Dick’s Sporting Goods launches its own men’s sports line

Dick’s sports products enter an extremely contested market for men’s sportswear, with the launch of its own brand called VRST.

VRST debuts Tuesday on Dick’s website and on an independent VRST.com and will be launched in more than 400 Dick stores in the coming weeks, the company said. The items in the line, which range from jogging and shorts to t-shirts, zippers and hooded sweatshirts, retail from $ 30 to $ 120, placing them at the top of the market when it comes to price.

After Dick’s success with the Calia women’s sports line, the company said it saw free space in its stores to have a more luxurious and lifestyle-oriented line for men. The line will not compete directly with the sweat-removing performance equipment sold by Under Armor and Nike. Instead, it is more like Lululemon.

Dick’s investment has increased, however, as well-known brands such as Nike and Under Armor have committed to selling more goods directly to consumers. Adidas announced earlier this month that direct consumer verticals should account for 50% of net sales by 2025. While Dick’s still bears those marks, the pivot has put more pressure on wholesale retailers to have such as Calia and VRST, to increase traffic and sales.

In 2020, Dick had sales of $ 1.3 billion from its domestic brands. Total revenue was $ 9.58 billion. The company said its own brands have surpassed national labels in the categories of golf, fitness, outdoor equipment and team sports. Calia was the second best women’s clothing brand to fall just 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 will be a very different product range than the one we have with our main sales partners right now and it’s a white space,” said Lauren Hobart, Dick’s CEO, earlier this month. , during a win call. “Covers a wide range of activities.”

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

Companies such as Lululemon, Nike, Adidas and Under Armor have seen more momentum in the last 12 months than clothing brands focused on workwear and more worn items. And, in turn, more traditional clothing brands and department store chains have quickly moved their merchandise and marketing to focus around casualness and comfort, creating more shouts in an already noisy category.

Before the pandemic, for example, Lululemon said he intended to double his men’s business in five years. Direct-to-consumer men’s sports brands, such as Rhone, Ten Thousand and Vuori, have also doubled their online marketing spending to reach new customers. Even retailers in Nordstrom and Kohl’s stores have put a new emphasis on active clothing, in an attempt to increase sales. Kohl’s efforts include an internal line called FLX, which debuted earlier this month.

At the same time, there has been a huge increase in space.

Last year, active men’s clothing gained market share to account for 45% of the total men’s clothing market, compared to 39% in 2019, according to data compiled by consumer research firm NPD Group. Categories that helped raise the dollar in space included sweatpants, which rose 16 percent year-over-year, and blouses, which rose 3 percent, he said.

But VRST is not a rushed solution to take advantage of a pop pandemic. It has been operating for several years, the company said.

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

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