The ‘gorpcore’ upstarts that took on Nike and Adidas
Leisurewear giants should learn from outdoor fashion minnows, writes Hannah Boland
As he prepared to board a helicopter outside the White House in Washington last month, Joe Biden became an accidental fashion icon.
The 81-year-old was pictured wearing a $150 (£120) pair of “maximum stability” trainers, sparking speculation that his campaign advisers sought to avoid the unwanted attention created by his fall last summer. Alongside his usual navy suit, shirt and tie, he wore black trainers by Hoka, the California outdoors brand popular with celebrities such as singer Justin Bieber and model Bella Hadid.
Hoka is just one of a number of so-called gorpcore brands disrupting traditional sportswear trends and causing a headache for behemoths such as Nike and Adidas which have long commanded the market.
Inspired by the phrase “good ol’ raisins and peanuts”, the trail mix eaten by American hikers, gorpcore is now used to refer more generally to hiking, camping or outdoor clothing that is worn for fashion rather than utility.
These rival upstarts are often brainchild of self-proclaimed eco-warriors such as “existential dirtbag” Yvon Chouinard, who launched Patagonia; or sports enthusiasts such as former Swiss Ironman champion Olivier Bernhard, who set up On Running after his sponsors were unable to offer him the right “running sensations”.
Josh Rothery, a buyer for outdoors retailer Outsiders Store, says gorpcore was barely mentioned by its customers when the company opened its first shop in 2017. He says there has been a shift in the type of customer buying outdoorwear over recent years.
“These customers are a bit different,” he says. “They can be younger but maybe not – more importantly, they’re approaching the outdoors in a different way.”
The aesthetic has since been catapulted into the mainstream. On Asos, there are three separate guides on how to style yourself to get the look. M&S recently suggested its shoppers try the “surprisingly wearable” trend.
Increasingly, retailers are starting to dedicate more shelf space to these smaller outdoors brands, a move which comes at the expense of sportswear giants Nike and Adidas. Archive data for the website of one major UK sportswear retailer suggests that the number of Nike trainers on sale has shrunk by around a third since 2021. It is a similar picture in the US, where figures from Yipitdata found that Nike and Adidas both experienced a drop in the footwear category at Dick’s Sporting Goods, the largest sportswear retail chain in America.
Meanwhile, shoe retailer Footlocker reported that 36pc of its sales came from brands outside of Nike last year, compared to 32pc a year earlier. Among its fastest-growing brands were Hoka and On Running.
One sportswear veteran says retailers have introduced new brands because the designs from Nike and Adidas were not exciting enough. “They haven’t had as much creativity in recent years and so everyone had to look at these new brands like Hoka and On Running,” he says.
Kate Calvert, an analyst at Investec, agrees it is a matter of brands prioritising creating innovative designs and looks. “Both Nike and Adidas have gone through a couple of years of slower innovation relying on key franchises like Air Force One,” she says. “You have definitely seen more interesting designs coming from On Running, New Balance and Hoka.”
While Adidas and Nike remain the biggest players in sportswear, the rise of these smaller brands is causing a headache for both, Calvert says. In February, Deckers, which owns Hoka, posted a 22pc increase in sales of the trainers brand to hit $429m (£340m) for the third quarter compared with a year earlier. Swiss athletics brands On Running raked in sales of £1.6bn in 2023, a surge of 47pc compared with the year prior. Mckinsey analysts wrote in a recent report: “Brands are expected to forge ever-closer ties between style and utility as lifestyle brands deepen investment in the outdoors, and outdoor brands increasingly court fashion-focused customers.” According to UK figures from Globaldata, between 2019 and 2022, Hoka and On Running both made significant gains. Hoka went from holding 0.5pc of the sportswear market in 2019 to 1.6pc in 2022 and On Running from 0.3pc to 0.6pc. Nike’s share of the sportswear market, meanwhile, slipped from 14.1pc to 13.2pc. Adidas fell from 11pc to 9.6pc. There is still a crucial gap between the leaders and their rivals. But, signs that shoppers are switching to other brands will add to frustrations among the sportswear incumbents. Earlier this month, Adidas posted its first loss in more than 30 years. The German sportswear giant recorded a loss of €58m (£50m) from its continuing operations in 2023 compared to a €254m profit a year
‘They haven’t had as much creativity in recent years and so everyone had to look at these new brands’
earlier. Revenues were down around 5pc at €21.4bn in 2023, with the discontinuation of the Yeezy deal contributing to a €500m decline in sales during 2023.
Meanwhile, at Nike, Williams Trading analysts say that “demand for its product is waning”. In its latest set of results earlier this month, Nike said revenues were slightly higher than last year. However, it follows a series of gloomy updates where management has warned that it is becoming more difficult to get shoppers to spend between holidays such as Black Friday.
Shares in Nike are down by around a fifth over the past year.
“We remain unconvinced that Nike has the experienced team in place that can identify and execute what’s needed to get Nike firmly back on its tracks,” analysts at Williams Trading said. “It appears as if Nike is looking backwards from a product perspective to move forward.”
Nike executives reject suggestions that it has been slow on the uptake.
It seems, for now at least, Nike and Adidas still need to find their footing. Both have suffered stumbles.
Perhaps, like Biden, the answer lies in looking to brands like Hoka or On Running for inspiration. It could, after all, give them the stability the sportswear companies sorely need.