Who’s winning the fastest growing market in sportswear? We hit the gym to find out. Photographer: Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images
Source: There’s a Crossfit War Being Fought Over Your Feet – Bloomberg
When I made my CG097III I tried to brand it as a shoe that could be used as a Crossfit shoe. I utilized heavy suede to reinforce the toebox and heel of the shoe. Little did I know I’d simply made a reinforced running shoe that shredded easily once a Crossfit athlete hit the ropes. That was the end of my failed attempt at trying to capture that market. This was three years ago. Once again, I’m storytelling to establish that I’m not new to this discussion.
I saw Crossfit as a market that if someone would take the time and listen to the athletes, if someone would go to the gym and do the workouts instead of making horrible looking shoes as Reebok did once they snuck in and took the branding opportunity, if a company listened to the community that company would benefit from a fast growing segment of fitness.
The Reebok branding didn’t sit well with the community. I recall athletes complaining just as they did with the UFC. In other words Reebok and Adidas dropped the ball on a great opportunity and they left the door open for another company to come in.
If I had the dough I would have taken that dive completely by redesigning my footwear. Alas times were hard, but a couple of ex Reebok guys did take the plunge as mentioned in the Source link from Bloomberg. NO BULL is a new brand that has been featured on this site (unlike other sneaker sites who have ignored the brand) and they have a no bull approach with a shoe that is winning a small share of the market, but right now there is no definitive winner just yet… Nike however, according to the small analysis done on Bloomberg, is holding a majority of the share.
This is a solid analysis by Kyle Stock and it speaks directly to what I wrote yesterday about Wall Street being stupid. Even when Nike is barely trying it can create a product and get it to market to disrupt the frontrunners.
Parkour and Ninja Warrior are sports that are primed for growth just as Crossfit has done. The company that can attack that market will be able to utilize a Crossfit shoe to do so… I wonder if that means NO BULL will be sponsoring a Ninja this spring? We will see. Right now I think K-Swiss is the major player in the Parkour area. Check out the source link for more info on the Crossfit war.
