So every fashion brand from Tory Burch to Alexander Wang wants to get into the hot new sector known as activewear? Well, then, the king of activewear, a.k.a. Nike, is going to borrow a page from fashion.
On Wednesday, the brand held a runway show in New York — complete with top models (Karlie Kloss, Joan Smalls) and brand ambassadors (the American track star Allyson Felix, the recently retired Chinese tennis player Li Na, and the British long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe). It also summoned European fashion editors, many bedecked in neon Nikes. Oh, and clothes, especially one small capsule collection of black and white leggings, jackets and T-shirts by the Brazilian designer Pedro Lourenço.
There were also speeches — Nike did have to do things a bit its way — to explain why the brand was doing this.
The answer? “Women’s is a $5 billion business for us,” said Mark Parker, the chief executive of Nike, “which makes us one of the biggest women’s brands in the world.”
True enough.
On the back of the activewear/sports boom, he added, Nike thinks the sector can grow to “$7 billion in the next three years.”
That’s still just a third of the value of its men’s wear business, but women’s wear is Nike’s fastest-growing sector. According to the brand, the Nike+ Training Club app, which was designed for women, has been downloaded 16 million times; nine million women have downloaded the Nike+ Running app.
Thank you, fashion!
Mr. Parker was quite enthusiastic about the effect of the activewear trend. He didn’t dismiss efforts by Tory Burch and others to enter the world of workout gear. In fact, he said, “C’mon in!”
That was not just West Coast, good-vibe lovey-doviness. “The fashion focus has been good for us,” he said. “I embrace that world interpreting and extending what we do.”
In fact, it turns out that he sees at least three real benefits:
First, more and more designers are interested in becoming Nike collaborators. Aside from Mr. Lourenço, Nike has profitable relationships with Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy, Jun Takahashi of Undercover and Marc Newson, among others.
Second, given Nike’s serious technical knowledge — its new sports bra took two years to make and comes in 29 sizes — people really interested in working out often flirt with activewear from fashion brands but end up returning to Nike for performance reasons.
And third, dipping into the strategies of the fashion world, from shows to multiple colorways and prints, has allowed Nike to tap into that elusive, lucrative side of consumption known as desire. There are only so many sports bras one women really needs, but when they come in so many different sorbet shades … zowie!
Mr. Parker has also noticed another fashion phenomenon that he is really excited about and that is working in Nike’s favor: “Leggings are the new denim!” he said.
Nike offers many different kinds of leggings. “For women that is,” he qualified. He was, after all, wearing jeans.