CACI: Consumers prioritising athleisure over premium fashion
Data specialists CACI has found a shift in consumer spending towards athleisure-focused brands and fitness, and away from premium fashion retailers.
CACI’s Brand Dimensions Platform – which tracks £4bn of monthly spend across 300 brands – found that despite inflationary pressures, higher average transaction value (ATV) retail brands such as Reiss, Sunglass Hut, and Patagonia experienced a strong growth in sales in spring 2023.
A little over a year later, however, these brands have failed to capitalise on that momentum, with some brands seeing considerable drops in sales, such as & Other Stories (-23%), Mint Velvet (-22%), Flannels (-19%), and Ralph Lauren (-13%), comparing May 2023 with May 2024.
In comparison, premium sportswear brands such as Gym Shark (+51%), Lululemon (+24%), and Sweaty Betty (+20%) have seen significant year-on-year increases in sales. Lululemon in particular has seen sales growth in each of the past 12 months, despite having the highest ATV of the aforementioned brands.
CACI found that the wellness market overall is catching large amounts of consumer spend, with gym operators seeing year-on-year sales increases, such as The Gym Group (+16%), Virgin Active (+106%), and Third Space (+31%).
CACI said the Brand Dimensions data indicates that, whilst premium fashion as a category continues to attract consumer spend, brands with a core formal and casual fashion offering are currently losing out to those with an own-brand sportswear collection or dedicated athleisure concept.
Rachael Bedford, principal consultant at CACI, said: “What a difference a year makes. Our Brand Dimensions data paints the picture of a consumer trend to invest in high-end athleisure and wellness, as many premium fashion brands outside of this space struggle to build on the momentum we identified in spring 2023. Whilst traditional premium brands are losing their grip on their fashion market share, consumers are choosing to expand their wardrobes with high-end athleisure clothing, signalling a new wave of premium fashion with fitness ingrained.
“We’re seeing many high street retailers release own-brand fitness lines, no doubt because they’re also seeing athleisure go from strength to strength. As people continue to place more attention to their outgoings, it’s never been so important for retail to remain agile, responding to changing consumer behaviour to capture discretionary spend in a seriously competitive space.”