This week’s top apparel-related datasets included Dick’s Sporting Goods continuing its successful growth strategy, Zumiez reporting falling sales after a challenging FY23 and an International Labour Organization (ILO) investigation on growing profits from forced labour.

Dick’s Sporting Goods plans profitable expansion 

US omnichannel retailer Dicks Sporting Goods is accelerating its investments in its growth strategy after the continued success of its news store formats and omnichannel experience and achieving $12.98bn in net sales, a 5% increase from $12.36bn in FY22.

The global sports equipment retail market is forecasted to reach $203.2bn in 2025 according to research by GlobalData. It claims Asia-Pacific accounts for the largest in market value with 44.1% followed by Europe with 27.6%, the US with a close 24%, the Middle East with 1.7% and the rest of the world at 5.4%

Dick’s Sporting Goods conducted a comprehensive review of its store portfolio concerning its outdoor speciality business and completed a business optimisation review during the fourth quarter, incurring pre-tax charges of $84.8m for the full year 2023.

Looking ahead CEO Lauren Hobart forecasts “another strong year”. She said: “We plan to grow both our sales and earnings through positive comps, higher merchandise margin and productivity gains.”

This follows a reduction in profits in Dick’s second quarter ended 29 July 2023 back in August which analysts described as “disappointing” and being driven by an increase in theft, an issue that was impacting many retailers in the industry at the time.

Zumiez adjusts strategy after ‘challenging’ global market

US-based retailer Zumiez said it will slow its planned European store growth and close underperforming stores in the US after concluding a “difficult year”.

The retailer reported stronger than anticipated fourth-quarter results, despite losses in both Q4 (14 weeks ended 3 February 2024 and FY23 (53 weeks ended 3 February 2024).

CEO Rick Brooks said in a statement the retailer's North American menswear category “turned positive” in November through to January.

The global growth of menswear apparel in recent years has been positive but relatively slower compared to other segments of the apparel market.

According to data from GlobalData, the global market for menswear apparel was expected to grow by 7.00% in 2022, reaching $1.5m.

This represents a CAGR of 11% between 2022 and 2025, with the market projected to reach $2m by 2025.

GlobalData also expects speciality store market growth in Europe in the next few years to be positive. The retail market in five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) is expected to experience a notable increase in total retail sales from €2.3tn ($2.5tn) to €2.7tn between 2023 and 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.9%.

ILO calls for enforcement to halt flow of illegal profit

In a report titled Profits and Poverty: The economics of forced labour, ILO estimated that forced labour in the private sector generated $236bn profit each year across the world, this figure has increased by $64bn (37%) since previous estimates were published in 2014.

The organisation states that traffickers and criminals were generating close to $10,000 in profit per victim, up from $8,269 in 2014, adjusted for inflation.

It was found that Europe and Central Asia had the highest annual illegal profit from forced labour, totalling $84bn, followed by Asia and the Pacific with $62bn, the Americas with $52.1bn, Africa with $19.8bn, and the Arab States with $18bn.

ILO calculated that in 2021, there were 27.6m people involved in forced labour on any given day, which is equivalent to 3.5 people for every 1,000 individuals in the world. Between 2016 and 2021, the total number of people in forced labour increased by 2.7m.

By category, the industry sector is described as having the highest rates of illegal profit from forced labour with a total of $35bn annual profits, followed by the services sector, which sees a total of $20.8bn in annual profit, agriculture which saw a total of $5bn and domestic work with $2.6bn.