Sportswear to 2030: Which regions are driving growth?

Sportswear is projected to surpass USD460 billion in global sales by 2030, but where will that growth come from? 

In this episode, Euromonitor’s fashion expert Marguerite Le Rolland tells you about the three largest growth regions: North America, Asia and Europe. See which markets are driving expansion, how consumer demand is evolving and where brands are uncovering new opportunities. 

You'll also hear how women's sports, racquet sports, outdoor activities and major events including the FIFA World Cup are creating new momentum. 

This episode features highlights from our sportswear webinar on 10 June. Watch the full session for additional insights on Nike, Adidas, Hoka and other leading competitors, along with five strategies to help brands compete in the sportswear market. 

00:00.00 Intro and overview

00:02.08 North America

00:09.22 APAC

00:13.06 Europe

Lots of brands claim to be number one… but can they prove it?

At Euromonitor International, we help brands build trust through evidence-based research. Our claim validation service ensures your marketing messages are backed by real data. Stand out in a crowded market. 

Visit euromonitor.com/claims to learn more.

Introducing Opportunity Minded, a new series from Euromonitor International designed for forward-thinking business leaders like you.  Each episode tackles a strategic approach or topic on corporate agendas.  You’ll hear from our experts who share in

Transcript

00:00:00:03 - 00:00:07:10
Speaker 1
Thanks for tuning in to this Euromonitor podcast. You're about to listen to some highlights from a recent webinar on the future of sportswear,

00:00:07:12 - 00:00:23:02
Speaker 1
where our global fashion expert shares insights into the three largest growth regions North America, Asia and Europe. You might hear us talk about slides, charts or on screen moments. If you'd like to follow along or want to watch the full webinar.

00:00:23:03 - 00:00:27:02
Speaker 1
You can find a link to the slides and video recording in the episode description.

00:00:27:08 - 00:00:32:16
Speaker 1
Beyond the regional outlooks featured here, the full webinar takes a look at leading competitors like Nike,

00:00:32:18 - 00:00:34:08
Speaker 1
Adidas and Hoka

00:00:34:08 - 00:00:38:16
Speaker 1
and outlines five strategies to help brands succeed in the sportswear market.

00:00:38:21 - 00:00:40:11
Speaker 1
Let's get into it.

00:00:40:13 - 00:00:53:11
Speaker 2
Before I start to look at the regional landscapes, I'd like to ask the audience a question which country do you think will be the largest contributor to global growth in sportswear to 2030?

00:00:53:12 - 00:00:57:06
Speaker 2
and I see China has the majority of votes.

00:00:57:11 - 00:00:57:20
Speaker 2


00:00:57:21 - 00:01:42:00
Speaker 2
But in fact, the largest contributor in absolute value growth will be the US market. The US today remains the largest sportswear market in the world, with a market value estimated around 160 billion USD in 2025. China is the second largest market with $60 billion. India is growing fast, but from a small base at $10 billion in 2025, but with a compound annual growth rate around 9% in the next few years, and Japan and the UK remain key spot where markets with cool collaborations, product launches and innovative concept stores, but are not going to be the largest contributors.

00:01:42:02 - 00:01:46:16
Speaker 2
Let's now move on to the regional landscapes.

00:01:46:19 - 00:02:14:01
Speaker 2
In terms of largest region, we can see North America is the largest region in terms of value. Sells for sportswear today. And it will continue to deliver significant absolute value growth. We are talking here about the region regional sales estimator around $170 billion in 2025, and the region is set to grow by around 3% compound annual growth rate in the next few years.

00:02:14:02 - 00:02:46:00
Speaker 2
In current prices, this is equivalent to less than 1% in constant terms. So if I take out the impact of inflation today, North America accounts for about 40% global value. Sales of sportswear APAC accounts for about a quarter of value sales globally and is set to grow more dynamically around 5% compound annual growth rate in the next few years, which is equivalent to 3% component growth rate in constant terms.

00:02:46:00 - 00:03:20:14
Speaker 2
And the EMA region is also equivalent to about a quarter of global sales in 2025, and is set to grow from about 4%. Current price. In current terms, sorry, and only 2% in constant terms. Key markets in Latin America, like Mexico, for example, are also going to be interesting and offering lots of opportunities. But today we will discuss in particular about North America, APAC and EMEA and focus on these three largest regions when it comes to global sportswear.

