It's been a headline worthy year for adidas, and with the moves they made, many people expected them to put some serious pressure on Nike. It's actually adidas who is now under the gun as Under Armour continues to see their revenue share and sneaker sales increase, as they make a legitimate push towards the #2 spot. But should adidas be concerned?
The biggest move for adidas of course was the signing of Kanye West, whose collaboration with the Three Stripes was expected to drop sometime in November, but has yet to materialize. Their next power move came when they were able to convince three of Nike's top designers to jump ship and go work for adidas, but that has since led to a multi-million dollar lawsuit with accusations of trading secrets and confidential information. With a year that looked like it had so much promise, Under Armour quietly sits back and continues to gain ground.
In November, sales of Jordan sneakers jump 33%, which pushed revenue for Nike over $725 million for the month. This all came at the expense of adidas, who saw it's monthly sales drop roughly 46% to $58 million, despite several successful releases including the adidas Tubular. Not only is Nike growing the gap, but Under Armour is chomping at adidas' heels as they saw a 53% increase in footwear sales over November, leading to nearly $28 million in revenue according to SportScanInfo. While most of Under Armour's sales still derive from apparel, it's clear their market share in footwear continues to grow, and shows little signs of slowing down.
Where adidas should be more worried is through their own apparel sales, with fell 17% to $50 million, landing them in fourth place behind Nike, Under Armour, and The North Face. Clearly these moves for adidas aren't working how they expected and are in serious jeopardy of losing their coveted #2 spot which they've held down for quite some time. Could this all change? Of course. When the Kanye x adidas eventually drops people will flock to stores to buy every piece imaginable, but it's going to take more then the power of Yeezus to keep Under Armour from gaining traction. Just check the sales figues below. As they say, numbers never lie.
[Fool]
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