CMSC has released a research report indicating that outdoor and athleisure brands continue to demonstrate strong growth, while traditional sportswear brands are still in a recovery phase.

From a manufacturing perspective, the report recommends focusing on companies benefiting from brand supply chains, particularly those linked to football. It highlights **Shenzhou International** (02313) for its close collaboration with Adidas on football apparel and its status as a major supplier to Nike and Adidas; **Crystal International** (02232) for its significant cooperation in sportswear and high export share to North America; **Yue Yuen Ind** (00551) for its involvement in some football products and attractive valuation; and **Huali Group** (300979.SZ), which stands to benefit from partnerships with Adidas, ON, and New Balance.

From a brand perspective, attention is drawn to **ANTA SPORTS** (02020), a shareholder in PUMA. Should football-related styles become a major trend, PUMA's potential positive returns might be realized earlier.

The report's core analysis follows. Performance among leading international sportswear companies diverged in Q1 2026, with outdoor and athleisure brands sustaining high growth as traditional sportswear brands continue their recovery.

Sports participation is rapidly diversifying across scenarios, with notable activity in football, motorsport, comprehensive training, and trail running.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, expanded in scale and hosted across North America, is anticipated to stimulate consumption of football apparel, footwear, and related merchandise, suggesting a focus on benefiting supply chains.

Since May, major international sportswear brands have reported quarterly results, continuing a trend of performance divergence. Outdoor and fashion-forward sport brands maintained robust growth.

Amer Sports reported a 32.1% year-on-year revenue increase for Q1 2026, while ON Running achieved 26.4% constant-currency revenue growth, with strong momentum continuing for Arc'teryx, Salomon, and ON's running and athletic fashion lines.

Within the sport-casual segment, Uniqlo, Adidas, and Deckers exhibited steady growth. However, traditional leaders like Nike, PUMA, and Under Armour remain in phases of product, channel, and inventory adjustment, with their growth quality and profitability requiring further validation.

Sports demand continues to fragment into specialized scenarios, with niche sports showing healthy demand, some of which spills over into the sport-casual category.

Amer Sports benefits from Arc'teryx's premium outdoor positioning, Salomon's trail running growth, and softgoods. ON Running continues its strong growth in premium running and athletic fashion (over 20%).

Adidas performed well across football, motorsport, running, training, and Originals apparel (all achieving double-digit growth). While PUMA's overall recovery is ongoing, its football, golf, training, and HYROX-related products showed solid performance.

Overall demand in the sportswear and footwear sector remains relatively soft, primarily due to the lack of a single dominant sports scenario absorbing demand, historically seen with basketball, running, and then outdoor activities.

The key focus moving forward is whether a new, high-volume sports trend will emerge to capture consumer interest.

The World Cup has the potential to drive new sports demand or trends, potentially replicating the market momentum seen with the Samba sneaker trend.

The 2026 World Cup, jointly hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico with an extended 39-day schedule, presents a unique combination of factors: a high-consumption North American market, tri-nation hosting, expanded format, and a longer exposure period.

This is expected to boost demand for jerseys, training wear, football boots, fan merchandise, collaborative fashion lines, and sports lifestyle products.

Drawing parallels to the low-top retro trend driven by the Samba shoe in 2023, fueled by celebrity street style and social media, which lifted market capitalizations for brands like Adidas and ASICS (Adidas +60%, ASICS +200%+) and their manufacturers (Huali +54%, Yue Yuen +141%), the report suggests close monitoring of brands with significant football sponsorships like Adidas, Nike, and PUMA, as well as companies with high sales exposure to North America like Amer Sports and ON Running.

Risk factors include volatility in raw material prices, weaker-than-expected overseas demand impacting manufacturing orders, insufficient consumer spending pressuring brand sales, and inventory devaluation risks.