00:03:20:16 - 00:03:54:14
Speaker 2
Let's start with North America. Here we are. We are talking about Canada and the US market, which is the North American region as defined by Euromonitor International. And what we see is the US account for the lion's share of the regional selves. In fact, the US accounts for about 94% of the total sales. But we can see Canada, which is valued around $10 billion in 2025, is set to grow more dynamically with a compound annual growth rate around 5% when the US market will be around 3%.

00:03:54:16 - 00:04:40:13
Speaker 2
The region is dominated by the performance category, the performance category and composites. The specialised would wear and clothing that has been engineered and designed to enhance the athletic output of the users. This is designed for specific activities like football or racquet sports, for example, and typically utility utilises technical fabric and ergonomic designs. On the other hand, we see that sports inspired or lifestyle category is set to grow dynamically as well, and the outdoor segment, although much smaller than the other two, offers opportunity, especially as we see the merging between outdoor and expansion of outdoor activities in European environments.

00:04:40:13 - 00:05:19:02
Speaker 2
And the core trend driving really the blurring of the line between the outdoor brands and wider fashion brands. For example, The North Face launched a streetwear collection last year. In terms of product categories, could wear only accounts for 33% value sells in 2025, e-commerce represent about 35% value sells in 2025, and women's only account as well for about 35%, lagging behind menswear when it comes to sportswear and really offering opportunities to market players to tap into this demographic.

00:05:19:04 - 00:05:53:21
Speaker 2
And we are seeing that with different initiatives here. We have chosen the Nike collaboration with schemes, which is a good illustration of this blurring of the line between sportswear and the wider fashion industry, and we expect to see more and more of these collaborations in future. We're also seeing that when it comes to menswear, we see similar cultural levels and blurring of the line, with in particular non-sports fashion brand tapping into sports events to engage around these cultural moments with their audience.

00:05:53:22 - 00:06:18:21
Speaker 2
Here we see the example of Abercrombie and Fitch that does find that assigned a multi-year partnership with the NFL to address the players of pitch. Another interesting example is that of worry, the at leisure brand that has expanded into racquet spot recently and higher. Jack Draper, the US tennis player, to endorse their brand, signifying the expansion into professional sports.

00:06:18:23 - 00:06:47:10
Speaker 2
And last but not least, tomorrow will be the Kick-Off of the FIFA World Cup, the first time it's hosted in North America in the last 30 years. Expected to be a special moment to popularise soccer and football in the US, but also a huge global event with over 1 billion people having watched the Qatar final in 2022. So special moment for brand to sell their products.

00:06:47:15 - 00:07:20:22
Speaker 2
Looking more specifically at the FIFA World Cup stats, think at your Monitor International here. We expect the FIFA World Cup to attract 1.2 million visitors additional compared to last year in the host countries Canada, Mexico and the US. And that would generate about $6 billion of travel related expenses in the local economies. And this would recall across multiple sectors, not only spots where, but also hospitality, restaurants and shopping.

00:07:20:24 - 00:07:56:21
Speaker 2
Looking at the impact on Mexico in particular, we expect a a huge rise in the number of inbound arrivals and an opportunity for Mexico to drive these visitors away from the traditional hotspots on the coast, but also to explore more inland cities and cultural landmarks. So bringing extra revenue from tourist in 2026. And last but not least, as I mentioned before, because the FIFA World Cup is huge event globally, followed by millions or billions of fans around the world.

00:07:56:22 - 00:08:49:01
Speaker 2
This creates a very short term special landscape for brands to sell their products and gauge emotionally with the fandoms from around the world. We are seeing some interesting product launches here from the two top sponsors, Nike and Adidas. In particular, we decided to mention the Adidas FIFA Pet Collection that's been released last month, and it's available in select markets in Asia and Americas featuring the kids of Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and Japan and also Nike as recently dropped the special national kits in collaboration with local designers, and bronze, for example, the England kit in partnership with the streetwear brand Palace, or the French kit with the French brand Jacobus.

00:08:49:05 - 00:09:19:08
Speaker 2
So interesting innovations that really show that the impact of the FIFA World Cup has a lot of potential on driving demand and emotional engagement in the next few weeks. Moving on to APAC, we have here summarised the key markets in the region, and you can see China accounts for the lion's share in the region. China alone is about 55% of value sells across APAC.

00:09:19:10 - 00:09:58:23
Speaker 2
However, Japan and South Korea offer great potential and are still reputed for their great innovation. Tech savings. When other markets like India and Indonesia or Thailand will be growing quickly, quickly and offer great opportunities in terms of past growth. Looking at the subsegment, we can see that the market is dominated by the performance segment. But does segment, although smaller, offers great opportunity, which as it will grow by almost 9% compound annual growth rate in the next few years.

