Dick’s Sporting Goods launches its own line of athletics for men

Dick’s Sporting Goods enters a hotly contested market for men’s sportswear with the launch of its own brand called VRST.

VRST debuts on Dick’s website and standalone VRST.com Tuesday, and will roll out to more than 400 Dick’s stores in the coming weeks, the company said. Items in the range, which include everything from joggers and shorts to t-shirts, zippers to quarterbacks and hoodies, sell for between $ 30 and $ 120, which puts it in the high end of the range. market as far as the price is concerned.

Following the success Dick’s has had with its Calia athleisure line for women, the company said it saw empty space in its stores to offer a more upscale, lifestyle-focused line for men. The line won’t directly compete with sweat-wicking performance gear sold by Under Armor and Nike. Instead, he’s more similar to Lululemon.

Dick’s increased investments in private labels come, however, as big brands such as Nike and Under Armor pledge to sell more merchandise directly to consumers. Adidas announced earlier this month that its direct-to-consumer vertical is expected to account for 50% of net sales by 2025. While Dick’s still carries those brands, the hub has put more pressure on wholesale retailers to have exclusive lines, like Calia and VRST, to generate traffic and sales.

In 2020, Dick’s achieved sales of $ 1.3 billion through its internal brands. Total revenue was $ 9.58 billion. The company said its own brands have surpassed national labels in the golf, fitness, outdoor equipment and team sports categories. Calia was the second best womenswear brand, behind Nike last year, he said.

VRST will be the second brand launched by Dick’s with its own website. Calia was the first.

“When you see VRST, it’s going to be a very different product mix than what we currently have with our major supplier partners, and it’s a white space,” Dick’s Managing Director Lauren Hobart said earlier this month. – here during a call for results. “It covers a wide range of activities.”

“VRST will put us in a much stronger position to compete with similar offerings from high-end clothing brands and specialty sportswear stores,” Hobart explained.

Companies like Lululemon, Nike, Adidas, and Under Armor have seen more momentum in the past 12 months than clothing brands focused on workwear and more formal items. And in turn, more traditional clothing brands and department store chains quickly shifted their merchandise and marketing to focus on casualness and comfort, creating more clamor in an already boisterous category.

Before the pandemic, for example, Lululemon had announced its intention to double its male activity in five years. Direct-to-consumer men’s track and field brands like Rhone, Ten Thousand and Vuori have also doubled their online marketing spend to reach new customers. Even large retail stores Nordstrom and Kohl’s have put a renewed emphasis on sportswear, in an effort to boost sales. Kohl’s efforts include an in-house line called FLX, which debuted earlier this month.

At the same time, there has been enormous growth in space.

Last year, men’s sportswear gained market share to account for 45% of the total men’s clothing market, up from 39% in 2019, according to data compiled by consumer research firm NPD Group. Categories that helped generate dollars in the space included sweatpants, which were up 16% year-over-year, and sweatshirts, which were up 3%, according to the newspaper.

But VRST is not a quick fix for profiting from a pop pandemic. It’s been going on for a few years, the company said.

“And obviously we are maximizing the current momentum,” said Nina Barjesteh, senior vice president of product development, in an interview. “But more than anything, we continue to look at the long term, and make sure we make products that you want to come back for more.”

Dick’s shares have risen more than 190% in the past 12 months, as the market closed on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $ 7 billion.