Latest Headlines – Page 115
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Sports & outdoor retail rose by 7.2% in the U.K. in 2020
Sports and outdoor retailers survived the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.K. last year. Spending on their products rose by 7.2 percent, according to Barclaycard, which noted in particular the boom in home fitness while gyms were closed. Home improvement items and furniture scored similar increases. In contrast, general clothing contracted ...
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ArticleYear-end reflections on agility and responsibility
The coronavirus crisis has led all of us to the choice of sinking into depression or to grab the chance of becoming more agile and more responsible in reacting to the situations created by the virus and other events like Brexit. Fortunately, mankind’s innate resiliency has apparently led the majority ...
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ArticleU.K. signs free trade pacts with the EU and Turkey
On Christmas Eve, the U.K. and the EU reached an eleventh hour trade agreement, after nine months and some 2,000 hours of painstaking discussions involving about 200 officials. The deal, called the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, has since been approved by the ambassadors of the EU’s 27 member states ...
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Will Reebok become black-owned?
Reebok would become the first major black-owned athletic footwear and apparel brand if the African American rap music mogul Percy Rebert Miller, also known as Master P, and a former two-time NBA All-Star, Baron Davis, succeed in their reported bid. According to reports in the ESPN sports network and Forbes, ...
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ArticleInterview with D’Wayne Edwards: Diversity leads to innovation
As part of our survey on diversity and inclusion, the first part of which was published on this website on Dec. 23, we have held an e-mail interview with D’Wayne Edwards, who was the lead designer of Nike’s iconic Air Jordan brand for a decade from 2001, making him one ...
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A curious tender offer for Himaraya
Himaraya, one of the three major Japanese sporting goods chains along with Alpen and Xebio, is the target of an unusual tender offer for all its shares launched by Komori Corp., an asset management company that already holds 25.29 percent of its equity. Himaraya’s share price fell by 6.6 percent ...
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Adidas announces further progress on recycled materials
In 2021, more than 60 percent of Adidas’ products will be made with sustainable materials such as recycled polyester or sustainable cotton, according to the company. By 2024, the brand will only use recycled polyester. All of the cotton it uses, the company adds, has been of the sustainable variety ...
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Zalando hires a “circularity director” away from H&M
Laura Coppen, who has been a major contributor to H&M’s sustainability efforts for almost five years, is joining Zalando to serve as “circularity director,” charged with implementing a program to promote greater transparency among its partner brands in the area of environmental protection. Her appointment follows a number of initiatives ...
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Alpine ski resorts under siege
Austria’s ski resorts were reopened on Dec. 24 as planned, and videos showed that they welcomed plenty of local tourists, as hotels and restaurants have remained closed. A further restriction came from the government’s decision to ban non-essential retailing, including the sale of skis and other sports products, at physical ...
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Mizuno establishes European headquarters in the Netherlands
Joining many other sports brands that have their European hub in the Netherlands, Mizuno has established a new company for its European business, Mizuno Europe B.V., headquartered in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. The new company, which is a 100 percent subsidiary of Mizuno, will begin operations on Jan. 1, ...
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Asics launches its “Vision2030” strategy
Asics has launched “Vision2030,” the company’s new long-term vision and targets for the coming ten years. During this timeframe and beyond, the company said it plans to expand its business in three domains: Product, Facility and Community, and Analysis and Diagnosis. The Product domain will focus on the creation of ...
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ArticleDiversity and inclusion bring benefits for Puma and other companies
In 2020, the year of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, diversity and inclusion burst onto the public agenda. The theme has emerged on companies’ radars, too. Diversity and inclusion are increasingly criteria by which companies are evaluated, and they are producing many positive results. While some footwear and sportswear ...
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ArticleE-tailers and fewer ski resorts escape new anti-Covid measures
Frasers Group, the parent company of the Sports Direct chain, was the first major retailer in the U.K. to withdraw its guidance for its current financial year after the government, on Dec. 19, ordered the shutdown of all stores selling non-essential products in London and Eastern and Southeastern England. They ...
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ArticlePeloton prepares to acquire Precor
Peloton Interactive has entered into an agreement to acquire Precor, the American producer of fitness equipment products, for $420 million. Precor, which last reported a turnover of close to $450 million in 2018, is a unit of Amer Sports, which has been taken over by a consortium that includes Anta ...
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ArticleIndustry Insights: How to find new B2B business in a digitalized market
- a contribution by Martin Kössler, CEO of Huginbiz® (*) - The past spring created for most of us a feeling of pandemic panic and business paralysis. Offices were shut down and most employees were asked to work from home. From a pure productivity perspective, it gave ...
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ArticleDigital Ispo Munich 2021 is taking shape
As we have already reported, the next Ispo Munich trade show will be in a digital-online mode for the first time in its 50-year history. Running for five days instead of four and accessible 24 hours per day, Ispo Munich Online 2021 is scheduled for Feb. 1-5. Bookings made by ...
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ArticleDigital, China and EMEA help Nike to grow strongly
The Nike group reported good results for its second fiscal quarter ended on Nov. 30, boosted by sharply higher online sales and double-digit growth in the EMEA region and China. On a constant-currency basis, the Nike brand’s sales rose by 8 percent to reach a level of $10,700 million, driven ...
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ArticleHow Covid-19 has impacted companies' trade show budgets
It has become commonplace to say that the Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated trends that were already underway with the digitalization of the economy and society in general. Trade shows have been one the sectors most affected by the phenomenon as restrictions on travel and mass events worldwide prompted them ...
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EU grants conditional approval for Google’s acquisition of Fitbit
The anti-trust division of the European Commission has approved the $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, based on various commitments, including a pledge not to use the fitness wearables company’s health and wellness data for targeted search or display advertising for ten years. The ...
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WFSGI’s Covid-19 monthly survey shows a need for agility
The World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) has published the results of the November edition of its WFSGI Covid-19 Impact Survey, a monthly report conducted among manufacturers as well as retailers and brands to provide insights and try to predict the future of the sporting goods businesses in ...
