With supply chain woes finally easing, Brooks Running started to meet demand again in May, keeping the company on track to grow double-digit revenue this year.
Brooks saw revenue rise 11% in the second quarter, it said Thursday. The double-digit performance represents an improvement from the first quarter, when it saw a slight decline in sales, according to The NPD Group. The Berkshire Hathaway-owned brand does not publish an earnings report and so has not officially commented on its first-quarter sales.
Brooks CEO Jim Weber, however, admitted in April that last year’s factory closures in Vietnam “have prevented us from meeting strong market demand.” That changed in the second quarter, with the brand saying it started to meet “strong demand” in May “in the face of economic and supply chain stressors.”
The resumption of manufacturing, he added, allowed Brooks to launch its Glycerin 20 franchise in June, a “key factor” in achieving revenue growth of 12% and 38% in the United States and Europe. , the Middle East and Africa, respectively. The company also began its soft launch in China in the second quarter, focusing on digital sales. Although other sneaker brands have recently stumbled in the world’s most populous country – first due to a boycott of Western brands and more recently due to Covid lockdowns – Brooks noted the large market for the running of the country.
Citing data from the NPD Group and the Retail Tracking Service, Brooks says it held the top spot in adult performance running shoes in the United States for a second consecutive quarter in the second quarter, with 21% market share. The brand also claimed to have landed five of the top 25 spots for adult performance running shoes in US retail in the first half of the year. Its Ghost and Adrenaline lines, he noted, maintained their position as two top-selling franchises in the US market, with a combined 14% of revenue.
“We’ve seen great excitement for our breakthrough nitrogen infusion technology and the launch of our Glycerin 20 franchise, and we look forward to bringing the carbon-neutral Ghost 15 to runners in November,” Weber said in a statement. . “By spreading the race and its energy to even more people around the world, Brooks has seen double-digit growth with more to come in the second half of this year.”
The latest Glycerin models feature the new nitrogen-infused DNA Loft v3 midsole. The innovation allows Brooks to “control the cellular structures” and density of the midsole, “refining” the underside of the foot to meet different needs, preferences and environments. Nitrogen-infused technology is available in Brooks Glycerin 20 and Caldera 6 styles.
Although NPD data showed the U.S. running shoe market fell 10% in the second quarter, Brooks said his long-term outlook remains positive and he believes global participation “will grow to exit from the pandemic and exceed historical trends”.
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