If we can believe the Frost & Sullivan Report, the global golf retail sales value will be cca. US$13.3 billion in 2019. This will be a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 3.3% between 2015 and 2019. In 2015, golf apparel and shoes represented 39.1% of the global golf retail sales.
In 2015, the value of the US golf retail market was $4,4 billion, according to the above-mentioned report. The US golf retail sales are expected to reach $4.8 billion in 2019.
This is important to highlight when we want to understand Chervò S.p.A.’s latest move. Chervò has acquired 95 percent of shares of Chervò USA, while the remaining 5 percent will be owned by two local investors.
Chervò USA is to be managed by vice president, sales & operations, and managing partner Layne Dempsey, who worked in a similar capacity under the former ownership, as supervisor to the office staff and sales agents.
The other motive is the growing interest in premium European brands from the company’s target audience – young, wealthy, fashion-conscious and fit consumers, both male and female.
Chervò and the Millennials
Chervò can benefit a lot from the athleisure (wearing activewear in everyday life) trend. The “sports leisure” style is beating all expectations in the US. The NPD Group found that in 2017, Millennials had the highest apparel growth rate of all generations at 4 percent, representing $2 billion in incremental sales.
Another growth area is women’s activewear. As wellness is taking shape as a major trend of 2018, it would good to figure out how could a golf apparel company like Chervò exploit it. Nike has already embraced this trend. I can see a direct connection between the wellness as a lifestyle trend and athleisure as feeling good drives the market.
These insights show where could the golf apparel industry grow among them the Italian Chervò.
FootJoy has already responded to this trend with the launch of FJ Golfleisure in 2016. But we can also find athleisure collections from companies like J. Lindberg, Sunice, Puma, Bobby Jones, etc.
