Research Outline

Female Active Wear Industry - United Kingdom

Goals

To have an understanding of the female active wear industry in the United Kingdom. Specifically, to know the size of the market, who the key players are, and what the trends are in the female active wear industry.

Early Findings

  • Retailers across the UK and US have increased their active wear offerings by 22 percent, which has led to a 27 percent jump in full-priced sell outs, according to the latest results from retail research company Edited.
  • "Trainers have already overtaken high-heels sales within the UK, so it should come as no surprise that one quarter all stocked sportswear online is footwear. Over the past two years the three largest product categories within sportswear have been footwear (26 percent), followed by tops (22.2 percent) and bottoms (20.1 percent), which together total 68.3 percent of all sportswear items stocked by retailers."
  • “Our extensive analysis shows that active wear is not a saturated market, rather, with more newcomers it’s an aggressively competitive and growing industry,” says Katie Smith, senior retail analyst at Edited. “Whether it’s launching new labels or the latest stretchy denim styles, active wear is a must-have in closets worldwide.”
  • Printed leggings may be a trend that is over.
  • Streetwear is a heavy influence on active wear.
  • Offering plus sizes is something more and more companies (like Nike) are doing.
  • Sustainable fabrics is a big trend. "In the last two years, there has been a 90% increase in active wear products with 'odor control' properties, a 48% lift in 'moisture wicking', but only a 36% increase in organic products. That's about to change. H&M this month launch its Conscious Collection active wear, which uses recycled fibers. With a global footprint, they'll educate the market on the possibility of active wear that doesn't cost the earth, both literally and figuratively."
  • Athleisure is dominant in the fashion industry to the point that Global Industry Analysts Inc. is indicating that the market will reach $231.7 billion worldwide at the end of 2024.
  • McKinsey reported that active wear would be the dominating category in fashion in 2019.
  • Sweaty Betty, Varley, Every Second Counts, LNDR, Vaara, and Monreal London are all top British female active wear brands.
  • In addition to this public search, we scanned our proprietary research database of over 1 million sources and were unable to find any specific research reports that address the stated goals.

Summary Of Our Early Findings Relevant To The Goals

  • Our first hour of research confirmed that there is an abundance of information on this topic.
  • In our initial hour of research we were able to provide several insights and trends, and many statistics surrounding the topic. We were able to provide the predicted global growth rate of the athleisure market to 2024, and confirm that active wear will be a dominating fashion category. We also identified six top British Athleisure brands.
  • It is highly unlikely that we will be able to provide a gender based market sizing that is not triangulated.
  • We did not have enough time in our initial hour of research to find/calculate/triangulate the market size in the UK, nor did we have time to do a competitive landscape on the six players we found.
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