The women’s sportswear sector in Australia has seen a 7 per cent year-on-year retail value growth in 2023, which is well ahead of the overall apparel market.
This is according to Euromonitor International’s Passport Apparel and Footwear system, which also shows that the women’s sportswear market recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 per cent from 2019 to 2023, highlighting its strong growth potential.
Euromonitor International research analyst Icey Huang said this comes as the Paris 2024 Olympics made history as the first Games with full gender parity on the field. This has generated widespread attention under the #GenderEqualOlympics hashtag.
“This focus on advancing women’s participation in sports has significantly influenced the Australian fashion industry, particularly boosting the performance of the sportswear sector,” Huang said.
Over the last year, Huang said brands have actively supported women’s sports through various initiatives.
“At the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia, Rebel formed a multi-year partnership with the Matildas, the national women’s soccer team, and became an official partner of the Australian Rules Football women’s league,” she said. “Rebel also launched the Rebel Rookies program to engage children aged 6-12 in sports through a diverse curriculum that includes international football and Australian Rules.”
Around the same time, Australian period underwear brand Modibodi collaborated with Puma as part of the Change Room initiative. This partnership was aimed to empower women and girls to continue participating in sports despite menstruation.
For this year’s Paris Olympics, Australian-born brands Sportscraft, Volley and July were chosen as official designers for the Australian Olympic Team, with other brands signing into the event through other means, including The Iconic’s latest marketing campaign push that included five participating athletes.
On a global level, Euromonitor International reported that the overall sportswear market is set to benefit from the worldwide television audience and sponsorships through the Games with a forecast global growth of 4 per cent in 2024 versus 2 per cent for overall apparel and footwear.
Euromonitor’s head of apparel and footwear Marguerite Le Rolland said the event was likely to raise women’s sportswear sales globally, too
“Many sportswear players are actively targeting women, traditionally less well served than men,” Le Rolland said. “Attendance, viewership and fan engagement are on the rise and sponsoring women athletes and teams is seen as the easy way in for brands as we are seeing with women’s football.”
Women’s sportswear accounted for US$143 billion (A$220 billion) globally in 2023, just 36 per cent of all global sportswear sales, despite growing faster than men’s sportswear sales between 2018-2023 - at 5 per cent and 3 per cent CAGR respectively.