2019s efforts to simplify the business and improve the quality of demand are key to the success of the brand,\u201d BTIG\u2019s consumer retail analyst Robert Drbul said, adding that \u201cwe believe the company still has work to do translating internal progress into sustained consumer demand and consistent top-line growth.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTelsey Advisory Group analyst Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez said Monday there are specific factors weighing on the brand. Among them is apparel geared toward men\u2019s performance, low fashion appeal with women, marketing that has not fully captured consumers\u2019 attention, and a distribution footprint skewed to midmarket department stores, such as Kohl\u2019s and Macy\u2019s.<\/p>\n \n\tThe brand has just 12 full-price stores across the U.S., and its best presence in the markets is at Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods. \u201cFor Under Armour to evolve into a more premium brand, its distribution footprint likely needs to change,\u201d the analyst concluded.<\/p>\n \t\tAdidas\u2019 Marketing Spend\t<\/p>\n \n\tAdidas<\/a> last month report sales growth of 14 percent in the second quarter, helped by World Cup sales. The company made a big bet on World Cup fever across North America.<\/p>\n \n\tBut after the earnings report, Adidas<\/a> shares slid 11.5 percent, as investors appeared spooked by the German Sportswear brand\u2019s higher-than-expected marketing<\/a> expenditures. Marketing costs rose by 212 million euros for World Cup promotions. That garnered record sales, but some analysts believe it came at a cost of lower-than-expected operating profit that was up 5.1 percent to 574 million euros, but was still 49 million euros below market expectations. The forecast for the full year is between 9 and 10 percent, versus prior guidance of high single digits, or growth of around 6 percent for the back-half of the year.<\/p>\n \n\tDuring the firm\u2019s conference call to investors, CEO Bj\u00f8rn Gulden emphasized that the marketing spend in the quarter \u201cdoesn\u2019t have a payback in commerciality in the same period. We meant, or were sure, that for the brand heat going forward, and also during the tournament, we had to invest in media, and we [chose] to do a lot of activations around the world to showcase the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWill that marketing spend pay off? Only time will tell. There could more pondering by analysts about how to evaluate the return on investment from marketing, and whether that in turn translates into added global interest in Adidas beyond the World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retailers, shoe brands and buyers alike are optimistic as they ponder the possibilities that could come from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21254],"tags":[21290,21777,21778,21440,39099,52227],"class_list":["post-70123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-adidas","tag-adidas","tag-footwear","tag-shoes","tag-sneakers","tag-sourcing-journal","tag-under-armour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}