Sports and Fitness Industry Surpasses $84 Billion in Wholesale Sales

Source: Sports & Fitness Industry Association

Silver Spring, MD – April 20, 2015 – The sports and fitness industry grew 3.5% in 2014, representing $84.3 billion in wholesale sales in the United States, according to the 2015 Manufacturers’ Sales by Category Report published by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). The $84.3 billion is an increase of over $10 billion from 2010 when the industry topped $74 billion wholesale.

“It’s a good sign when our industry sales growth exceeds national GDP,” said Tom Cove, SFIA’s President & CEO. “Emerging technology remains a key focus of SFIA members, igniting both equipment and apparel developments for the consumer. The growing phenomenon of “Athleisure” increasingly incorporated into consumers’ everyday fashion choices bodes well for companies in apparel. Proof of this is best seen in the growth of the Performance Apparel & Fitness Apparel markets.”

Total Sports Apparel grew 4% reaching $34.1 Billion, up from $32.8 Billion the previous year.

Fitness Apparel grew 13.3% to $394 million wholesale, up $47 million from $347 million in 2013. Performance Apparel was also a big growth driver in 2014 as the market was up 7.8% ($111 million) from 2013, surpassing $1.5 billion in wholesale sales for the first time. 

Total Sports Equipment grew 2.7% to $22.8 Billion, led by firearms, fishing, camping, golf and football respectively. In the separate Fitness Equipment category, consumer exercise equipment grew 4.7% to $3.75 Billion and institutional exercise equipment increased 4.0% to $1.31 Billion.  Treadmills continue to be the largest selling exercise equipment category by a large margin.  

Total Athletic Footwear shipments reached $14.48 Billion, an increase of 4.3% from previous year.  Running footwear continues to dominate as a category leader with $4.3 Billion in 2014 shipments, followed by Kids, Classics, Basketball and Skate Surf.  

The results of the 2015 SFIA Manufacturers’ Sales by Category Report, conducted by Sports Marketing Surveys USA, are derived from a combination of aggregated quantitative data that is collected from a sample of manufacturers in a variety of product categories. These raw numbers are then combined with a series of interviews and other industry data. The report provides yearly projections on the health of the sporting goods and fitness industry in over 100 categories dating back to 2009.

The 2015 SFIA Manufacturers’ Sales by Category Report is FREE to all current SFIA members and $99 for non-members. More information about the report can be found here.