Nike, Under Armour Battle Over Declining Cross-Trainer Market

Nike Sparq Line Failing To Gain Traction With Consumers

The footwear industry has "hoped that dueling performance trainers from Nike and Under Armour [UA] would rejuvenate the long-declining cross-trainer segment, but Nike's performance-trainer sales actually declined in March," the first month its Sparq line was on the market, according to Jeremy Mullman of AD AGE. SportsOneSource analyst Matt Powell: "The Nike results have been termed disappointing by retailers. They haven't moved the needle." Sparq's failure to "gain early traction with consumers ... might be seen as a bad omen" for UA's forthcoming New Prototype cross-trainer, the company's first non-cleated shoe to be released this week. Nike's slow start also "raises doubts about whether a recession was the best time to ask people to buy a second shoe." The two companies are "squabbling over a minuscule piece of the market." Performance trainers make up just $250M in annual sales of the $19B footwear industry. Meanwhile, a TNS Media Intelligence report claims UA, which debuted its New Prototype campaign with a 60-second spot during Super Bowl XLII, spent "about $6[M] in measured media through February," 37% of its entire '07 spend. However, several analysts said that they "expect the [UA] launch to do particularly well at back-to-school time." Powell: "There are lots of kids totally devoted to the Under Armour brand, and this is the first UA shoe they can wear to school" (AD AGE, 4/28 issue).