The Battle of the Sportswear Giants

Once tailored specifically for athletic pursuits, sportswear and athletic footwear have long broken free from the confines of gyms, tracks and courts, becoming a dominant force in fashion and lifestyle. And as sportswear blended more and more into everyday wear, a new clothing category emerged over the past decade: athleisure.

Nike and Adidas, among other pioneering brands, led this revolution by seamlessly blending performance-driven designs with casual wear aesthetics. Consumers soon found that cutting-edge technology, innovative fabrics and ergonomic designs not only enhance athletic performance but also make for comfortable and stylish everyday wear.

Sportswear brands quickly identified the athleisure trend as a possible growth driver and tried to strengthen their positions as lifestyle symbols by tapping into cultural movements and celebrity endorsements beyond the world of professional sports. Today, sportswear represents a lifestyle choice, a symbol of youth, comfort and versatility reaching far beyond the boundaries of traditional athletic domains.

As our latest Racing Bars video shows, sportswear companies have profited immensely from this trend, turbocharging growth for industry leaders Nike and Adidas while giving rise to new players such as Under Armour and Lululemon. The latter in particular has fully embraced the trend, turning what started as a retail store for yoga wear in Canada in 1998 into a $60-billion company operating around the world.