Dick’s Sporting Goods is launching its own athleisure line for men

Dick’s Sporting Goods enters a hotly contested market for men’s athletic apparel with the launch of its own brand VRST.

VRST will debut on Dick’s website and a standalone VRST.com Tuesday, and will be rolled out in more than 400 Dick’s stores in the coming weeks, the company said. Items in the line, including everything from joggers and shorts to T-shirts, quarter-zip and hooded sweatshirts, sell anywhere from $ 30 to $ 120, putting it on the higher end of the market when it comes to price.

Following the success Dick’s has had with its Calia athleisure line for women, the company said it saw an empty space in its stores to have a more luxurious and lifestyle-driven line for men. The line will not compete directly with the sweat-wicking performance gear sold by Under Armor and Nike. Instead, it is more like Lululemon.

Dick’s increased private label investments are coming, however, as major brands such as Nike and Under Armor have pledged to sell more merchandise directly to consumers. Adidas announced earlier this month that its direct-to-consumer industry should make up 50% of net sales by 2025. While Dick’s still carries these brands, the hub has put more pressure on wholesalers to have exclusive lines such as Calia and VRST. drive traffic and sales.

In 2020, Dick’s made $ 1.3 billion in sales of its own brands. Total sales were $ 9.58 billion. The company said its own brands outperformed national labels in the golf, fitness, outdoor equipment and team sports categories. Calia was the second-best women’s clothing brand behind only Nike last year, it said.

VRST will be the second brand to launch Dick’s with its own website. Calia was the first.

“When you see VRST, it’s going to be a very different product line than when we have it now with our core suppliers, and it’s a blank space,” Dicks Chief Executive Lauren Hobart said in an earnings call earlier this month. “It covers a wide variety of activities.”

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

Companies like Lululemon, Nike, Adidas and Under Armor have gained momentum in the past 12 months than clothing brands focusing on workwear and dress items. And in turn, more traditional clothing brands and department store chains quickly shifted their merchandise and marketing towards casual and comfort, creating more uproar in an already boisterous category.

For example, ahead of the pandemic, Lululemon said it planned to double its men’s business in five years. Direct-to-consumer men’s athleisure brands such as Rhone, Ten Thousand and Vuori have also doubled their online marketing spend to reach new customers. Even department store retailers Nordstrom and Kohl’s have put a renewed focus on activewear to boost sales. Kohl’s efforts include an in-house line called FLX, which debuted earlier this month.

At the same time there is enormous growth in space.

Last year, men’s activewear gained market share to represent 45% of the total menswear market, compared to 39% in 2019, according to data collected by consumer research firm NPD Group. Categories that helped generate dollars in the space included sweatpants, which were up 16% year over year, and sweatshirts, which were up 3%, he said.

But VRST isn’t a hasty fix for taking advantage of a pandemic pop. It’s been a few years in the making, the company said.

“And of course we are maximizing the current momentum,” said Nina Barjesteh, senior vice president of product development, in an interview. “But above all, we continue to look at the long term and ensure that we make products that you want to return to.”

Shares of Dick are up more than 190% in the last 12 months, since the market closed on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $ 7 billion.