00:09:59:00 - 00:10:35:03
Speaker 2
Footwear is about 51% of regional sells in terms of value, e-commerce as a share of around 30%, but that's the regional average across the region. We see quite a few disparities with very mature e-commerce markets like China having a share around 38% for online and Indonesia only 16%, for example. When it comes to the gender split, we can see that women like for North America, like behind men and children only account for 11%.

00:10:35:04 - 00:11:06:18
Speaker 2
So here again, there is an opportunity for market players to better engage with the female demographics. But there is also a great opportunity to tap into this booming outdoor sector in the region and in particular in China, where we are seeing a lot of interest in the trail running discipline. In particular, Kailas Puja has positioned itself very strongly in that discipline and is actively expanding abroad now, in particular in Europe and the US market.

00:11:06:20 - 00:11:50:14
Speaker 2
We're seeing also some interesting innovation coming from Asics in Japan, where the market player, which is established in sports footwear, has now expanded into the wider footwear category, having launched a leather shoe collection and a walking range, which allows them to leverage this reputation and know how that, if developed for sportswear into the wider industry. And that's particularly relevant as the consumers aged 65 plus in Japan retain a very significant purchasing power, and they will grow by 18% by 2014.

00:11:50:16 - 00:12:15:15
Speaker 2
Looking at other disciplines that offer great opportunities in the region, we are looking at racquet sports, hierarchs and golf with increased participation across the board, including in India, where there's really a boom in paddle and pickleball. And of course, to succeed in this highly diverse region is very important for bronze to take a more local and culturally relevant approach.

00:12:15:16 - 00:12:44:05
Speaker 2
We've seen that, for example, with the Adidas tank jacket success, but also here with the Cantonese speaking activation campaign that Nike ran last year in partnership with Cantonese soup of soup chain and Cantonese Runner. And that was highly popular and they were received by the company speaking community. So we expect to see more of these initiatives going forward.

00:12:44:07 - 00:13:07:00
Speaker 2
Now, looking at the EMA region, Europe, Middle East and Africa, the region is characterised by an uneven growth across markets and the dominance of sports inspired or at least product. What we are seeing here on the country chart is that the UK, Germany and France are the three largest markets, but they are also opportunities with more emerging markets.

00:13:07:00 - 00:13:39:01
Speaker 2
For example, Turkey will grow very quickly in the next few years, and Poland also offers strong prospects. In terms of product category, footwear accounts for 45% of value share. E-commerce, on average is about 27% of value sells in 2025, although like in APAC, we are seeing some disparities across markets. The UK, for example, as an e-commerce, share nearly 40%.

00:13:39:01 - 00:14:13:10
Speaker 2
But in South Africa or Turkey, the e-commerce landscape is a lot less mature. And when it comes to gender splits, you can see that women again lag behind men having a share of 37% and children, which are individuals age 0 to 14 year old, have a share of 15%, men 48%. So looking at what's trending in the EMEA region, we see market players more actively targeting women in sports at all levels.

00:14:13:12 - 00:14:48:17
Speaker 2
In the UK, we've seen the lioness effect of how the victory of the England female team really generated more interest at all levels for women to take part in sports, but we are also seeing various initiatives. For example, here we've seen Vogue, the fashion magazine launching Spot and Wellness Club in partnership with New Balance in Poland. We see as well local community engagement being a key driver for consumer loyalty, with free run clubs run by on running, for example, across many cities across the region.

00:14:48:17 - 00:15:25:03
Speaker 2
And this was open on open to runners at all levels. Racquet sports are also growing in popularity, with various tennis federations investing in paddle and pickleball courts. And last but not least, the state remains relevant in the region as regulatory changes are happening. In particular, from 2027 onwards, there will be the digital product passport regulation or the eco design regulation coming, becoming effective and forcing market players to show their effort to what's greater circularity.

00:15:25:04 - 00:15:34:22
Speaker 2
For example, here we are seeing decathlon. That does really boosted that offering when it comes to second hand markets with their second life range.

00:15:34:24 - 00:15:48:09
Speaker 1
We hope you've enjoyed this episode. Remember to visit the link in the description to watch the full webinar and get the slides where you'll find market share data on leading athleisure players, as well as strategies to help brands compete in the sportswear market.