It won’t surprise anyone that Nike is holding it down when it comes to their market share in the US, but the fight for the next in line has a new victor, at least for now. Over the last year, adidas’ sales have fallen in the US by 23%, whereas Under Armour’s have raised 20%. That means that UA outsold adidasfor the first time, $1.2b to $1.1b.
As Sara Germano at the Wall Street Journal breaks it down, there are a ton of factors. Not least of which is that it’s mostly UA apparel that caused the edge over adidas, but UA’s focus on tech sneakers like basketball shoes and cleats are also a huge advantage.
All of this is despite the fact that UA failed to sign Kevin Durant. Although the distance between UA and Nike is far too much to cover on one endorsement deal, it certainly would have helped to close a little of that distance, and may pay off for UA despite the inability to lock KD in.
Anyone who is paying attention in sneakers isn’t ready to count adidas out quite yet. Their sales may have suffered this year, but they’ve made a lot of creative acquisitions with Kayne West, Pharrell, and Nigo. The flood of these new partnerships left some people scratching their heads, but maybe adidas saw the writing on the wall. None of the projects with these three have seen the light of day yet, so they really were investments we’re waiting to see the fruits of.
Even though this is genuinely surprising news, there are still a lot of factors in play that haven’t quite settled. Stay tuned to see how this new financial rivalry between Under Armour and adidas plays out.
It should be noted that this is only true in the US. Outside the US, adidas still holds a healthy lead above Under Armour.
[via Wall Street Journal]
