\n\tThe sneaker industry is in turmoil.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis summer, major shoe brands from Nike<\/a> to Adidas<\/a> to Under Armour<\/a> to On have each expressed skittishness about the retail environment for sneaker sales. Consumers appear unwilling, or unable, to pay full price for athletic shoes. And on Tuesday, the chairman at Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods\u2014one of the largest global retailers selling sports gear\u2014put a fine point on it: \u201cThis industry is going through a bit of a transition.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThis transition follows a multiyear saga initiated when sneaker behemoth Nike initially pulled back from wholesale, opening shelf space for upstart brands like Hoka and On.<\/p>\n \n\tFor a few years, that created lots of competition and new styles for consumers to choose from. Other legacy brands like Adidas saw success with refreshed classics like the Samba, and Nike eventually came back into the retail fold. But the consumer excitement from these changes appears to be waning.<\/p>\n \n\tDick\u2019s Sporting Goods and its subsidiary chain , which together operate some 3,100 stores globally, reported weaker-than-expected earnings results on Tuesday and gave a surprisingly dim outlook for the rest of the year, particularly at Foot Locker, whose primary business is sneaker sales. Pro-forma comparable store sales at Foot Locker are now expected to be flat or decline 2% for fiscal year 2026 over 2025, compared to the previous forecast of 1.5% to 3% growth.<\/p>\n \n\tShares of Dick\u2019s fell more than 27% in early trading on Tuesday to $130.<\/p>\n \n\tAsked by a JPMorgan Chase analyst if the industry was facing \u201ca hangover\u201d from the various shoe brand dynamics, Dick\u2019s chairman Ed Stack said, \u201cWe have the hangover right now.\u201d He added the industry \u201cwill be experiencing some pain, at least through the end of the year,\u201d but he remained enthusiastic overall about the sporting goods industry.<\/p>\n \n\tFurther troubling Wall Street is that the final two quarters of the year overlap with the most important sales seasons for footwear: back-to-school and the winter holidays.<\/p>\n \n\tTo be sure, not all segments of the sportswear industry are troubled. Dick\u2019s executives emphasized that performance footwear, and running in particular, are selling well, but \u201clifestyle\u201d shoes broadly aimed for comfort and fashion are falling out of favor. Furthermore, stores in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are facing heavier discounting than those in North America.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBut while casual sneakers<\/a> aren\u2019t selling well, Ugg boots and Birkenstock slides \u201care really on fire,\u201d Stack said. \u201cI do think there is a shift toward this brown shoe piece of [the business].\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tStack isn\u2019t the only one weighing in on the state of the troubled sneaker industry. Here is a brief recap of how several of the major brands have viewed the market in their summer earnings reports.<\/p>\n \t\tNike\t<\/p>\n \n\tStill the largest sneaker and athletic apparel maker by global sales, the industry leader told analysts in June<\/a> the company expects its own sales to decline low- to mid-single digits in the latter half of 2026. The swoosh has already been adjusting its inventory this year to reduce promotions\u2014industry-speak for when products go on sale. Matthew Friend, Nike\u2019s outgoing chief financial officer, told Wall Street that the company faces several headwinds unrelated to consumer demand or price sensitivity, including evolving tariff policies and geopolitical disruption in the Middle East. Nonetheless, Friend said Nike was going to reduce sell-in to wholesale partners in the coming months to stave off future discounting.<\/p>\n \t\tAdidas\t<\/p>\n \n\tThe German sportswear giant carried a halo<\/a> from this summer\u2019s World Cup, serving as an official FIFA sponsor and the outfitter for both finalists, Spain and Argentina. It saw a sales boost of soccer products in tandem with the North American-hosted tournament. But chief executive Bjorn Gulden said the company has held back on selling to wholesale partners to avoid promotional environments, particularly in Europe and North America, and he couldn\u2019t predict exactly when sales challenges will abate.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201dWe hope and we believe when we look at the order book that Q4 will actually be an improvement,\u201d Gulden said on a July earnings call. \u201cBut again, we don\u2019t control it alone, right? So yes, wholesale footwear should start to improve. If that is Q4 or Q1, I don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\tUnder Armour\t<\/p>\n \n\tThe Baltimore-based athletic brand said earlier this month<\/a> it would once again reset its business, cutting roughly 25% of products from its pipeline over the next year-and-a-half as it hopes to sell fewer products overall but more at full price. The overhaul immediately followed an earlier 25% product cull completed in the last fiscal year.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe know the brand has been too reliant on promotion,\u201d said chief executive Kevin Plank. \u201cThe marketplace still carries too much complexity. The issues are clear. The work is underway.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLooking ahead, \u201cWhile we have several new products we\u2019re excited to bring to market over the next six and 12 months, especially in things we have high confidence in, we\u2019re already making a lot of really good product,\u201d Plank said. \u201cI just don\u2019t think we\u2019ve done a good enough job selling it.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tOn\t<\/p>\n