Active

Business Insider published an article about the decline of denim among female teens in the US in favor of more casual, and comfortable, activewear. According to the Spring 2015 Piper Jaffray survey on teen spending, “athletic-leisure, preppy, legging and jogging pants are among the top teen fashion trends.”

It’s no surprise. Industry experts have been aware of the trend for quite some time. Major retail brands have been responding to the demand by offering leggings, yoga pants and activewear. For example, Gap acquired Athleta (a less expensive activewear alternative to Lululemon) in 2008. BuzzFeed discusses Athleta and the apparel trend here.

BuzzFeed:

The popularity of yoga pants, running tights, and other athletic gear is relatively new in the grand scheme of how American women dress. Lululemon, which was founded in 1998 and greatly helped fuel the trend, only went public in 2007. At that point, the company had 59 stores and close to $150 million in annual sales. Today, its yearly revenue has ballooned to $1.8 billion and it has 302 stores — and that’s despite the fierce, escalating competition from Athleta and other corporate behemoths like Under Armour and Nike, as well as upstarts like Sweaty Betty and Fabletics.

Lululemon’s number of stores and sales have exploded over the last eight years and Athleta has been on the rise for the last five years, while, Bloomberg reports, denim has essentially been in free fall.

Bloomberg:

By the summer of 2014, with sales of athletic pants rising 62 percent from 2010—and athleisure apparel looking less like a fad and more like a permanent addition to women’s closets—retail journalists began writing obituaries for women’s denim.

So who is benefiting from the “athlesiure” trend? Nike is the preferred provider of athleticwear followed by Under Armour, Lululemon and Adidas.

Regardless of whether consumers are driven by function, fashion, or a combination of the two, it looks like ladies denim is on its way out and athleticwear is here to stay. This is good news for athletic lifestyle brands but bad news for those in the jean business. Is denim done-im or can the Levi’s of the world reinvent the wheel and get ladies to jump back into jeans?

Photo Credit: www.thedailybeast.com — Photo Credit: http://www.thedailybeast.com

The Pacific Northwest’s toughest mother is back. According to AdWeek, Columbia Sportswear chairman, Gert Boyle, will make her return to commercials tomorrow with the tag line “Tested Tough.” If you ask her, she never left, “I’ve been coming to work at Columbia every day for more than 50 years. They just hadn’t pointed the camera at me in a while for some reason” (AdWeek Q&A).

Gert’s 91 years of life include: fleeing Nazi Germany, taking over the company when her husband died and foiling a kidnapping attempt. I’d say she’s the embodiment of “Tested Tough” and the campaign is in good hands.

From AdWeek:

“Most experts see Boyle’s return as a positive. “Older women are ‘in’—Joan Didion for Celine, Iris Apfel for Kate Spade so her resurrection of the ‘One Tough Mother’ persona could play into this,” said Michael Solomon, an industry consultant and professor of marketing at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Plus, ’90s nostalgia appeals to many consumers, so it makes sense for companies to leverage that trend if they can, said Matt Powell, an analyst at NPD Group. “Retro is a very important trend right now. I see no downside here,” he said.

However, Nick Clark, executive creative director at brand consultancy The Partners, injected a note of caution: “I’m concerned when a brand feels it has to revive an icon from a previous era. It seems to lack vision,” he said. “But, in its favor, it would be a distinctive approach for the category.”

Tune in tomorrow to determine if resurrecting Gert Boyle is a move in the right direction. I have a feeling it will pay dividends. If Gert’s sass, toughness and “mother/grand mother knows best” persona doesn’t warm your heart, then she can probably sell you something that will.

Active Lifestyle Brands

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Denim Is Out and ‘Athleisure’ Is In

Gert Boyle is Back in Columbia Sportswear’s New Ads