Marks & Spencer has welcomed sportswear giants Puma and Reebok to its ‘The Sports Edit on M&S’, as the retailer continues to bolster its sportswear offer.
As part of its ‘Brands at M&S’ strategy, more than 140 products from the global sportswear brands will be added to M&S.com throughout February and March. This includes a range of performance and lifestyle apparel and footwear, such as Reebok’s bestselling footwear styles, the Club C and the Nano.
The latest arrivals follow the launch of The Sports Edit on M&S.com in February 2023; in the 12-month period searches for sportswear on M&S.com have grown by 110% vs LY.
M&S.com is now home to 20 third-party partners which include five out of the top ten global sportswear brands: adidas, Puma, Columbia, ASICS and Reebok – as well as Sweaty Betty and Girlfriend Collective.
M&S’ dedicated sportswear platform is designed to offer customers curated inspiration across more than 800 products from both third-party brand partners, as well as M&S’ own brand activewear collection – Goodmove – which continues to go from strength to strength selling over 1.6 million items annually.
The sportswear market was estimated to be worth over £15.3bn in the UK in 2022, accounting for approximately 26% of total spend on apparel and is expected to continue to grow by 16.3% between 2022 and 2027.
M&S continues to double-down on its sportswear offer, welcoming third-party brand partners that complement and complete its own-brand offer, with branded footwear, leggings, sweat tops and outerwear particularly popular amongst M&S customers.
Nishi Mahajan, director of Third-Party Brands, at M&S, said: “Sportswear is an integral part of our wider Brands at M&S strategy as we continue to grow market share and brand credibility in the category. Our dedicated platform has been carefully curated to cater for every style, energy level and price point, complementing and completing the strength we have in our core Goodmove range. We’re growing at pace – and there is more to come this year.”
Timeline of Sportswear at M&S
• January 2020 – M&S launched activewear collection, Goodmove
• March 2021 – ‘Brands at M&S’ officially launched introducing several clothing brands to M&S.com
• March 2022 – M&S invested in The Sports Edit as part of Brands at M&S strategy
• February 2023 – The Sports Edit launched on M&S.com welcoming 13 global sportswear brands including Girlfriend Collective, ASICS and VEJA
• September 2023 – adidas and Sweaty Betty launched on The Sports Edit on M&S.com
Nick Paulson-Ellis, founder and CEO of The Sports Edit, added: “Our carefully curated edit of sportswear partners on The Sports Edit platform on M&S.com now includes five out of the top ten global sportswear brands, with more to follow later in the year – and we’re still only one year in.”
Learn more about the sportswear in the RetailX Global Sports Sector 2023 report. It looks at the largest 50 global sports brands and their performance. The report also considers how Athleisurewear and fashion sports have saved this sector, and the fact that sports goods consumers want to be sustainable but they also like high turnover and brand new items.
