Running Stores Sprint Into Pickleball
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Welcome back to FN Daily, where we break down the biggest stories happening in footwear and retail.
In today's edition: running retailers are starting to sell pickleball merchandise and Birkenstock is benefitting from a viral "Barbie" moment. Plus, Happy Socks refreshes its brand.
Here's what you need to know:
Pickleball was America’s fastest-growing sport in 2022.
Now, run specialty storeowners are expanding their pickleball assortments, leveraging their established expertise in the world of athletic footwear.
To cater to this interest, The Running Event trade show this year will have a full-fledged pickleball court on the trade show floor hosted by K-Swiss, which will be looking to sign up retailers to carry their pickleball shoes in stores.
“Running stores are starting to diversify what they’re selling,” said Christina Henderson, executive director of?The Running Event. “The people who go run their local 5Ks and that type of thing are also doing yoga, they’re also hiking. Now, they’re also playing pickleball.”
The “Barbie” train just won’t quit. The Margot Robbie-led movie is ruling the box office, so far grossing $774 million globally.
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Now, Birkenstock is seeing the benefits. In the film, there’s a critical scene where Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) presents two options to Barbie (Robbie). Choose between staying in the perfect world of Barbieland, represented by a pair of sparkly high-heeled pink pumps, or, pick Birkenstock sandals, representing the real world to remedy Barbie’s existential crisis. “You can know the truth about the universe,” says Weird Barbie with the Birkenstocks in her hand.
According to Lyst, the movie moment sparked a 110% increase on searches for Birkenstock Arizonas following its release. Interestingly, Birkenstock is one of the few brands that didn’t formally collaborate with Mattel on an official “Barbie” collection.
Happy Socks has a new look.
After two years of development, the Swedish accessories company has unveiled a brand-new makeover including a refreshed logo, product labels, on-product branding and more.
According to Laura Frisk, chief marketing officer at Happy Socks, the need for the rebrand came from wanting to stand out more in the market. “We pride ourselves on being that brand that helps people stand out, but we felt our look didn’t reflect that same attitude anymore,” Frisk told FN in an interview. “We really wanted to create a new logo that can accomplish this for us in both a marketing perspective and product perspective.”
Happy Socks’ creative director Paula Maso said the “most important” element to the redesign was the creation of an icon for the first time. “This will allow us to brand all of our products in a distinctive way through the new ‘H’ icon. It’s a small but potent detail that hits all the marks from standing out on products to animating for digital applications features.”
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