Fashion brands are having a moment.
After two years of a sports boom, special occasion apparel and footwear is making a comeback in a big way, as people return to live events, meetings and offices. Retailers have also noticed the change in the last quarter, with many noting the success of fashion brands in their assortment.
“Customers continue to shop for occasions and go back to the office and update their closets,” Nordstrom president and chief brand officer Pete Nordstrom said on a call with analysts Tuesday. “We continue to see softness compared to last year in categories previously accelerated by the pandemic, including home and assets.”
Men’s and women’s designer clothing, shoes and designers were the strongest growth drivers for Nordstrom in the third quarter, as more people traveled to in-person events and offices for work.
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Industrywide, fashion footwear sales in the third quarter rose 7% to $3.5 billion, according to quarterly data from The NPD Group Retail Tracking Service, which excludes DTC sales. By comparison, sales of leisure footwear were flat in the third quarter at $5.2 billion and performance footwear fell 6% to $2.1 billion.
As consumers spend more on sandals and footwear for special occasions, fashion shoes continue to be the fastest growing segment of the footwear market this year in terms of sales, returning to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, discovered NPD. Despite the drop in athletic shoe sales, sneakers still have the lion’s share of the shoe business.
Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette also noted a softening in sporting goods in the third quarter.
“Customers continue to return to in-person shopping experiences post-pandemic, and we’re looking for occasion-based products, including career in tailored sportswear, dresses, and luggage rather than popular pandemic categories like activewear. active and casual, sleepwear and soft clothing. home, which are leaning more towards digital purchases,” Gennette said on a call with analysts.
Caleres said this week that sales of athletic shoes fell at its famous shoe business in the third quarter, while non-athletic styles such as loafers, flats and boots received a boost. This emphasis on used footwear also benefited the company’s own brands, such as LifeStride, Scholl’s, Franco Sarto and Naturalizer, the executives said.
At Shoe Carnival, sales of non-athletic footwear increased 35.1% in the third quarter of 2019. Sales of athletic footwear increased 4.4% compared to 2019. The balance of sales between athletic and non-athletic footwear was split evenly in the quarter, with more consumers turning to trendy shoe brands. . The company expects this lawsuit to continue through 2022.
Source: news.google.com